X-Men: Days of Future Past

[Khev]

His Astonishing X-Men run was pretty awesome, I’m just not high on him as a film maker.

I disagree there. To make sure Hawkeye had good screentime, Joss wrote him in as a baddy (which the character started out as anyway), so each Avenger shined. Not as brightly as IM or Hulk, but they each had some solid moments. Singer doesn't do that. Instead, he throws random muntants in to namedrop, only to have them die meaningless deaths. Even you have to admit that DoFP was a little too overstuffed with what should've been more important characters but instead were fodder.

I actually agree with both of these posts. I think Whedon is a better "fanboy" director. He knows how to throw bones to fans even for characters he isn't particularly fond of. Its obvious that he doesn't care much for Hawkeye, Cap, or Thor but he still gave them memorable moments on film. I still wouldn't say that he's anywhere near the filmmaker Singer is. However Singer is a bit like Nolan where I think he's a little too big for his britches when it comes to presenting a lot of the characters in a satisfying manner. Sure he can craft a decent film, but is he going to go out of his way to do justice to your favorite character? Probably not. Hell he barely seems to know what to do with Wolverine.

 

[pturtle]

I disagree there. To make sure Hawkeye had good screentime, Joss wrote him in as a baddy (which the character started out as anyway), so each Avenger shined. Not as brightly as IM or Hulk, but they each had some solid moments. Singer doesn't do that. Instead, he throws random muntants in to namedrop, only to have them die meaningless deaths. Even you have to admit that DoFP was a little too overstuffed with what should've been more important characters but instead were fodder.

Not just Hawkeye in my opinion, Loki, Iron Man, Cap, Black Widow, and Nick Fury were all utilized much better under different directors.

I actually thought DOFP was fine in that department, he was able to throw in mutants in the future and kill them off without risk since he could bring them back anyway. X2, and X3 I thought wasted a lot of potentially awesome X-Men and villains though.

 

[pturtle]

I actually agree with both of these posts. I think Whedon is a better "fanboy" director. He knows how to throw bones to fans even for characters he isn't particularly fond of. Its obvious that he doesn't care much for Hawkeye, Cap, or Thor but he still gave them memorable moments on film. I still wouldn't say that he's anywhere near the filmmaker Singer is. However Singer is a bit like Nolan where I think he's a little too big for his britches when it comes to presenting a lot of the characters in a satisfying manner. Sure he can craft a decent film, but is he going to go out of his way to do justice to your favorite character? Probably not. Hell he barely seems to know what to do with Wolverine.

I definitely agree with most of your post, but I think Singer’s version of Wolverine is awesome, he did drop the ball a bit with Wolvey in the action department with DOFP though. I was dying to see Wolverine cut up some Sentinels.

 

[thenammagazine]

Not just Hawkeye in my opinion, Loki, Iron Man, Cap, Black Widow, and Nick Fury were all utilized much better under different directors.

I actually thought DOFP was fine in that department, he was able to throw in mutants in the future and kill them off without risk since he could bring them back anyway. X2, and X3 I thought wasted a lot of potentially awesome X-Men and villains though.

Avengers was about the establishment of the team, not about the individuals. Their characters were already established prior to Avengers for that exact reason.

Really? Bishop, Blink (who made ZERO sense in the movie given there're plenty of other teleporters they could've used), Warpath, Sunspot, etc., all lamely utilized for no other reason than to pad the cast. Then there's Stryker and his whole team which weren't really necessary either. Hell, even some of the older cast was underutilized because of the oversaturation and the need to dilute the story for their inclusion. I'm not saying it wasn't a good movie, it was a solid entry into the franchise, but it had far too much filler for what could've been a sleeker film.

 

[pturtle]

I understand that, but he made all of them bland, boring and cliche, thats why for me in TWS and even IM3, it was refreshing to see these characters back to being properly written.

I thought most of them were thrown in for fan service, with the exception of maybe Bishop, most of those mutants probably won’t ever have a chance to have a part in future films, I had no problem with him throwing them in, they were only needed for action sequences anyway. Stryker I thought was necessary since we knew he had a past with most of the X-Men and Magneto, it would have been weird for him not to have some kind of role in the story.

 

[thenammagazine]

I thought most of them were thrown in for fan service, most of those mutants probably won’t ever have a chance to have a part in future films, I had no problem with him throwing them in, they were only needed for action sequences anyway. Stryker I thought was necessary since we knew he had a past with most of the X-Men and Magneto, it would have been weird for him not to have some kind of role in the story.

See, I thought Stryker's story was good and done with solid bookends. We got the young in Origins and the old in Last Stand. It would've made more sense to do something with a young Senator Kelly to further link the new franchise with the old by fleshing out just why he so despises mutants. Instead, Singer watered it down to namedrop Stryker and his merry band of creatures.

 

[jye4ever]

Avengers served a purpose.

DOFP played the audience, all that mumbo jumbo for what, Xmen alive and well.

Sentinels, what a waste.

 

[pturtle]

See, I thought Striker's story was good and done with solid bookends. We got the young in Origins and the old in Last Stand. It would've made more sense to do something with a young Senator Kelly to further link the new franchise with the old.

Well, I hope they’re done using him in these films but I doubt that, with the way DOFP ended and all.

