X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Super powered mutants, evil robots, time travel and a whole lot of flares and sideburns going on you wouldn't expect Bryan Singers newest X-Men outing to be anything but groovy, I just wish that was the case.

The latest in one of the longest running comic book movie series going, Days Of Future Past shows our favourite team of exceptional youngsters not so fresh faced anymore. Initially beginning in a dystopian future where mutants and the majority of mankind are all but extinct, no thanks to Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinkalage-Game Of Thrones) an anti-mutant military scientist who created the Sentinel Program, giant morphing robots that seek out mutants to purge them from the earth. Singer begins the film with imagery reminiscent of a concentration camp, bodies being strewn around by machines and the disheveled living wandering through cages. This is where old Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and old Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen) hatch a plan to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing Trask and changing the future they reside in. It's a lot to take in this soon into the movie but just go with it, there's so much else that will aggravate you if you think too hard about it and the plot almost pleads with you just to enjoy the ride.

Wolverine must now bring together a haggard and somehow walking Young Xavier (James McAvoy) now powerless after Beast gives him a serum he can take that takes away his powers but lets him walk again. Apparently injections can heal a broken spine, it's pretty dumb. Also having to find the other side of the morality coin is an imprisoned young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) serving life sentences for the apparent murder of President John. F. Kennedy one of the films highlights stems from his rescue with the aide of the super speedy Quiksilver, It's very reminiscent of the opening scene to X2 but somehow the schoolboy style humor he brings keeps it well in your mind after the credits roll.

As much as the internet seems to be loving Jennifer Lawrence at the minute and her characters development from happy go lucky shy girl to conflicted revolutionary is second only to Xavier's transformation into the wise teacher he'll become, she seems to get an abnormal amount of screen time as apposed to some others who could have desperately used it. For instance Trask's motivation for wanting all the mutants isn't that compelling and he's nothing more than a face for the films villains. As much as I hate the casting of Halle Berry as Storm it wouldn't have hurt to see more of what the future mutants could do, Iceman uses his classic ice slide for a moment and fan favourite Blink fights using portals which I left thinking she had one of the more visually stunning powers.

The film flogs a lot of what you've seen before however, Mystiques eyes glowing yellow while she's transformed and the obligatory Wolverine popping the bullets out of his chest/slow unsheathing of the claws, at times it feels like ideas were running thin in the creative department and even some new things they tried are a little forced (Beast can apparently Hulk out now) Everything aside however the performances are usually convincing, McAvoy and Fassbender outdo their elders and seeing the younger versions of characters you're used to be so flawed and full of youthful rage is a refreshing change of pace.

In it's own right the film is perfectly adequate, an oft confusing plot but full of great dialogue and high octane action pieces will keep you hooked, despite this if you're a fan of the series the contradictions to the other films and lazy wink to the audience will leave you feeling deflated.

Godzilla

The eighth one

Spoilers

After sixteen years since his last big screen outing (or ten if you've seen the Japanese ones) the undisputed king of monsters is back to smash up iconic landmarks and have your inner nine year old squeal with glee. Dinosaurs are cool but nuclear dinosaurs top everything.

The premise of the film basically follows the life of Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Kick ass) an explosive ordnance disposal technician and his family in two points of time. It initially begins in Japan where Ford's father Joe (Bryan 'Heisenberg' Cranston) an overworked nuclear power plant supervisor sends his wife and a team to look at the damages to the plants core. Disaster arrives on cue and after a huge explosion and the plant being quarantined we hurtle forward fifteen years to see Ford happy with a wife and son. All seems to being going well until he gets a call from Japan to go bail his now estranged father out of prison. The years have not been kind to Joe and his son only see's him getting lost in his conspiracy theories. You know whats bound to happen from here anyway, Joe's not so crazy and it gets a bit late to listen to him. There is one man who seems to have an almost prophetic knowledge of the giant monsters however, Ken Watanabe (Inception) plays Dr Serizawa (possibly an Easter egg from the nineteen fifty four movie) a scientist who works with Monarch, an organisation tracking a number of giant monsters for decades.

Despite a somewhat decent cast the human side of the monster story lacks tremendously, Taylor-Johnson and his on screen wife Elizabeth Olsen are almost a paint by numbers family and it will make you wince in horror. Hopefully it's just what they had to work with that is the problem and not their chemistry, otherwise Avengers 2: Age Of Ultron is going to have it's weak link. Aside from this the usually hard hitting actors are woefully underused, Cranston is as always a pleasure to watch and his trauma and outright frustration with shady government cover ups are one of the films highlights, and yet he's out of the film before the halfway mark. Watanabe also begins the film as a believable and mysterious character who devolves into a cliched mannequin who's sole function is to utter cryptic one liners and spout exposition no ordinary human would be able to arrive at, he unintentionally provides a few laughs however so I guess he has that going for him?

In this aspect it remains faithful to the Toho Studios films. Faithful in that around 85% of the film is comprised of lackluster human stories you sit through in anticipation for the real star of the movie. The build up is worth it and even after giving up a lot of screen time to the films villains (Giant monsters this time! Not the army for once.) Gojira's eventual debut is monumental, hats off to the art department because he looks incredible, and this version of the roar is both heroic and terrifying. He commands a presence and the sluggish but jarring shots he throws at the rival monsters are something you feel the force of, also his atomic breath is Awesome.

You weren't expecting an Oscar winner were you?
With all its faults and a tendency to drag every now and again Godzilla is a welcome return to the big screen and the lack of Matthew Broderick can only improve a movie. Look forward to the sequel, here's hoping for an appearance of this young lady.