Valiant News and Ninjak 1 Review

Editor's Note: With the recent news that  Valiant has secured funding for a 9 figure movie development deal, I thought now might be a good time for a review one of their most recent comic offering: Ninjak. StevieB also read the comic and agreed to help me with this review. Here's what we thought.

JIM: First, I want to say how amazed I am that Valiant has managed to get such a major development deal. In some ways, it makes perfect sense. Superhero movies are big now and Valiant is most likely the third biggest franchise available right now. (What else would even come close?) As it stands, they have a lot of cool characters that I would like to see make it to the big screen.

STEVIEB: Yessir! XO-Manowar should be the first!

JIM: I sort of agree with you there Steve, but I don't think we'll see him right off. I think the plan is go with Archer and Armstrong and Shadowman first. Both aren't really the trump cards I would play right off, but I suspect they may be cheaper to produce.  Ninjak sort of falls in the easy/cheap to make so I'm puzzled he wasn't listed over Shadowman as he seems a bit more popular. Speaking of which, what did you think of the first issue of Ninjak?

STEVIEB: Ninjak #1 brings to life the child hood fantasy of being a Ninja. The internet refers to him as a little bit James Bond and a little bit Batman. I disagree; replacing Batman with Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe fame seems a bit more in the right direction.

JIM: I can definitely see the James Bond comparison. I think gives that is where the series will thrive for me. Stories of International Intrigue and fast Action Adventure are always good comics fodder. Whether it's Layton/Micheline Iron Man or Ed Brubaker's Sleeper. I would say this book is on the right foot to begin a run that stands with both of those aforementioned series. Though I might be jumping the gun as this is just the first issue.

STEVIEB: Yeah, I’ve only read Ninjak in the Armor Hunters series. I’m currently in the first arc of XO-Manowar and I believe Ninjak’s first appearance in the rebooted Valiant Line is within the pages of the second arc. Thankfully, for a Valiant newcomer like myself, you don’t need any back story of the character to enjoy or understand this. You get introduced to his skill set by a comparison of a “Mark” that’s part of a mission that MI6 has tasked him with.

JIM: True. This issue was very nicely self contained. I suspect if I was a wider read Valiant fan, I'd see more easter eggs, but there was nothing that made me feel like I was missing anything. What did you think of the art?

STEVIEB: Clay Mann’s art is incredible.

JIM: Agreed. I especially liked the work he put into what I would consider non-essential details (like the monkeys on this page)

It's that sort of extra effort that makes a great artist. If I had any complaints about the issue, it's that the main story is too short.

STEVIEB: Yeah, there’s three different stories that take place in this issue: All written by Matt Kindt. Two in the main run that include a current story, a child Colin King (Ninjak when he’s not … Ninja- ing), that acts as flash backs that refer back to what’s going on in the main story; and

STEVIEB: The main story...

JIM: Which I liked better...

STEVIEB: ...takes us through a day in the Life of MI6’s most popular freelance Ninja and starts a fun action packed story that involves Ninjak’s infiltration of an Arms Making organization called “The Weaponer”. The second story - a backup of Colin when he first joined MI6 and had no training: beautifully drawn by Butch Guice.


JIM: I think Butch Guice was a good choice for the second story, though it didn't grab me right off. I liked the main story better. After his excellent run on Captain America, you sort of expect these type of Super Spy Espionage stories from him. His eye for city scenes and expressions gives such stories the realism needed to carry off the plots.

JIM: Overall, I give this first issue a thumbs up. Like all the Valiant books, there is a sense that they are keeping a very tight rein on their titles and not letting events lead their storylines. (So far. Hopefully that will continue after the movies start coming out.)


STEVIEB: I agree and highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a well written, action filled story that starts off very strong and starts the development of one of Valliant’s most intriguing characters. Ninjak brings the fun and thrills that seem to be missing from the Big Two lately.

- Jim and StevieB

Is The Power Rangers Fan Film Too Dark?