 

[jye4ever]

See, I thought Stryker's story was good and done with solid bookends. We got the young in Origins and the old in Last Stand. It would've made more sense to do something with a young Senator Kelly to further link the new franchise with the old by fleshing out just why he so despises mutants. Instead, Singer watered it down to namedrop Stryker and his merry band of creatures.

Or at least show Stryker's kid kill his wife.

 

[thenammagazine]

Or at least show Stryker's kid kill his wife.

 

[thenammagazine]

I thought most of them were thrown in for fan service, with the exception of maybe Bishop, most of those mutants probably won’t ever have a chance to have a part in future films, I had no problem with him throwing them in, they were only needed for action sequences anyway.

Which creates a problem down the road when you realize someone you included as cameo fodder is dead, or were written completely different from their comic counterpart. Then you have to take someone else and shoehorn them into fitting into the plot. FOX would be smart to start planning their **** out for the long road ahead vs. just winging it from flick to flick. Especially if they're looking to "MCU" their franchises. As it stands now, they're about to lose their cash cow in two films when Jackman retires from the character which now won't fit without a recast, which will be lame given he's appeared in both franchises.

 

[pturtle]

Which creates a problem down the road when you realize someone you included as cameo fodder is dead, or were written completely different from their comic counterpart. Then you have to take someone else and shoehorn them into fitting into the plot. FOX would be smart to start planning their **** out for the long road ahead. Especially if they're looking to "MCU" their franchises. As it stands now, they're about to lose their cash cow in two films when Jackman retires from the character which now won't fit without a recast, which will be lame given he's appeared in both franchises.

For DOFP I thought it worked though, since they can pretty much bring anyone back, and reboot their character anyway they want.

Jackman is in the same position as Downey, they’re both going to have to be recasted soon in ongoing cinematic universes, blame father time not Fox

 

[DiFabio]

Stryker was only good in X2. I liked him more than Magneto.


"I was piloting black-ops missions in the jungles of North Vietnam when you were suckin' on your mama's tit at Woodstock, Kelly. Don't lecture me about war. This already is a war."

They should have left the character at that.



I hate the emphasis that's on Mystique now. You can devote all this time on J-Law but no Cyclops? Maaan. Mystique is the new Wolverine. Now she's messing up history with Logan, Styker and Weapon X.

 

[Darkseed]

I re-watched the movie again on iTunes and I still love it.

 

[Darth Snoopy]

Really? Fanboys still debating which is the the better movie, CA:WS or DOFP?

 

[thenammagazine]

Jackman is in the same position as Downey, they’re both going to have to be recasted soon in ongoing cinematic universes, blame father time not Fox

Marvel has an out in Rhodes donning the armor though and it's consistent with the comic. So Stark doesn't get recast, he just passes the torch. FOX doesn't have that luxury with Wolverine.

I hate the emphasis that's on Mystique now. You can devote all this time on J-Law but no Cyclops? Maaan. Mystique is the new Wolverine. Now she's messing up history with Logan, Styker and Weapon X.

I wouldn't be surprised if she moves to the forefront once Jackman bows out. I don't think recasting Wolverine while keeping all the same actors will work, so they'll need to put focus on someone else, and rather than go to the books, they'll look at Hollywood star power based on the target PG-13 demographic.

Really? Fanboys still debating which is the the better movie, CA:WS or DOFP?

Shouldn't you be begging for free badges in the Spook thread?

 

[jye4ever]

... ...

 

[karamazov80]

Really? Fanboys still debating which is the the better movie, CA:WS or DOFP?

Yeah, pretty sad that the Winter Soldier guys can't understand that they lost the debate a long time ago. The poor, deluded souls

Regarding some of the comments here, I agree that Rogue in this franchise wasn't great. I want the extended version of the film just because I'm sure it's good material, but as a character Rogue never did much for me. She wasn't much like she was in the comics, though I have a love-hate relationship with comic Rogue on top of all that. I really dug the character as she was written in the early-mid '80s. But then Jim Lee (or possibly Art Adams) turned her into a typically hot comic babe, and her personality started reflecting that on some level, and then I didn't care much anymore. I guess Jean Grey, Storm, Dazzler, and Betsy Braddock (both versions) weren't enough. At least Kitty Pryde was never turned into a fashion model (that I'm aware of).

I also only cared for Stryker in X2, though I appreciate their trying to bring him back in the prequels, as because of his strong anti-mutant agenda, and so you can imagine he would be involved in X-Men storylines prior to that point.

In terms of the cameos by characters at the beginning and end of the film, I thought it was great. First off, they perfectly served their dramatic purpose. These characters weren't supposed to be fully fleshed out, and didn't need to be. Yet they were given enough to be seen as real characters who knew each other personally and as well trained soldiers basically. War movies/shows will often show characters this way (Dirty Dozen, the Great Escape, the Longest Day, Band of Brothers), where only a handful of characters got real dramatic attention, but the story was richer for including all of them. And the team behaved the way team members would behave in comics, which was cool. I also liked the way the Avengers were handled at the end of that film, and the way the GOTG worked together. They all approached it in a different kind of way, yet they all worked for their respective films. I can only hope that either WB with DC or Fox with Fantastic Four can approach how any of these examples worked out.

 

[jye4ever]

... ...

 

[karamazov80]

Appropriate the DOFP fan (Mecha Godzilla) crushes Godzilla's windpipe for his insolence.