The first time I saw X-Men Days of Future Past was aboard my plane from Vancouver Canada to Sydney Australia. (There were of course layovers in there) That was last October. I actually have a picture somewhere of my airplane TV screen twisted to face me, my fold down table in front of me with dinner and surprisingly good red wine, (all included) and across the TV screen is Erik/Magneto's face. I can still remember sitting down to the ten hour flight, (I think that's right) and deciding which movies to see. I chose the new Planet of the Apes and Edge of Tomorrow, saving the new X-Men for last.
I remember being disappointed by Days of Future Past. In retrospect, it's probably because I went in with the wrong expectations. When I sat down to see First Class, (admittedly only because my brother insisted) I began not wanting to see it because it was a set of heroes I'd never been interested in. Once I was hooked, (which was by the ocean rescue scene) I then braced myself for the inevitable ending. There's a blog post on here called Magneto Meets King Kong. It was to demonstrate that in certain movies, you know where you're heading. You don't sit down to Titanic hoping for a happily ever after. You don't watch King Kong and root for him getting down off that tower. You don't sit down to X-Men First Class and cross your fingers the central friendship survives. You can't. You know better.
Which was why for the sequel, I kind of "did" have my fingers crossed. I was disappointed to find that at the end of the film, Charles and Erik were as far apart as ever. More than that, I was frustrated with Erik. I felt that his character seemed inconsistent. I couldn't understand him. I knew that his cause came first, before loved ones, before having a home, before what he himself wanted. What I didn't get was how he could sit across from Charles on an airplane and apologize for everything, accuse his old friend of abandoning him as much as he'd abandoned Charles, going to such an extreme as to jeopardize the entire plane....only to then switch back to his own side, thus shooting Raven, abandoning their team again and going so far as to shoot on his own race by the end.
I wanted Erik to give it up. I wanted him to realize that what he's doing is endangering mutants as much as he's inspiring and protecting them. For gods sake, he was firing on his own people! He tortured Logan. He dropped a stadium on Beast and Charles. (Although he didn't actually know Charles was there)
I got to see the movie for the second time yesterday. Originally, I'd just wanted Coryn to see it since we'd been discussing X-Men. Then, mom wanted to see it because it had Tate from American Horror Story as Quick-Silver. After that, Caspian wanted in and dad followed. It turned into an Orr event. Dad made popcorn. There was pizza and some alcohol. And of course, there was razzing.
During the trailers, when only she and I were there, mom asked me why this was one of my favorite movies. (I hadn't realized until getting everybody to see it that it was) "I like the two relationships that play out opposite each other. You have the young Charles and Erik who have done nothing but betray and abandon each other. You also have the older Charles and Erik who have forgiven everything and want nothing but to stand side by side." (Which was, of course, what they wanted as young adults too) I thought it was a good answer to a question I hadn't even really considered before.
Mom commented on how much Jennifer Lawrence hated being painted blue for the role of Raven. (Mom wrote a book on her) Everybody noticed how Charles still has his hair and how healthy Beast looked now that the actor wasn't playing a zombie. (Nicolas Holt played the guy in Warm Zombies) We all went through the confusion of Erik's decisions. We all shouted and threw popcorn when Erik insisted on carrying an entire stadium over to the White House. (Erik can be a bit overkill, carrying a bridge when he's older, carrying a stadium as a young adult...) At the end, we all noticed how Logan was saved, not by Stryker, but by Mystique. (I had not noticed this before) We wondered how that changed Logan's life? When we were done, we watched the gag reel. It was hysterical! It was as good as the Supernatural ones. Hugh Jackman is a doofus. Michael Fassbender still sounds weird to me with his Irish accent. Michael and James are adorable together, but not as much as Ian Mckellen and Patrick Stewart.
My favorite two moments from the gag reel?
(1) Charles awkwardness navigating his new wheelchair on the catwalk to Cerebro. (I read online he knocked Logan off the walkway a few times)
(2) Erik getting the helmet stuck on his head.
My favorite moments over all?