StevieB returns to the FBU with his opinion of the recent Power Rangers  fan film that was released last week:

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So if you weren't arguing about the color of a dress this week you may have checked out the short Power Ranger fan film directed by Joseph Kahn and produced by Adi Shankar (Dredd).

 I grew up in the 90’s: I was 8 when I first watched Power Rangers. I was the target for this “remake”.

The first time I watched this I absolutely loved it. I thought “This is exactly how an adult Power Ranger should be!” But after sitting with it for a while and watching it again, my mind changed. This short may have actually been too dark.

I know what a lot of you are thinking:

Look, I love the dark and gritty like any other twenty something male but I think this was over the top. For something like this to be successful as a legitimate remake it needs to appeal to both the young and the old. You can make a movie adult but keep it tame enough to also appeal to children. This is important because it’s currently on TV as a child’s show. There doesn’t need to be gratuitous sex scenes, hardcore drug use, and massive amounts of violence for the movie to appeal to multiple generations and actually be good.

From a fan perspective, I really didn’t like the helmet design.

The color matches and it has the mouth piece but that’s about as far as it resembles the original Pink Ranger Helmet. I was actually off-put by this even the first time I watched.

The costumes as well:

I’ve always thought that an “Adult Power rangers” would be more armored. The gloves and the skin tight costumes never made much sense. I mean, if you’re going to try to make it more adult at least make the costumes more believable.

I still think this was a well done Fan Film and a nice “Else Worlds” tale. A “What if?” if you will. It just doesn’t have the themes and fun that make Power Rangers what it is. I am still very much looking forward to the legitimate movie coming out next summer.

What did you think of the fan film?

You can still check it out here. Watch it while you can. Saban is fighting hard to have it taken down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw5vcUPyL90#t=16

- StevieB

StevieB's Top 5 Comic Events for 2014

Editor's Note: Consider todays post part 2 of the Flashback Universe 2014 review. Today,  StevieB presents his view of the Top 5 Newsworthy comic events for 2014. - Jim

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In case I haven’t plugged myself enough, I Co-Host a podcast called Nerds of the Apocalypse which can be found on iTunes and YouTube. Our end of year topic was the most influential thing this year for each of us. When Jim asked me for an end of year post I decided to follow suite but lean more in the comics category. Here is my top 5 most influential things for comics this year.


Number 5: The Bat Girl Change

I honestly only read a 10ish page preview of the new Batgirl book and this turned me off completely. I get that we are trying to hit a different demographic but this just seemed like too drastic of a change. I just can’t see Barbara Gordon this way. She doesn’t seem like the type that would bring a random guy home from the club and not remember it because she was drunk. Batman should have taught her better.


Number 4: Marvel Cancelling Fantastic Four

So Marvel is going to cancel the Fantastic Four in 2015.  All over movie rights? Really? I confess that the Fantastic 4 is not a book I pull but I do enjoy having the characters in the other books I read. It just seems petty to me that Marvel would go to these lengths to thwart a movie release. This mainly affects the Comic fans and we are the ones who know how bad this movie is actually going to be. It’s not like most fans who have been keeping up with the leaked news about the movie are going to see it anyway. AM I RIGHT?!



Number 3: The Flash TV Series

I was debating if I should keep it all strictly comics or add in some T.V. or movie stuff. I decided to add at least one, the most influential, The Flash T.V. Series. Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Season 2) are very good but nothing brings the Comic book world to life more than The Flash. I literally have loved every minute of this show. The lore they introduce and characters that show up on the show are incredible. It opens itself up to almost endless possibilities. It does have its hiccups here and there (Barry and Iris) but the good completely outweighs the bad. Not to mention, it’s a show my wife really enjoys as well.

Number 2: Geoff Johns taking over Superman
 

Since the New 52 began Superman was “just ok” to me. This was mostly because I was reading these books through Fanboy eyes. When Geoff Johns took this book over it finally made it an exciting read for me again. I’m really enjoying the story with Ulysses. The John Romita Jr. art does not hurt this new story direction either.

