The X-Men series of films seem to be aspiring to ever greater heights as they progress, rewriting history in the creation of cinematic Marvel mythology. The most recent one re-imagined the Cuban Missile Crisis, while this one explains the assassination of JFK and involves President Richard Nixon in the war in Vietnam and the war against a new enemy — Mutants. All of this while the distant future finds the mutants systematically being hunted and killed by robotic Sentinels. It’s all very spectacular, surprisingly thought-provoking, and pretty darned entertaining.
Bryan Singer’s film jumps from the dark future, which does not look promising for anyone, much less the hunted Mutants, back to the colorful 1970s. A couple of cultural touchstones are included for reference — “Sanford and Son,” just three TV networks (plus PBS) — but the film doesn’t do as much as it could have to employ and poke fun at that era. It’s too bad, but of course that really isn’t the point. Wolverine Logan (Hugh Jackman) is sent back in time to unite Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) in the task of stopping Raven / Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing the scientist who will develop the Sentinels, and thus begin the war that the Mutants must eventually lose.
It’s a complicated task, requiring action in Europe and America, involving other Mutant characters, and of course Erik has a few tricks up his sleeve after being rescued from confinement (in the film’s finest sequence). In the end, however, like all great drama, the dilemma boils down to a single choice. It’s not an easy choice; both paths are difficult and filled with future pain. Individual satisfaction is imperative, but may prove disastrous to the larger cause. The movie takes this premise and milks it for all it is worth, and then some, trying to cancel the future apocalypse that awaits the Mutants if they are to survive at all.
Fans of the comics and these characters will likely revel in this movie. For others, it is at least visually and thematically impressive. The whole series has been entertaining but this and its immediate predecessor, X-Men: First Class (2011) have been no less than exceptional. Like so many whimsical, fantastical, special-effects borne modern movies this is all a bunch of malarkey — but it is malarkey done properly and with respect for the characters it presents. I’ll never take these movies very seriously, but I do enjoy them, and this one is among the best of the bunch that I have witnessed. Nicely done! ☆ ☆ ☆. 25 May 2014.