X-Men: Days of Future Past - Review

X-Men: Days of Future Past is the sequel to 2011’s X-Men: First Class as well as being Bryan Singers first film back after X2 and the first film that truly links all of the X-Men films we have seen so far together (except X-Men Origins: Wolverine which I think we can all agree will not be missed). Days of Future Past rights the wrongs of past films and sets up the rest of the series excellently whilst generating new problems of its own.

Days of Future Past’s story is a little complicated due to the inclusion of a rather strange form of time travel (more on that later). If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t like to pay very close attention whilst watching a film, you might want to make an exception for this one. The film is split between two time periods each with its own cast of actors. The majority of the time is spent in 1973 and follows the cast of X-Men: First Class; the rest of the time is spent in the not too distant future and follows the cast of the original X-men trilogy. Overall, I enjoyed the main plot of the film despite its complicated nature, and whilst I felt that a few casting choices weren’t so great, the acting was of a pretty high standard too.

The main focus of the film was on the young Charles Xavier trying to find a “better path” as the film put it. James McAvoy’s performance as Xavier was perhaps the strongest in the film. His tale of regaining his former self and righting his wrongs in order to become the Xavier as portrayed by Patrick Stewart was enduring and often quite emotional. This is an area that the X-Men series succeeds in where other superhero franchises fail; it tells compelling human stories, that other films (… Man of Steel) neglect in return for extra long action sequences that often detract from the overall experience.

(Left to right) Beast, Professor X, Wolverine

The other central roles in Days of Future Past are Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), with some being more successful than others. Fassbender does an excellent job of channelling a younger version of Ian McKellen, especially in the way that he speaks as well as in the way he portrays the character. This is an improvement on his performance in First Class in which Magneto didn’t seem all that much more than a really angry guy. As usual, Hugh Jackman plays a great Wolverine. It really seems at this point that there isn’t anyone else who can play the character as Jackman has been doing a consistently good job for the last fourteen years. As the only character that interacts with both casts in the film, it’s nice to see that he reacts as Wolverine would in both situations.

Jennifer Lawrence also plays an important role in the film as Mystique. I liked the direction the writers went with her character in the film, but I didn’t feel that Lawrence really fit in with that direction nor did she seem comfortable during action sequences (perhaps Mystique’s lack of clothing was responsible for this). Peter Dinklage plays Bolivar Trask, creator of the mutant hunting robots – the sentinels. As expected Dinklage played Trask very well, however, he wasn’t given enough screen time to be a particularly memorable villain, which I felt was rather a waste of his talent as an actor. Evan Peters’ Quicksilver had a similar problem. His scenes were among the most enjoyable in the film; the issue was that there were only three of them. I’m glad they included these scenes as I often found myself laughing aloud when Quicksilver was on screen. Perhaps they could have exchanged some of Beast’s screen time for more Quicksilver as I felt that Nicholas Hoult’s Beast was a little unnecessary and only served the purpose of keeping Xavier company and inventing convenient bits of tech to advance the plot.

The scenes in the future contained most of the film’s action sequences (though the 1973 bits had their fare share) all of which were incredibly satisfying and did a good job of showcasing the powers of the mutants. Whilst none of these characters had much of a presence within the story - aside from Stewart’s Xavier, McKellen’s Magneto and Kitty Pride (Ellen Page) – they were a welcome addition and provided nostalgia and some enjoyable scenes.

Old and new young guys

Singer took this opportunity to repair the broken continuity of Fox’s X-Men­ cinematic universe as well as set up for future films. The ending of the film left things at a point where the series can go quite a few different ways which on one hand I like because it means that the plot of future films and their subsequent twists will be a surprise. However it leaves the series in a position where new films will either have to be super complicated / long in order to accommodate multiple story lines, or they’ll just release a lot more films which seems more likely.

X-Men: Days of Future Past is a successful launch pad for Fox’s new cinematic universe whilst still managing to be a very enjoyable film in its own right. Despite its few minor problems Days of Future Past is well worth watching and leaves me very excited for X-Men: Apocalypse in 2016.

8.8/10

First look at Batman and the Batmobile from Batman Vs Superman

The first image of what we assume to be the new Batsuit and Batmobile from the Man of Steel sequel has been tweeted by director Zack Snyder today.

I'm concerned that Batman has a neck issue

The Batmobile doesn't seem all that different to the one featured in the Dark Knight trilogy. The main interest for me is the Batsuit, which looks rather similar to the suit from Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.

Frank Miller's Batman

These similarities would make sense as Batman Vs Superman has so far shown to have taken a lot of its inspiration from the iconic Batman storyline.