Number 1: My introduction to Valiant Comics 

You may or may not have listened to Jim and I on our “Monkey Talk” Podcast but one of the things discussed a couple of months ago was Valiant’s Armor Hunters crossover story. Up until that point, I had never read anything Valiant. That entire crossover hit on all cylinders and I’ve now been reading this.

These stories are new and refreshing. The writing and art are superb. If you haven’t read anything from the re-launched Valiant line, I implore you to at least pick up and read the first few issues or the first trade of X-O Manowar. I can almost guarantee you’ll be enthralled by the story of Aric of Dacia and his battle armor. There is so much more but this is a great place to start.


It’s been a great year for comics. I know I’m going against the popular opinion when I say I’m really looking forward to the new Secret Wars. What most influenced you this year in comics? What are you looking forward to the most out of Comics in 2015?

- StevieB

Star Wars Trailer Review

Editor's Note: This week, StevieB gives us his thoughts on the Star Wars trailer. - Jim

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Since the last time I posted we now have a title and a teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens! The title is good: very vague as the first subtitle to all the Star Wars movies have been: “A New Hope” and “The Phantom Menace”. You really get very little insight to the movie with these titles but when the movie’s over you think, “Oh! Now I get it!” The only kind of speculation I can form from it is that there may not have been that much going on in the past 30 years since the destruction of the Death Star II, at least “Wars” related.  This doesn’t bode well for the diehard EU (expanded universe) fans but again, just speculation on my part. But forget about the title, let’s talk about the trailer!

The trailer is broken upon into quick sections, let’s go over each one.

The trailer opens with John Boyega’s character seeming to be chased around Tatooine? (Looks like twin suns, and what Star Wars trilogy wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Tatooine). This was very appealing to me.

It’s crazy to see a Storm Trooper without their helmet on, let alone showing any emotion at all. This is the first time we’ve ever seen this. This also solidifies the fact that, just like in the EU, at some point clones were replaced with regular people. It still remains to be known How, Why, and When. 

You can also hear the sounds of a probe droid behind him. It seems like he may be defecting. Maybe he finally realized the Empire was evil?
It’s also important to know that he is billed as one of the new leads for this iteration and more than likely this trilogy.

The trailer then moves to this little guy.

Could he be the new Astromech droid? I, personally, feel like there’s no replacing R2-D2 but they can try. Also note what looks to be Pod Racing Engines in the background. This also feeds my theory that this is Tatooine.

After that, we get a look at the new Storm Troopers.

 Just enough changes to feel new and old at the same time. I dig the new design. This part of the trailer was also very cinematic. I feel it may set the tone for what the whole movie will be like. It feels very different from either trilogy but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Then, we move to Daisy Ridley’s character who, I’m really hoping, ends up being the daughter of Han and Leia.

First off, is that a light saber or a vibro blade she has attached to the speeder? Maybe being trained by her Uncle Luke on Tatooine in Uncle Ben’s old home?! Sigh… A Fanboy can dream, can’t he?

Then, we have the quick X-Wing above water scenes with Oscar Isaac’s character piloting one of these beauties.

This scene was my favorite. It was beautiful and nostalgic. Also proof that X-Wings work fine on land as well. There is some mild differences in the new version of this famous Star Fighter. The Wings themselves are a bit different. They are half the size of what they used to be and when the S-Foils are closed they seem to form one wing. As compared to the two wings on top of each other from the Original trilogy.

Now, the most talked about portion of the trailer: the new villain and his new style Light Saber!

A lot of people think this awesome new broad sword saber wouldn’t work. I completely disagree. I actually believe it maybe an Ancient Sith Weapon with some form of Plasma exhaust ports. Adam Drivers character (he may or may not be the character featured above) has been rumored to be hunting Ancient Sith Relics through the movie. I could go on about how it could work either way, but I think I’ll share this video of Stephen Colbert breaking it down. Skip to 3:12 if you don’t want to watch the whole thing. I feel like he sums it up nicely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0x1EWahShM

I also wonder if this character is even a villain. We all just assume he is because of the Red Saber. I guess we will have to wait and see.

