You know you were annoyed with a film when it was helmed as
"the summer movie we've been waiting for," as quoted from a TV spot
by a film critic. Boyhood is more worthy of this accolade than X-Men: Days of
Future Past, in my opinion, though, I can understand why it was heralded for
its technical aspects for as much as I thought it was Ok. I must note that, I
did, in fact, enjoy the latest installment of X-Men, that's not my true vision
for writing this. It's the full-blown overhyping of a tried-and-true formula
dating back to 2000.
When First Class
was under the direction of Matthew Vaughn in 2011, a lot of the
wrongs made by Bryan Singer & Brett Ratner (The Last Stand) felt
corrected. The flawed framework was still intact, though, there seemed to be
effort towards righting lots of wrongs. It still had flaws with some character
development, and some narratives weren't well-defined (What the hell is
Mystique doing in 1963?), but it was a fine film that this franchise should've
been. My main problem with Days of Future Past, is that it’s hailed as the
summer's best, when it’s just a decent film. Once Singer retook the franchise,
it was f'n status quo as usual. 
It's weird that
some were enthralled by Quicksilver's sequence in the kitchen. Was it a good
scene? Well, using the cloaking device that is comedy, it works fine. Alas,
it's a visual splendor that was "WOW" in 2003, not 2014. A sequence that's been done in the Matrix
trilogy & Max Payne countless times is further proof that we are indeed
in a dimension that's currently out of the control of rational beings. Somehow,
people were blown away by a scene that didn't require much other than speed
from the beginning of the 21st century. Also, I got the feel, at times, that
nothing significant happened. Sentinels killed a lot of mutants, granted and,
yes, the timeline was reset after every Shadowcat time-warp, but I still had this
empty feeling that of nothing. A lot of the film gave me that
"eh" feel, just moments that never felt important enough for every
scene. John Ottman's return as the composer was appreciated, albeit, would've
been better if Henry Jackman could build upon his cues First Class? Because he really did a good job with that composition.
Honestly, I
don't get why critics gave it such overblown praise other than to spite other
comic book movies all because they didn't change its formula because of the
cast. X-Men's cinematic survival is based on a nostalgia that spans even beyond
the original film. The 1992 cartoon, clearly, is still in the hearts and minds
of many who do enjoy these movies, regardless of their shortcomings. And, for
as much as people, like myself, who aren't hip to these films; I guess, good
for those who enjoy them. Unfortunately, that also means, we'll never get that
dream X-men film that we all hoped for. Oh well, let’s hope X-Men Apocalypse
can gives us the movie were hoping for. And (sigh) I will see it, for what it’s
worth, at this point.
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