We are currently in an age of internet discourse. And if you are someone that has spend at least two minutes of your time encountering or engaging in any kind of internet discourse, you know that it can be quite a toxic environment out there. Because the internet is as open and big as it is know, that means that EVERYONE now has a voice, literally everyone! And usually when an entry comes out in a long-running franchise, no doubt that there are certain folks out there that will take the time to lash out at the creators and cast of that entry on social media to let them know of their hateful and negative thoughts on something that the crew worked hard on for the better part of two to three years. That’s not to say anyone isn’t allowed to have an opinion of their own or to dislike something but there are definitely certain groups of fandom that takes thing way too far. They take their dislike of a certain installment from a series they claim to love as some sort of personal attack and because of that, they believe they have permission to say whatever is on their mind on their social media page and directly at the creative folks involved. It’s discourse like that that honestly has changed the way that movies, tv shows, and games are being made now. Once the people involved know of the amount of backlash they’ve received on their latest project, no doubt that will stay in their heads like a dark cloud on a rain day when working on the next one.
After plenty of folks lashed out on the likes of Prometheus, Batman v Superman, and The Last Jedi, the criticisms of those movies let to the likes of Alien Covenant, Justice League (Theater Cut), and The Rise of Skywalker to be made the way they were. One thing that all three of those latter movies I just mentioned have in common was how painfully obvious it was to many folks who watched those movies that the negative reception to the prior movies clearly affected the thought process behind the camera. Not only that but they were also poorly received by fans and critics which even led some to show some appreciation to the prior movies they previously hated. Not only did those movies not win over the haters of the previous ones but it also alienated the actual supporters of those films making it all around not well-liked pictures.
That’s not to say that absolutely EVERYONE hated those movies, every movie out there has their fans but most would agree that those movies could have been much better if the filmmakers had simply just stick to their guts and make the movie that they originally set out to make (which we did eventually get with Justice League). However, there is one movie out there that I think stands out well because of the obvious course correction of the franchise that surprisingly not a lot people talk about nowadays. That movie being X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Granted, there are plenty of understandable reasons as to why Days of Future Past isn’t remember as much since it came out eight years ago today. Part of it may have to do with the million other Marvel superhero movies that have been released since then. Another part of it may have to do with Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix being absolute stinkers while Logan is thought of to be the definite proper finale to the franchise. There’s also the fact that director Bryan Singer is an absolute terrible human being who deserves all the punishment in the world. However, none of those reasoning shouldn’t stop you from getting this marvel-ous (Pun entirely indeed! :P) film a re-watch. Not just because of how inventive, action-packed, and entertaining it is but this is the perfect example on how to do a proper course correction kind of movie.
Make no mistake, the sole reason for Days of Future Past’s existence is to erase the two previously panned X-Men movies, The Last Stand and Origins: Wolverine from reality. It does so by taking a page from Terminator 2: Judgement Day where Kitty Pryde (who is now somehow able to teleport people back in time) has to send Wolverine back in time to stop Mystique from trying to assassinate Trask to prevent the tragic future where those last two X-Men movies happened along with the remaining mutants being hunted down and killed by sentinels. However, the main difference between DoFP and the other three course-correction movies I previously mention is that it uses the course correction as an advantage instead of a disadvantage. It uses as a mean of trying to tell a story that can stand on it’s own without needing to let his course correction hold it back. Best of all, it uses the course correction as the main theme of the movie and the goal that every character throughout is trying to accomplish.
The entire point of the whole movie is about the characters doing everything in their power (literally) to fix the mistakes of their past in the hopes for a brighter future. One which sees mutants living alive and well. One which doesn’t see them wiped out to near extinction. One which sees Charles and Eric be friends from the end of time or at least not wasting the better part of their lives fighting each other. Most importantly, one which X-Men 3 and Origins never happened. It does so by having Logan take a trip down memory lane (literally) and using the knowledge that Professor X taught him to save their past, present, and future all at the same time.
While the film does indeed go into length to critique the films it’s trying to move away from, it never acts as if they didn’t extinct. Aside from some continuity issues (Like how actually did Professor X find another body again?), Days of Future Past does what most course-correcting movies fail to do, acknowledge the previous controversial films existence and justifies it. Was there anything more insulting in Justice League and Rise of Skywalker when they tried to actively pretend the previous movies never happened and the ones the characters saw was COMPLETELY different to what the audience saw on the big screen? Days of Future Past thankfully is able to avoid that mistake throughout the course of the movie, especially with the one scene where Charles looks into Logan’s mind to see his older, future self.