And last but not least, nothing feels more like Star Wars than the Millennium Falcon and Tie Fighters!

This is when we truly know we are back. If you didn’t have goose bumps before, you did by this point. The biggest thing to note here is the Falcon’s engine; much more defined.
Then the trailer ends, and if you’re anything like me, you watched it 100 more times.

My final thoughts are this:

• 30 Years later, it seems the Empire and the Rebels (New Republic) are still going at it. Maybe there is some kind of peace that gets broken in the beginning of the movie? 
• We don’t see any of the original characters but somehow it still feels like the Original Trilogy.
• Not a single scene of this trailer takes place in Space. Just something to think about.  
• I think it’s going to be hard for me to see these Storm Troopers as the same in the Original Trilogy. It will be interesting to see how much of that time is referenced in this movie. Are there even any Clones left?

This trailer delivered on all cylinders for me. I didn’t think I could be more excited for December 18th 2015, but I was clearly wrong. What did you think? Did the trailer send you flying to cloud 9 like me or did you dislike parts of it?

- StevieB

The 3 Types of Star Wars Fans

StevieB returns with a post on a subject I rarely give the attention it deserves: Star Wars!

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I once got a piece of advice to write what I’m passionate about. Something that’s always been near and dear to my heart has been Star Wars. If you’re still reading, I know what you’re thinking. “Another one of those crazy Star Wars guys.” Well you may be right but ever since I can remember I’ve been in love with the Galaxy Far Far Away and I hope to share some of that love with you. It seems, to me, that I’m an experiment here in the Flashback Universe Blog. Hopefully I won’t need my targeting computer to shoot the torpedo into that small little exhaust port that is your Star Wars fandom.


For my first blog post, I want to define the three major Star Wars fans as I see them and where I fall amongst the ups and downs of Star Wars Fandom. So, we have the prequel era fans. This is, generally, the younger audience. By younger I mean people in their 20’s. Episode 1 came out in 1999. I was 13. I would make an

Original Trilogy Purist completely Nerd rage by saying that this episode was my favorite; but more on them later. I know what you’re thinking:



I understand that he’s not the most interesting character in Star Wars but you cannot deny the fact that kids love him. George Lucas has always said that Star Wars has always been for kids; and my 5 year old daughter found this character to be very entertaining. As a 13 year old, I loved the city of Theed on Naboo along with the amazing light saber sequence at the end that I still hold as being one of the best duels in the saga.



I won’t break down the other two as much, but Episode 3, the only Star Wars movie to be PG-13, really helped bring up the lackluster Episode 2 (my least favorite of the six). The Anakin and Obi Wan duel at the end of Revenge of the Sith was very brutal and emotional. Very entertaining. The infamous Darth Vader “NOOOOOOOOOOO!” excluded.

The prequel era fans also tend to find the Original Trilogy rather boring. But there are some people who love both. This is what I like to call the “Everything Star Wars” fan. No matter what comes out, they eat it up. The Clone Wars animated show (Which is actually very good and currently streaming on Netflix. I highly recommend it), the comic books, novels, and even the video games. This is the kind of fan that when asked what trilogy they prefer they generally just exclaim, all of them! This is the heart and soul of Star Wars fandom. There is no anger towards George Lucas for “ruining their child hood” or complete avoidance of the original trilogy because the graphics are terrible. I am a little bias here because this is the category I find myself in. But I do like to engage in the occasional argument of which is better, Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi? *cough Empire *cough.


Not so much the “who shot First” argument. Han is a bad ass to me. No Matter what.



So I want you all to know that I debated hard what order to put this in. I was going to save the “everything fan” for last but it just didn’t seem to flow. So, last but not least there’s the Original Trilogy purest. These are the people that didn’t want their beloved Star Wars to be altered at all from the way they vividly remember them from child hood. The fact that George added a Dewback to the background on Tatooine meant their child hood was just raped! I recently watched The People VS George Lucas...



