Summer Movie Memories: All It Took Was Time Travel To Revive The X-Men Movies

Over the next seven days, I'll be looking at seven different summer movies from Summer 2014 and analyzing what really made them stand out this summer, for reasons both good and bad. Obviously, SPOILERS for X-Men: Days of Future Past lie ahead. 

The X-Men franchise has transcended the traditional trilogy model most film series settle for, to the point where they've more than double such a quantity. Their seventh movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past, debuted this Memorial Day to rave reviews and massive box office. And why not? The movie was a lot of fun, and it was really well-made. Interestingly, the premise for the movie on paper sounds like a desperate ploy to wring money out of a dead franchise, and yet they turn it into an emotionally effective feature full of surprises.

Time travel has been used numerous times before in the world of cinema, especially in blockbuster filmmaking. But on the rare occasion major sequels got around to utilizing the trope, it was at the point where the series was in a state of creative turmoil (see: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, MIB3) I actually enjoyed MIB3, and I haven't seen the third Turtles feature, but both were certainly placed in a time where fresh new ideas for both franchises was running low. Time travel as a storytelling device isn't bad at all, but when used in this fashion, it feels more than a bit desperate.

One thing that helps X-Men, even just from a conceptual standpoint, is that it's based on an extremely well-known comic book arc that many have been clamoring for an adaptation of. The film pretty much uses only the most basic aspects of it (Kitty Pryde, Wolverine, Sentinels, Time-Travel) but the best part is, the elements they add in are just excellent. The way they let Wolverine help Xavier at his lowest point helps emphasize just how far the "World's First Canadian Superhero" has come in the fourteen years these movies have existed.

I was worried Matthew Vaughn not coming back meant this entry would lose a lot of the personality that particular director brought to the enormously awesome X-Men: First Class. Thankfully, Bryan Singer returns to this world with plenty of flourish, as well as a realization that he and the films four screenwriters (Matthew Vaugh and Simon Kinberg among that four) share: these films should have a heavy emphasis on characters, not just hallow spectacle. You can have plenty of cool explosions and evil robots, but The Avengers two years ago proved that if you don't care about the characters, it doesn't work.

 Another good element it brings from that massive Marvel team-up feature is a sense of wonder that's hard to ignore. It's no surprise to me that the most memorable scene in the movie is a scene simply showing Quicksilver using his power of super-speed in an entertaining manner. The scene is so well-directed and paced, and really, the character is having so much fun with his awe-inspiring powers that it's hard not to jump in on that infectious feeling of joy.