The Obsessive Viewer

Release Date: May 23, 2014

Director: Bryan Singer

Written By: Simon Kinberg (screenplay and story), Matthew Vaughn (story) & Jane Goldman (story)

This summer the two studios which own rights to Marvel characters and aren’t named Marvel will duke it out at the box office. Sony will release the hotly anticipated (and lately scrutinized) Amazing Spider-Man 2. Without a major Marvel studios release, the only competition for Amazing 2 will be Bryan Singer’s return to the helm of the X-Men franchise in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Early excitement would indicate DoFP is the more likely to win the superhero box office battle this summer.

Note: Come back Thursday for a special Thursday edition of Trailer Tuesday for the release of the Amazing Spider-Man 2 trailer.

The X-Men: Days of Future Past two-minute teaser trailer, released in late October, reveals mostly what we already knew about the movie. The movie boasts the largest cast the franchise has ever seen as characters from the original X-Men trilogy (the third installment directed by Brett Ratner, the first two Singer,) and from 2011’s X-Men: First Class.

The plot, heavily influenced by the 1980s comic event of the same name, sounds genius, or at least comic-book gold; Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier is alive (and finally cruising around in his hover-chair.) Joined by Ian McKellen’s Magneto, Xavier convinces Wolverine to travel to the 70s to prevent a human-mutant war in the present. The details are still foggy, but of course that’s for the best. What we do know from the trailer is this:

• Every major character from First Class has returned including Michael Fassbender as young Magneto, James McAvoy as Xavier, and Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique.
• Most major characters from the original X-Men trilogy have returned including Anna Paquin as Rogue, Halle Berry as Storm and Shawn Ashmore as Iceman.
• Cyclops and Jean Grey are still notably absent and assumed deceased.
• New mutants include Warpath, Blink, Sunspot, and most excitingly, the time travelling Bishop.
• The fantastic Peter Dinklage is Boliver Trask. Comic fans know Trask invented Sentinals; giant robots designed to hunt and destroy mutants. There are no Sentinals in the trailer, but we can assume they will make an appearance.
• Richard Nixon is in the movie.
• Mystique cries.
• Young Charles Xavier uses Cerebro.
• Wolverine gets shot several times in the torso – heals.
• Including his cameo in X-Men: First Class, DoFP marks Hugh Jackman’s seventh appearance in a movie as Wolverine.

When the film was announced, fans were split about the choice of directors. Most people were thrilled about Singer’s return to the franchise; his X2: X-Men United is widely considered the strongest in the franchise. There was, however, a small but not overlooked faction of people who wanted to see what Matthew Vaughn could do with another movie. His X-Men: First Class was a much needed shot of adrenaline for the franchise which seemed to have lost its legs after X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were critical bombs. A sequel to First Class was a lock and early on Vaughn seemed like a sure thing. Until of course, the plot details were released, and it was revealed that Singer’s characters would return. Needless to say, I’m ecstatic about the movie.

Another notable element of the trailer is the inclusion of John Murphy’s “Sunshine (Adagio in D Minor),” which has quickly become the most popular way to score a trailer since it was written for Danny Boyle’s Sunshine in 2007. The song is damn effective. Its minor tones and epic build up really emphasize the Gravity (-pun, the song was also used in the trailer for this year’s Gravity) of the situation presented in the trailer. I can’t help but feel like the song is becoming overused, but so far it hasn’t lost its effectiveness. I’m not so bothered by its use; I know the actual score for the movie isn’t even finished, so it makes sense to use something recognizable and brilliant, I just tend to be reminded of how much of a bummer it is that Sunshine was so overlooked.

I want to briefly mention one other thing.  Last week a video claiming Magneto had a hand in the death of John F. Kennedy went viral. The video can be found at thebentbullet.com where users can research the theory. The theory is a clever play on “the magic bullet,” so I appreciate that, but if DoFP takes place in the 70s and JFK was assassinated in ’63, what’s the point? I’ve read reports that the event is some sort of catalyst for the uprising against mutants and the cataclysmic event in the present that prompts Wolverine’s time travel, but I guess only time will tell. In the comics, Mystique attempts an assassination on anti-mutant senator Robert Kelly that sparks the event. Could Mystique have killed JFK?

I can’t wait to find out. X-Men: Days of Future Past hits theaters May 23, 2014. You can view the trailer below.

OBSESSIVE NOTE:

You can read more of Mike’s contributions to the site here. You can also follow him on Twitter @IAmMikeWhite and hear him on The Obsessive Viewer Podcast. Don’t forget to like us on Facebook.

– Matt (@ObsessiveViewer)