...also on Netflix, and I was astounded by the amount of people that felt like they were owed something because the original Trilogy was altered. This is the group I understand the least. I get it, you grew up with these movies like I did with the altered movies and the new trilogy. But if changes were made to Episode 1 and rereleased I really don’t think I would lose my mind over it. I can guarantee I wouldn’t scream out that my child hood is now ruined. Even when the altered DVDs came out, they came with unaltered versions as well. But that wasn’t good enough, people wanted unaltered Blu Rays along with the new even more altered high def versions released on the same format. At what point is enough, enough? That being said, the current rumor is that Disney is working hard to transform the unaltered into high def for a blu ray release. So, they may actually get their wish.

Now you know where I fall in this grouping that I’ve been judging Star Wars fans for years, where do you fall? With the amp towards Episode 7 I’d like to post some new and interesting things that pop out of the interwebs. Is that something you’d like to read about? I hope you enjoyed reading this as much I did writing it and remember, the Force will be with you, always.

P.S.
Sorry about the Jar Jar pic.

What I hope Superman vs Batman Isn't

Editor's Note: Stevie B returns this week with a post about his thoughts on the Superman Vs Batman movie. - Jim

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DC recently announced the official title of the Man of Steel sequel. Turns out, it’s not a Man of Steel sequel at all.

 

My fellow podcast brothers and I recently poked fun at this on a weekly SNL Weekend update style Nerdy News show we do. This is what we came up with.



You can see the full video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7P7a4SK3p8

Two things I want to talk about here:

First, this title almost solidifies that at some point during the movie, there will be a fight between Batman and Superman. I was really hoping that this wasn’t going to be the case. Furthermore, with this image being released:   



It almost guarantees we will see a variation of the fight from the end of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns. I was desperately hoping that we would avoid this. Specifically this scene.



It looks like that won’t be the case.

I’m one of the biggest Superman fanboys I know. When I collide with a similarly scaled Batman fanboy, the age old Batman Vs Superman almost inevitably comes up. Honestly, I’m almost sick to death of the argument, but Warner Bros. knows it’s what the mainstream wants and, by god, they are going to get it!

I would much rather have had this movie be titled World’s Finest, and not have it include this drag down fight everyone wants to see. I really enjoyed the Superman Animated Series version which encompassed three episodes titled World’s Finest.

Superman and Batman didn’t fight, but also didn’t like each at other at first. Batman, simply, showed Superman that he could do everything that a man with superpowers from outer space could do just in a different fashion.  It concluded with the two realizing that they could do much greater good together than apart. THAT is what I would like to see.

Unfortunately, people want to see the drag down fight and watch Batman win because “HE’S BATMAN”! I have a strong suspicion that is what will get, and I will have to keep reminding people that even though he won here, Superman, at anytime he wanted, could simply lobotomize Batman from Space. 

The second thing I wanted to mention with this title is it seems they are going a different route than Marvel Studios’ movies. I’m not sure if he had some insider information, but Kevin Smith said, on his Hollywood Babble-On Podcast, this:

"They’re obviously beginning something, and there’s a stretch of these flicks. This is the beginning of the Justice League, as we all suspected as they were announcing that cast. We were like, ‘This is the beginning of a Justice League movie.’ From what I understand now, it’s no longer like, ‘This is Superman 2.’ They’re not doing these things. They’re doing like, ‘Here’s Man of Steel. Here’s Batman/Superman: Dawn of Justice.’ The next one is not like a sequel to one of the characters. They’re just going to keep building their universe for about five or six movies. But all of them…it’s supposed to tell one massive story, which is all Justice League oriented."

I am 100 percent for this, and I think it’s a good way for DC to “catchup”. Having these movies to focus on one of the Justice league members but include the others, is a good jump ahead and can end up really good if written well. I know that I was watching Iron Man 3 thinking, “Where is Captain America while the AMERICAN President is being abducted?” I know that’s a small nitpick but it would be fun to see that sort of thing and it seems DC may be going that route.

While pondering this with Jim, I had a thought: “What’s one thing that would blow the lid off of the DC movies?”