(1) Charles hitting Erik when he first sees him in the Pentagon elevator, only to then grip tight to his shirt front when Erik is about to make a very bad decision. (Have you ever noticed that Charles doesn't need to read his friends mind to know what he's going to do or even wants to do?)
(2) There being a chessboard in Charles' study.
(3) Erik looking at Charles at the end, in the stadium. Erik is frozen because of Charles. "If you let them take me, you know I'm as good as dead Charles." "I know." But Charles lets him go anyway. Like Miles letting Monroe live in Revolution, there's betrayal and then there's letting the person who betrayed you die. That's the impossible.
(4) Old Erik is wounded and dying. He reaches out to clasp arms with old Charles. "All those years on different sides, so angry-to have just a few of them back...."
(3) The entire scene on the airplane. Erik apologizing and of anything in the whole movie, I think he means it when he says "I'm sorry Charles." I also think his betrayal is just as agonizing when he nearly downs the entire plane with the accusation of:
"Angel. Azazel. Emma. Banshee. Mutant brothers and sisters - all dead! Countless others have been experimented on, butchered! Where were you, Charles?! We were supposed to protect them! Where were you when your own people needed you?! Hiding?! You and Hank - pretending to be something you're not! You abandoned us all! We were supposed to protect them Charles!" ("We." They both always wanted it to be "we.")
But the best part of the whole airplane thing?
Charles: You took the things that mean the most to me.
Erik: Maybe you should've fought harder for them.
Erik wanted Charles to fight for their friendship. He wanted him to fight to stay by his side, not give up and let him go. He wanted to see Charles, who he believes to be the most powerful mutant alive, to show how powerful he was in the name of the mutant cause. Charles refusing to step into the worlds limelight and protect mutants was nearly as much of a betrayal to Erik as Charles not fighting to keep Erik from walking away on that beach in Cuba.
Erik: I've lost things too Charles.
Charles: You know nothing about loss.
Except that on that day in Cuba, Erik lost his best friend. He lost the family they'd built in the CIA base. He lost what up until that day had been his all-consuming purpose...killing Shaw. He gained his cause of protecting mutants from humans, but he lost everything else.
Erik: I didn't kill the president.
Charles: The bullet curved Erik.
Erik: I was trying to save him.
Charles: Why?
Erik: He was one of us.
Erik, even then, didn't want Charles thinking he'd outright kill the president. That scene of apology, of Erik bringing over the chessboard, even his loss of control and tipping the plane-they were all signs of somebody hurt and angry and betrayed, of still caring.
When I was in Australia, this movie started me down a path very similar to how Supernatural did. I learned all the actors names. I looked up all the movies they'd been in. I watched all the interviews. I changed the background image on my computer to Erik and Charles playing chess the night before Cuba, before Charles loses his legs and his hope. And it also drove me back into the world of fanfiction, a place I haven't been since Dragon Knights. I read some amazing pieces, such that Erik and Charles have become inspirations interwoven into my stories. I can still remember staying up too late reading about them and going to Starbucks or the kids café sleepy, but it still feeling worth it because my mind a whirlwind of ideas on friendship and how far it can be bent before it breaks.
Reading those online stories also inspired me with a thought. I think that if you took Erik away from the city, if he was somehow stranded away from guns and politics, he'd be a good guy. Strand him with humans or strand him with mutants, but I think if he was far enough away from the reality of his "cause," of his "inevitable war," he'd turn back into that man who helped Charles hunt down alienated mutants in First Class. Put him back in the Westchester Mansion, but fast forward 20 years to when it's full of teachers and students and I think he could live there. He could teach languages or history. He could drink brandy and play chess and that could be enough for him. In 1973, he has no choice but to be what he is, just as Charles has no choice. They cannot be friends in the age and location they live in. It will take their older selves to bridge the gap again. (Or being stranded on an island)
X-Men Apocalypse doesn't come out until next year, but I'm reading all the news. Oh, and guess what? I'm being a fool again and crossing my fingers for a friendship mended. No more King Kong's or Titanic's, but games of chess over brandy, where peace is the only option.
