X-Men: Days of Future Past The Rogue Cut (review)

                  Bryan Singer was at the helm of the latest period film to star Marvel’s mighty mutants. X-Men: Days of Future Past The Rogue Cut (2014) takes place in two settings a dystopic future and the 1970’s. The director’s cut of X-Men: Days of Future Past The Rogue Cut (2014) may cause some time travel for the audience too. They might be brought back to the heady days of the early 2000’s when every big DVD release was jam packed with special features. However, not since Blade Runner The Director’s Cut (1982) has an extended or directors cut truly elevated a film. In the glory days of DVDs before ITunes and Netflix rose to prominence DVD’s often came with extras like extend or deleted footage. Some DVD releases like The Lord of The Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) came with substantial extra footage. The final film in that trilogy had close to an hour in additional footage. That being said none of these releases ever contained footage that truly changed the film or cinematic experience.

                X-Men: Days of Future Past The Rogue Cut (2014) has truly been elevated by this new cut. Unlike many releases with “bonus” footage X-Men: Days of Future Past The Rogue Cut (2014) isn’t just longer cuts of scenes that were already in the film or scenes added as fan service. This cut of the film adds a an entirely new storyline that was left out of theatrical cut. Despite being a longer film this new cut is actually a better paced movie. In X-Men: Days of Future Past The Rogue Cut (2014) the future X-men are more proactive in the story and are given an actual mission to accomplish as opposed to the theatrical release. In the theatrical release the primary goal of the future X-Men was to stay hidden and survive. The large cast of future X-Men felt more like fan service cameos and introductions of new young characters for future sequels.  

                For the audience that loves the source material the film was based on the added plotline is a nice bonus too. The future X-Men going on a mission to break into a sentinel facility is a key plot point in the comic book Days of Future Past. I don’t want to mislead anyone into thinking that you’re getting the epic breakout from the concentration camp followed by the infiltration of the sentinel facility but it is a nice homage. This also helps the future X-Men stay true to their ethos of fighting for a world that hates & fears them. This mantra implies the X-Men are proactive and would not sit on their hands and just wait for Wolverine to accomplish his mission In the past.

                Two of the film’s most talented young stars Nicholas Hoult and Jenifer Lawrence get more character development in the new cut too. The added scenes with Beast and Mystique help give a better insight into their character motivations and internal conflicts. Also touching on their relationship helps the film to build on the continuity from the previous film. In the movie’s continuity the previous film took place a decade earlier and much has changed. The added Beast and Mystique scenes give us a taste of some of the conflicts and themes from the previous X-Men cinematic installment.

                What is more amazing then the movie itself or the oodles of cash it mad is the fact that the source material was just a two issue arc of Uncanny X-men. Admittedly it was by the incomparable partnership of Chris Claremont and John Byrne who also gave us The Dark Phoenix Saga among many other amazing stories. But to think a two issue arc has grown into one of most beloved and remembered X-Men stories is remarkable. This was in a time when a futuristic dystopias or alternate timelines were still somewhat of a fresh idea in the comic book world. This a movie whose directors cut has truly elevated the film and is not just a studio cash grab.  

 
  4 out of 5 Rogue's

Recommend