Marvel Mania 2: X-Men: Days of Future Past- Theatrical Version vs. Rogue Cut

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Starring: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender
Directed by: Bryan Singer


It's not a secret that the X-Men movies have a complicated history with critics and fans. While there are a handful of bombs, there are a number of movies in the famed franchise that have been met with acclaim. Primarily, it's Bryan Singer's first two X-Men films and Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class. So when it was announced that Singer was coming back to direct the next X-Men film, with Vaughn writing the story, expectations were high. Even more so when it was announced that it would be an adaptation of Days of Future Past and would bring together the classic trilogy cast with the cast of the newer movies. This was a comic lover's dream come true. A film about time travel, which brings two memorable casts together, and brought to life via the director that started this whole thing and written by one of my favorite modern storytellers. SIGN ME UP! I loved this film enough already when I first saw it in theaters, but then its release to Blu-ray brought about even more hype when an alternate version of the film, known as The Rouge Cut, hit shelves to arguably even bigger praise. So which version of X-Men: Days of Future Past do I prefer?

Of the new character additions, the biggest standout is Evan Peters as Quicksilver. He steals the whole show with an amazing sequence that needs to be seen to be believed. Around this time, Marvel had TWO Quicksilvers set to make film debuts. We had this version and the version played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We might have had to wait a year to see what Taylor-Johnson was going to do, but it was this scene in Days of Future Past that new we had our definitive Quicksilver right here.

The greatest draw for this movie is definitely the blend of the casts. We get the actors from the new series: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult. But we also have the return of some favorites from the original X-Men trilogy: Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, and Halle Berry. The one thing tying both universes together is a time traveling tale featuring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Just the mere concept of that is mind-blowing. I can tell you I never thought I'd see that on film when I saw those X-Men movies all those years ago. So this was a dream come true and I'm absolutely thrilled I was able to see this. However, if you saw the early trailers for this movie, you might notice a key player from the original X-Men movies missing in this little reunion.

The Rogue Cut of the film puts in a sequence that was cut from the theatrical, utilizing Anna Paquin's Rogue in a crucial subplot. On the surface, you might just think that this version has an extra scene added in, but you'd be surprised to know that there's a lot of footage added in. There's many alternate takes and deleted scenes that have been remastered and added in to make a smooth-flowing narrative. It offers an alternative perspective to this awesome story and has many scenes that build on the story from X-Men: First Class and offer a lot more development with the original cast. The Rogue scenes alone are worth checking out because they have moments that are darn near traumatizing to watch and it's a unique viewing experience to see how the two versions differ. Both versions are great, but I tend to lean towards The Rogue Cut just a little more.

As a final thought, I'll go ahead and summarize the lasting legacy X-Men: Days of Future Past will leave on the canon of the franchise. As a treat for the fans and a middle finger to the directors who ruined so many good X-Men movies, Singer gave us an ending that essentially hit the reset button on the timeline of events. I tend to look at it as though Singer and Vaughn had this agreement that the only X-Men movies that matter in their (and in turn, our) eyes are the ones that they are associated with. It caps off the events of Singer's original X-Men cast with an ending that allows them to ride off into the sunset, and continues the direction of these movies with the newer cast. Whether you're watching the Theatrical Version or The Rogue Cut, this ending can go down as a huge game changer that updates and reboots nearly the entire continuity of the franchise. It's like a clean slate for them and, as long as Singer is attached to direct, I'll be looking forward to the future of the X-Men movies, while also remembering the good films from the past.

In the post-credits scene, we cut to Egypt and we see *SPOILERS* Apocalypse and the Four Horsemen. This obviously sets things up for the next movie, but I can honestly say at the time my wife and I were freaking out in the theater. Things felt amazing. Bryan Singer was back, the terrible X-Men movies have been erased from continuity, and Apocalypse was on its way.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars for the Theatrical Version / 5 out of 5 stars for The Rogue Cut

Both versions of X-Men: Days of Future Past are a blessing to all fans of these movies. It continued the great story from First Class and righted so many wrongs from the previous films. Both versions are acceptable, just pick your poison. If you value the newer series, you'll probably find more value in the Theatrical Version. If you have more of a nostalgia for the original trilogy, then sit back and enjoy The Rogue Cut. Point is, you can own one or both versions of this amazing comic book movie.

X-Men: Days of Future Past and movie images are copyrighted by 20th Century Fox