Many say that the future is a mystery. Let alone the future, tomorrow alone no one knows what will go like. Even so, we can prepare ourselves so that we can get a good future or at least we can eliminate bad possibilities that may occur.
The film X-Men: Days of Future Past continues the story of the previous X-Men film, First Class. This time, the mutants must save the fate of humans and the mutants themselves because there is a future destruction that is difficult to repair. The conflict that risks two times is certainly something interesting to watch. If you're curious, take a look at the synopsis and review of the film!
Synopsis
In 2023, large robots equipped with powerful weapons called Sentinels are assigned to protect Earth from mutants. The mutants are considered to have dangerous abilities that can cause damage and destroy humans. As a result, the mutant population is decreasing. The Sentinels don't even hesitate to kill humans who defend mutants.
In Moscow, the Sentinels attack several members of the X-Men namely Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Blink, Warpath, Bishop, Iceman and Sunspot. Several had to be injured, the worst being Bishop. Luckily, Kitty was able to restore Bishop's consciousness to save himself and the other X-Men.
Kitty and the X-Men survivors in Moscow meet Storm, Wolverine, Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto in China. Xavier tells about the origins of the Sentinels. Sentinel was created by Bolivar Trask, a military scientist who was killed by Raven in 1973. Because of this, the government hunts for Raven and then uses her DNA to develop Sentinel.
Xavier plans to go back to 1973 and prevent the assassination of Trask. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to survive traveling to decades past. Wolverine volunteered to time travel given his fast regeneration powers. That way, Wolverine can return to the present.
Waking up in 1973, Wolverine heads straight to the deserted X-Mansion. According to Hank McCoy, the residents were assigned to war in Vietnam. In addition, Lehnsherr was arrested on charges of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Wolverine continues his journey to meet Xavier who is an alcoholic. Xavier uses a serum to allow him to walk but that actually hinders his telepathic abilities.
Hoping to see Mystique again, Xavier agrees to help Wolverine. Their first goal was to free Lehnsherr from prison. They are both helped by the newest X-Men recruit, Peter Maximoff. The task of getting Lehnsherr out of the tight prison at the Pentagon was accomplished.
Raven learns that Trask is using mutants for his experiments. He intended to finish off Trask just as America was signing a treaty to stop attacks on Vietnam. Raven's attempts are thwarted by Xavier, McCoy and Logan . Lehnsherr attempts to kill Raven because she believes her actions will change the future. McCoy saves the runaway Raven.
Xavier, McCoy and Logan attempt to save Trask, which Trask uses as evidence to show how dangerous mutants are. This succeeded in convincing Richard Nixon as the President of America, to approve the Sentinel development project. Lehnsherr is secretly trying to take control of the Sentinel by injecting iron content into the Sentinel prototype.
Xavier communicates with his present self, and stops using the serum so his mutant powers return. Using Cerebro, McCoy's mutant tracking device, Xavier and his two friends travel to Washington DC to thwart Raven's attempt to kill Trask. Can they stop Raven and change history?
Use of the Time Travel Concept
X-Men: Days of Future Past kicked off by using the concept of time travel as the axis of the story. Although the concept is not a new formula in superhero films, the story in this film feels more refreshing and connected to the previous film, X-Men: First Class . The conflict that forms the basis of time travel is also well-constructed, namely the dangers of Sentinels who destroy mutants and humans who defend mutants or have mutant genetics.
Compared to other X-Men films, Days of Future Past is conceptually much more complicated. Fortunately, that complexity can be strung together in an interesting way by taking popular historical events in America. The events are then lumped together into a superhero story that is overall neatly wrapped up.
Cinematographically, Days of Future Past again shows the use of brilliant effects, especially in the scenes featuring sentinels. The robots look so aggressive and real. The duration of 131 minutes will not feel long with a weighty story and the excitement of neatly arranged action scenes.
Enough Portion for Mutants
In Days of Future Past, Brian Singer replaces Ratner as director at First Class. The difference in Singer's work looks quite striking by showing many mutants but being able to show their abilities. This is in contrast to Ratner who focuses more on the characters of Xavier and Lehnsherr as the film is projected to introduce the two most influential main characters in the X-Men film.
In the opening scene, the mutants shown are not popular mutants, but names such as Blink, Sunspot, Warpath, Iceman, Colossus, Bishop to Kitty Pride. This gives them the opportunity to shine with a sufficient portion in the development of the story. Amazingly, their presence doesn't necessarily take over the main spotlight on the most popular mutants, namely Wolverine, Raven, Magneto and Xavier.
Strong Character Depictions
Days of Future Past features the different motivations of three mutants namely Raven, Lehnsherr and Xavier. Raven intends to kill Trask so that the existence of mutants in the world is maintained because mutants can be useful for saving mankind. While Lehnsherr prefers to control the Sentinels so that they can be used for their purposes.
Xavier has the most straight-forward goal of having the goal of changing Trask so he doesn't get killed in 1973 so that the mutants can stay alive in the future.