The Crime Syndicate.
How Awesome would it be, if these actors played the evil versions of themselves, and actually fought them?! Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I feel with some good build up that could turn out great! This would also mean the inclusion of the DC multiverse, in some fashion, which is kind of scary, but it can be done!

That’s my dream. What would you like to see in an ongoing series of Justice League Movies?

-StevieB

Days Of Future Past Movie Review by Special Guest: Stevie B!

Editor's Note: Today's post is from my friend Stevie B! One of the hosts of Nerds of the Apocalypse podcasts (as well as several other podcasts to which you will find links below.) As I've been unable to see Days of Future Past this weekend, I asked Stevie B to help me out with a review of the movie.
Warning, this review has spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet, you might want to come back after you have. Now with that disclaimer out of the way, let's see what Stevie thought of the movie. - Jim

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My first blog post! Go easy on me! Jim and I decided the best thing to do would be for me to tackle an X-Men: Days of Future past review. I was trying to decide the best way to go about it and I came to the conclusion that it would be best to just do an open forum with some key points and then a final thought. So here I go!

X-Men: DOFP, in my eyes, was Fox’s attempt to put right what once went wrong. They, mostly, succeeded with this.


First, let’s talk story. It had its differences with the classic Claremont and Byrne story, but still kept the fundamental points. There’s a desolate future where only a few X-Men are left and on the run from Sentinels. Some we’ve seen, some we haven’t. Blink, honestly, stole the show for me in the future sequences. I’ll get to her more in a moment. Mystique murders Bolivar Trask alone instead of Senator Kelly with The Brotherhood of Mutants.  Apparently, the newly formed Brotherhood we saw at the end of First Class has already been disbanded and Magneto imprisoned. I did enjoy the use of Trask. It really worked for the story being told but, I also missed Kelly. I think he was underused and killed off too quickly in the first X-men movies. Kitty Pryde still has a lot do with saving the future but, she projects the consciousness of other mutants back in time, not hers. Enter: The Wolverine. Of course, we need him for this movie to be successful!   That was my initial thought as well but, it was great to see The Wolverine from-old mixed with those that are left from First Class. I ended up enjoying that choice over Pryde.

This was a period piece; but not as much as First Class.  Once Wolverine wakes up in the 70’s, I got a big terminator vibe which lasted long enough for it not to be annoying. We, quickly, find Xavier and Beast alone in the mansion. As in the Brotherhood, Xavier’s X-Men, who started in FC, is also in shambles and Xavier is in a very Dark Knight Rises Bruce Wayne like depression. The classic, “I’m drinking my woes away, leave me alone!” kind of way. He is, also, walking and Beast is not blue. This is quickly explained by a serum that Beast created. Of course, the serum allows Xavier to walk but he loses the ability to use his X-Gene.

After this, the movie changed for me. I was expecting to see a “get the band back together movie” but that didn’t happen, and honestly it was a bit refreshing. Wolverine enlists Quicksilver to help break Magneto out of prison, but this is all we see of him. This was his only part of the movie. Which was really disappointing. He ended up being one of my favorite characters in the film.


Magneto, in Magneto fashion, turns on everyone shortly after joining up and it becomes a “how do we convince Mystique to do the right thing” story, while Magneto tries to kill her: His absolute way of stopping the Future events. If she dies, the future sentinels (which are powered by a technology learned from Mystique’s X-gene) can never be built. They are so devastating because they can learn mutants’ ability and use them in battle. The initial assassination was thwarted, but Mystique was still hell bent on revenge killing Trask. She learned about the death of many of the throw away mutants from First Class at his hands. I thought this to be understandable motivation. It worked for me.