Snyder has not released any further details about the film but it seems quite likely that the Wonder Woman suit will be revealed soon as well.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Review

While many thought that the first Amazing Spider-Man film was unnecessary and perhaps came too soon after the original Spider-Man trilogy, I felt that it was the best way to reintroduce the ‘wise-cracking web-slinger’ onto the big screen. It was a fantastic film that sewed the seeds for many more great movies to follow.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is one of those films. While not as enjoyable as its predecessor, this sequel is still a mostly successful continuation of Peter Parker’s story as New York’s most loved superhero. It’s important to mention that the overall plot of the film is still, at its heart, a love story and that the other plot elements slot in around it. This is the area in which The Amazing Spider-Man 2 finds most of its success. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone reprise their roles excellently as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy. Their scenes together are by far, the most enjoyable parts of the film. The two actors have great chemistry, and there are a couple of scenes where I felt as if I was intruding on an intimate moment between two real people. This is the sort of thing that Marc Webb does really well as a director.

Mark Webb at his best.

This is still a Spider-Man film though, which means two things: action scenes and super-villains. The former is done very well. The action in the film is engaging and exciting. Since the villains in Spider-Man’s rogues gallery are colourful and possess crazy super powers, there are quite a few action sequences in the film that require a lot of CGI, so don’t be disappointed when you are greeted by a rather obviously computer animated Spider-Man on multiple occasions. The latter on the other hand, is not done as well. While Dane DeHaan makes for a fantastically creepy Green Goblin (helped by really good costume design), Jamie Foxx’s Electro is forgettable. From the beginning of the film, his character is emphasized as sympathetic. However, he never comes across this way. This is in no way the fault of Foxx. It shows that the writers did not have a particularly good understanding of the character which is a shame.

Goblin looking creepy!

The other area in which the film falls a little flat is in the way it handles Peter’s parents’ story. The story is set up really well in the opening of the film. It gives a sense of intrigue that makes the viewer more than a little curious. The resolution of this plotline however is not done well. The way the writers handled it made the story feel like an afterthought despite how much they tried to stress its importance.

Thankfully the presentation of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is just as good, if not better than that of the first film. The soundtrack, by Hans Zimmer and Pharrell Williams’ “supergroup” was enjoyable and accompanied the film well. I especially enjoyed ‘Paranoia’, the Electro theme. Listening to it gives you the same creepy feeling you get from watching Dane DeHaan’s performance.

The Amazing Spider-Man two is an enjoyable follow up to 2012’s Spider-Man reboot. Whilst it does fall flat in a few places, the film is a great action movie and love story with an ending that elicited a sincere emotional response from its audience and still manages to provide a setup for the upcoming third film and Sinister Six spinoff.

7.9/10

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Review

I’ll admit I didn't like Captain America: the First Avenger very much at all. That film really put me off Steve Rogers as a character. Even The Avengers didn't help, despite how fantastic that film was. This meant that by the time the trailer for Winter Soldier was released, I had just about given up on Cap. And then I watched the trailer…

The second Captain America film is fantastic. It focuses on a far more interesting aspect of the character which allows the film to go to some much more dark and surprising places. Winter Soldier is first and foremost a political thriller. It has an incredibly well developed plot with plenty of twists, turns and paranoia without forgetting that it is still a Marvel movie with certain elements that it needs to include. I’d rather not go into the specifics of the plot as nearly every moment in the film is important and if you haven’t seen the film yet I could run the risk of ruining it. To put it vaguely, the film deals with Cap’s struggles with being a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative and following orders post – Avengers.

The acting in Winter Soldier is phenomenal. Of course, Chris Evans returns as Steve Rogers and does a good job. The stars of the show however, are Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. The character development for the two of them in the film is significant and complex. This makes their jobs as actors all the more difficult, which in turn makes their excellent performances even more impressive. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Evans. The film doesn't do all that much to develop his character which rather limits the quality of Evans’ portrayal of the Captain. Thankfully, even though Captain America is very much the central character in the film, he is not its main focus. The film introduces some new and exciting characters whilst also bringing back some old ones from the first film and the Avengers. Among the new faces is Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/The Falcon. Mackie plays a similar role to James Rhodes in the Iron Man films in the sense that he is Cap’s wing-man (literally) and is there to provide witty dialogue as well as some really epic action set pieces. Whilst his role is not huge in this film, I would keep an eye out for him in Avengers: Age of Ultron next summer. Another new character is Alexander Pierce played by Robert Redford. Redford brings experience from 70s political thrillers and really shows that Marvel were serious about the tone and themes of this film.

Anthony Mackie as Falcon.

What really helped Captain America this time around, was the spectacle of the film. It showcased the creative team at Marvel’s true intentions for the character, as for once, Captain America felt like a legitimate superhero with legitimate powers. The abilities that come with the super soldier serum are shown to be devastatingly powerful whilst at the same time being precise and efficient. The shield as well is successfully presented as an effective and impressive weapon. This boosted my confidence in Cap as a superhero and as a character in general. This new take on Cap’s abilities played in well with the film’s astoundingly cool action scenes, the most impressive of which being those that saw Cap engaged in close quarters combat with the films villain – the faceless Winter Soldier after whom the film is titled. The choreography for these scenes is very impressive.

Cap vs Winter Soldier

I had very few problems with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Unfortunately, there were a couple. Chief among them being the lack of character development for Cap. The other big issue was the importance of having already seen the first film prior to watching the fantastic sequel. Captain America: the First Avenger was not a great film and because of this, not that many people will have seen it. This creates a problem when many of Winter Soldier’s biggest plot points stem from the events of the first film. So, if you do intend on going to see the film, I recommend that you first watch The First Avenger.