This scene right here is magnificent and truly ensembles everything that works about this film. We see Charles seeing what he and Logan will suffer through in the late future. Many of their own kind dead, plenty of good people and friends that lose their lives, and those that survive will only live to suffer by the humans or sentinels. However, it does show a future where Professor X is able to raise an entire school worth of children with mutant-like powers and become an inspiring leader/teacher to a whole generation of his own kind. A future that can still be possible if they are able to succeed at their missions in stopping the sentinels from ever getting made.
It doesn’t just make for a great meta moment where Charles is basically claiming he doesn’t want a future that include The Last Stand but it works because the film acknowledge those films happened the way they did. It doesn’t try to deceive it’s audience into thinking it was a totally different film than the one they saw many years ago or tries to be denial of it’s mere existence. It admits The Last Stand was indeed a thing in the past but it doesn’t mean it has to be a thing for the future. As the film states several times, the future is never truly set.
That is a key theme that Days of Future Past gets right more than anything. Just because you are a franchise that has your hands tie behind your back by poorly received entries does not mean your current entry has to suffer because of it. It is indeed possible to make a film that addresses criticism of said films but also able to stand on it’s own with a story that benefits the characters and their arcs. All you have to do is show respect for your audience and treat them like proper individuals instead of oversensitive babies that need some warm milk and a diaper change. When making a course-correction kind of a movie, this is the way to do it. Bring up those previous not-so-liked installments, acknowledge their existence, examine/critique them, and then just move on. That is what the characters are able to accomplish by the end of the film and it’s something that the audiences would likely do as well. You can make not so popular movies forgivable if you allow it do instead of trying to make them 100% unredeemable as Mystique did with Trask. By the end of the movie, Logan, Charles, the mutants, and especially the audience are awarded for them sticking around for this long with a ending that works wonders.
While I’m not 100% sure this ending makes any kind of logical sense, there could have not been a more perfect ending for this movie and possibly even for the main series (and it honestly would have made for the better). Not only is it a nice, heart warming scene where we see the characters that died tragically being reborn once again but it also shows that the franchise was now able to control it’s own future. This sets it’s own course where the series is given itself a second leash on life and setting the stage for the kind of bright future that both the characters and audiences had envisioned ever sense the end of X2: X-Men United. Yes, X-Men: Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix happened and (at least in some alternate timeline) Professor X and Wolverine would share an extremely tragic fate by the middle and end of Logan, but for a brief moment, there was hope once again for X-Men. A feeling that the characters of the movie and the audiences hadn’t felt for quite a long time. It was surely a special feeling to be able to hope again.
(Even so, I kinda like to look back on Days of Future Past and Logan being two distinct endings to the franchises. Days of Future Past is the ending for the newly set timeline that the film itself established while Logan is the ending set in the timeline post-Last Stand. It makes both movies all the better for it in my eyes.)
While there’s definitely a strong argument to be made that Logan is objectively the best X-Men film ever made and First Class might be superior in terms of being a more proper team-up movie, Days of Future Past still stands as my absolute favorite in the series and one of my all-time favorite Marvel films period. From the superb character development to the amazing action set pieces (The Quicksilver scene is still an all-timer!) to the warm, dark tone to the resonate themes to the inventiveness of the time travel storytelling to the inspired score, this is basically everything you can ask for in an X-Men film or in basically any superhero movie in general. I’d even argue this is above Avengers: Endgame in terms of culminating storytelling and handling of the time travel (As great as Endgame is, let’s face it, the time travel makes no sense whatsoever!). But the one thing I believe is most important to take away from Days of Future Past is how just because you are course-correcting your franchise does not mean the overall product has to suffer because of it.
This is the kind of a movie that should be taught in film classes on how to change courses for a series when the people involved with the production feel it’s a necessity. I can’t really recall any movie in recent memory that was able to be a kind of course-correcting movie without feeling the need to sacrifice it’s own quality for a brighter future. There are definitely nicks that can be picked (Again, how does Kitty have time travel powers now?!), but these are forgiving for how rewarding the whole experience is. As curious as I am with how the Marvel Cinematic Universe handles the X-Men property from now on, I can’t imagine them topping this film or craft something as creative and inventive as this. As nuts and “out there” Phase 4 has been so far, Days of Future Past just has it’s own personality and feel that I don’t think the MCU can replicated. Perhaps I’ll be wrong but as I say once again, the future is never truly set!
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