With the events that Trask avoided, this convinced the President to push forward his Six Sentinels that he’s already built, that Magneto takes control of simply by injecting metal into them. Trask built them with… well, I don’t remember, but not metal! The movie concludes with a gigantic fight on the lawn of the White House, and the future X-Men fighting the future sentinels. Unfortunately, the White House scenes where my least favorite parts of the movie. I was expecting a huge drag out fight with the Sentinels; instead, Magneto is in control of them using them against humans. This, to me, was more about character than action. Xavier has his powers back. He had a redemption talk with his older self through Wolverine to become the Xavier we all know and love. He’s using his new found old abilities on Mystique who, at the end, sees things his way. She stops Magneto and shows the world that Mutants really can be good! They allow Magneto to leave, which pondered me. He put out a message for other mutants to join him; so hopefully we will the see the development of that later. 

The final scenes were probably the best. Wolverine wakes up in the “new future” where some amazing cameos are made. The best being the return of James Marsden as Cyclops! This says to me, “Sorry about X-Men 3, we will try to do better”. The movie ends with a post credits scene of the upcoming Apocalypse movie which looked really cool. My final thoughts about the story soon, but first, my favorite mutants!

I decided to add this because there really was some impressive new mutants in this movie.

Let’s start with Blink, one of the Future Mutants



Her portal powers where used so well on her own and in unison with the other X-Men! It was a delight to watch.

Then, we have Quicksilver.



When I first saw this getup, I thought the same thing you probably did. WHAT A JOKE! How pleasantly surprised was I to find out that he actually stole the show. He was by far my favorite character in the movie. My only issue is that he wasn’t in more of it. But, honestly, if he was in the rest of the movie wouldn’t have needed to take place. With his power set, he could have easily completed the goals the other cast members struggled so hard with. I really, really hope we see more of him in future movies. There was even a backwards mention of Magneto being his father. Which is something I thought they were going to shy away from in this flick, but it seems they gave us a tease and are shelving it for another time.

I thought it would be fun to do a quick “things I liked and didn’t like” section.

Things I liked:

The future scenes where great. The old cast actually had me reminiscing on the old movies and were, actually, put together really well. The new mutants where all unique and fun. Seeing Bishop, as well, was a delight.

As I said before, Quicksilver was one of the best parts of the movie. I still think it sounds crazy when I say it out loud.

The last ten minutes of the movie, when Wolverine wakes up and is in the new timeline, there was a sense of relief. Everyone is back.  Everyone is fine; and we can finally look forward to something that won’t have anything to do with Last Stand.

Things I didn’t like:

The past sentinels. I didn’t really like their design. I was, also, raised in the nineties so my first introduction to the sentinels was this:


And what I got was this:


This may just me being nitpicky, but I just wasn’t into it.

The final fight in the 70’s portion of the movie was kind of a miss for me, as well. I sort of expected an epic mutant/sentinel showdown (which we did get in the future portion of the movie), but that culminated with all the future mutants being destroyed. I have to be honest, though, my biggest let down from those scenes was Wolverine. He doesn’t have his metal claws in the 70’s, so we have a bone-clawed Wolverine the entire time. So when it comes down to fighting the sentinels, he can’t cut through them. Which is something I was really looking forward to. In this Days of Future Past, wolverine centric movie, he doesn’t tear a sentinel apart with his claws. What?

Final Thought:

Days of Future Past is a step up from what we’ve seen in the past few iterations of the X- movies. I, almost, feel like a full reboot after First Class was planned, but then they decided to mix the universes and kept only the major Characters. This movie was a great way to erase the terrible that has come before it. There were some last stand flashbacks and this movie acted like Origins Wolverine never existed. As do most of us. I really liked this movie: I did not love it. My biggest let down was that Magneto was by himself. I do like the group of out- for- themselves mutants. Some people may take that as a plus, though.  This was not the typical X-men movie. There was no one side of mutants VS the other. Just misguided Mystique and classic destroy- all- humans Magneto. It’s exciting to see where things go from here. The sky is the limit and I think that was the point. We have no idea what has happened in this new timeline.

I’ll end with an analogy with the viewer’s being young Xavier and Fox being the old. Old Xavier, at one point, is able to communicate with young Xavier and asks him to hope again. And just like young Xavier, I am hoping again.

- Stevie B

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Thank you Stevie for that excellent review!

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