By Jacob Cameron

The passing of Sir Patrick Stewart is a tragedy. Stewart was someone who had been acting since the 1950’s and had provided many memorable performances on stage and screen. Trying to nail down what his best performance was is impossible. However, there is a performance that resonates with me in many ways.

X-Men: Days of Future Past was directed by Bryan Singer, director of X-Men and X2, and saw the return of the X-Men from the present and the past. In a dark twist and in a dark future, the mutants have been hunted and contained to near extinction. This is being done by robots called Sentinels; capable of adapting and containing any form of mutant power. In a desperate play, Wolverine is sent back to the past to stop the creation of the sentinels before they’re created.

This film, in a way, did a multiverse before the MCU. The meeting of the past and the present was something novel in itself in superhero movies. Few if any movies have done it better than Days of Future Past. For the past, characters and the present truly have to help each other in order to stop the sentinels. Which means accepting the traumas of their past and burying the grudges of the present to protect the future.

While the cast is stellar, the standouts are Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and especially Patrick Stewart. Stewart had been playing Professor X since 2000, and while his role is limited, the role is the emotional heart of the film. Two of the best scenes of the film feature Stewart; one is a small scene featuring Professor X and Magneto, where both ponder why they spent all the years they did fighting each other. The other is when young Professor X is confronted by old Professor X with Wolverine’s mind as a conduit. While the young Professor proclaims “I DON’T WANT YOUR FUTURE!” The older X simply says “we need you to hope again.” Young Professor X and Young Magneto have an excellent scene on a plane that deserves hunting down.

The film wears its heart on its sleeve; but it never forgets to have great action and to be a great X-Men film. The final action scene at the White House is a particular standout; it features Magneto lifting a baseball stadium out of the ground and using it as a wall to keep out prying eyes. On another front, the conceit of the X-Men is incredibly well represented. Mystique, fighting for the rights of many dead mutants, wants to destroy the sentinels and their creator, Bolivar Trask. The Sentinels are created as a response to the actions of Mystique. There’s a need to stop Mystique while trying to protect Mutants from Human cruelty.

Ultimately, this is the best X-Men film. It is Patrick Stewart’s best turn as Professor X. And over 10 years later, the X-Men films have never been better than this film. In all likelihood, the films will never be this good again.

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 stars