Captain America: the Winter Soldier is amazing. It is definitely the best phase two Marvel movie by a long shot. This is a film full to the brim with a gripping plot, witty dialogue, engrossing actions scenes and throws in a plot twist that is going to have a huge effect on Avengers two and phase three. I honestly can’t think of a single reason to not go and see this film.

9.2/10

Avengers: Age of Ultron - Concept Art

My Doctor Who Christmas Special and Twelfth Doctor Whishlist

Having just seen the Day of the Doctor, we are now without doctor who for about a month, and following that, several more. With all this spare time and anticipation to both Matt Smith's final episode and Peter Capaldi's debut as Twelve, I decided to come up with a few things that I want to see in the Christmas special and next series.

1. Mark Gatiss to write Matt Smith's final farewell and to take over as head writer for the next series- Despite Stephen Moffat being the head writer and the inevitability of him writing the Christmas special, I really do think that Gatiss is the superior writer and that he deals with the more emotional side of the Doctor far better. Not to mention that he is an actor himself and is therefore more likely to write a more convincing Doctor in Eleven's final moments.

2. Clara to stay on as the Doctor's companion after he regenerates - I'm not a big Clara fan. However, I do feel that it's important for a new Doctor to come into our lives with something familiar coming with him. I also feel that both the Doctor and his companions benefit from staying with each other after his regeneration because, in the past it has generally been the case that companions grow closer after seeing something as personal as a regeneration. I never particularly liked Rose as a character either, but I feel that after Nine regenerated into Ten, her relationship with the Doctor was much more interesting to watch.

3. Capaldi's Doctor to act like a grumpy old man - I was particularly excited when the BBC announced that Peter Capaldi would be playing the twelfth Doctor. I loved his performance as Malcolm Tucker in The Thick of It and In the Loop and that particular character was a very grumpy (and potty mouthed) Scotsman. I think that a grumpy, no nonsense Doctor would be so much fun to watch and would contrast excellently with Matt Smith's rather silly (but outstanding) performance.

So there you have it, my hopes and dreams for the near future of Doctor who. Happy anniversary, and here's to another 50 years!

Day of the Doctor - Review

Wow! Just wow!  As much as I have complained about Stephen Moffat in the past, one thing must be said in his defence: he certainly knows how to put on a show.

Day of the Doctor is a special episode of Doctor Who to celebrate the show’s 50^th anniversary. As an enormous fan of the series, I and all of my friends have been anticipating this episode since the first trailer was shown in July. I’m not going to bother warning you about spoilers in this review, because if you haven’t yet seen the episode and are reading this review first, I seriously doubt your sanity.

Before I talk about the many things I loved about Day of the Doctor, I’m going to have to wade through the sizable puddle of faults that the episode had.

Firstly, the plot of the episode was extraordinarily weak. Aside from all the exciting time war and past Doctor awesomeness, there was still around 45 minutes of boring zygon invasion storyline to sit through. As much as I love the zygons as monsters, I think that this was the wrong time to bring them back. Their only purpose was to facilitate a rather pretentious plot point about Gallifreyan art. Furthermore, the inclusion of Queen Elizabeth I was irritating and totally unnecessary. I’m sure Moffat could have come up with a much less annoying way of bringing the three Doctors together without reinforcing the illusion the David Tennant’s Doctor is only there to get the girls.

There were a few things that I was relieved about though. Firstly, I’m glad that they didn’t actually bring Rose back as Rose. As popular as she is, I never really liked Rose’s character and her eventual romantic relationship with the Doctor’s half human clone, and I think that bringing her back would have brought with her some unwanted baggage. I’m also relieved that Moffat didn’t completely change the show’s mythology as many of us were expecting (and dreading). I think that the way the Time Lords were saved was in excellent taste, as well as making Doctors 10 and War forget about the events of the episode, as having them remember would have been confusing and annoying in the long run.

This next paragraph concerns all the things that caused me to physically ‘nerd out’ on the sofa, so, what follows may be a little erratic and perhaps slightly confusing…

First of all, John Hurt’s performance as the War Doctor was enchanting. He was every bit as dramatic and mysterious as we’d hoped. Not only that, but he was also charming and funny and as curious as the Doctor should be. Secondly, the interactions between the three of them were fantastic. I loved how judgemental Tennant was of Smith and his characteristics. The best parts of the episode however, were all the bits of fan service that were thrown. There were perhaps too many to talk about all of them in one review so I will list my top five (in no particular order):

1. Tom Baker as the ‘Great Curator’.
2. Tennant’s TARDIS transforming into the current one.
3. 13 TARDISs!!!!!
4. The War Doctor’s Regeneration.
5. An appearance from Peter Capaldi as the 12^th Doctor.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Day of the Doctor, but not because of its story. It was a fun adventure with plenty of fan service and excitement along the way.

Scores:

Story – 5/10

Fan Service ∞/10

Time Lord Children Saved – 2.47 Billion