What I Really Think: The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner is not a great movie, but overall it was enjoyable.  Of the current run of post-apocalyptic-dystopia-future-young-adult-literature-adapted-to-film, I actually enjoyed this more than The Hunger Games. However, this movie isn’t without flaws.  The plot feels like it has a lot of holes, but at least the reveal at the question of how much is plot holes and how much was intentionally misleading.  The main character was pretty bland.  But overall I enjoyed the concept and watching them figure out the puzzle of the maze and how to escape.  Overall, I enjoyed watching it, but not enough depth to want to see it again. 

What I Really Think: X-Men Days of Future Past

This is my favorite movie so far this year.  Good action, good drama and a good story.  I still think X-Men 2 tops my list for X-Men movies overall, but this one is a close second.

When I saw X-Men: First Class, I was dubious about the choice of connecting Mystique’s history with Professor X’s.  But that choice really paid off in this movie, making her the emotional core.   Her choice becomes central, and her history allowed both sides to be compelling voices that mattered to her.  

I liked Magneto in this.  In the movie series I’ve always liked how willing and able he is to do whatever he considers necessary to help his agenda for mutants.  In this movie he doesn’t hesitate to turn on Mystique to make sure the Sentinels can never reach their full potential.   I did like it when he turned on her in the third movie after she lost her powers, but it worked for me here.  Though looking about I admit that her leaving her behind was in character for him in X-Men 3.

Quicksilver is a scene stealer when he’s around, and his big moment during the prison break is really fun to watch.  But he doesn’t get in the way of the other characters or the story.  He has his part in it and then cleaning steps aside.

I also appreciate that with the exception of Quicksilver they didn’t try to shoehorn a bunch of new characters into the story.  Sure, there’s a bunch of new faces in the future, but beyond knowing their powers we really don’t have to worry much about them.  They’re just there to set up the story and present some action scenes at the end.  The main bulk of the story remains lean, with just the few central characters

 

If you like superhero movies, this is one you shouldn’t miss.