X-Men: Days of Future Past – The Rogue Cut Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
July 18th, 2015
Director Bryan Singer has promised the “Rogue Cut” of X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST since before the film even hit theaters. It was odd that Anna Paquin’s Rogue was in much of the marketing material for the film, only to have her entire story cut from the finished product. Now, almost a year later, we get to see what everyone was talking about and the Rogue Cut might leave fans wondering what all the fuss was about. This review will focus on the scenes that were different in the Rogue Cut of the film. To read a more film-focused review of X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST, click the link.
To start, I was unable to notice a difference in the Rogue Cut until 93 minutes into the film. Granted, it had been a good 6 months since I had last seen the original version, but I point that out to say that this is not a completely different film. In fact, even with the additional footage inserted at the end, nothing about the film really changes. The biggest change occurs in the future, after Wolverine accidentally stabs Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page). Her wound leads to a discussion about how the team can keep her going and that leads to Bobby (Shawn Ashmore) revealing the fact that Rogue (Anna Paquin) is still alive. It turns out she’s being kept in Cerebro and the government is running tests on her and that revelation leads to the biggest part of the Rogue Cut, which involves Iceman, Magneto and Professor X heading back to Cerebro to break her out. It’s intercut with the scene in the past, where Magneto gets his helmet back.
I enjoyed the scene and especially enjoyed the way Singer intercut it with the scene of Magneto. This single scene is the biggest change and probably comes the closest to actually changing the outcome of the movie. This eliminates one X-Man, but also brings back Rogue, who then takes over for Kitty and then that’s basically it for Rogue. So the Rogue Cut only amounts to about five minutes of Anna Paquin. There’s another scene involving Mystique and Beast that doesn’t work at all. It’s a haphazard attempt to create intimacy between the two characters that feels completely out of place. There’s another exchange between Beast and Wolverine that’s humorous, but not much of a difference.
If you listen to Bryan Singer’s commentary on the Rogue Cut, he goes into details on some of the changes throughout the film and the title tracks all say “alternate scene”. I’m assuming if you played both cuts side by side, the changes would be evident. But I’m not sure even the most diehard fans of the film would be able to point out the differences without a side by side comparison.
But the real question is; is the Rogue Cut better than the original version? The honest answer is that they’re both equally enjoyable. I liked seeing Rogue back in the X-Men franchise because lest we forget, she was basically the main star of the first X-Men movie. But her inclusion here was so small, that lovers or haters of Anna Paquin won’t care one way or the other. With that said, I’m happy to have both versions of the film and the special features on the Rogue Cut make picking it up a no-brainer.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: Every release of X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST has featured outstanding video quality and this one is no different. It looks incredible on Blu-ray.
Audio: The audio is equally impressive.
To read our review of the prior X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Blu-ray, click the link.
Commentary with Bryan Singer and John Ottman (Rogue Cut Only): This is a fun, candid commentary from Singer and Ottman and well worth the listen if you want someone to walk you through all the changes between the Rogue Cut and the Theatrical release. Ottman is especially interesting with his viewpoints on some of the scenes, but both he and Singer offer a lot of interesting tidbits.
Commentary with Bryan Singer and Simon Kinberg (Theatrical Cut Only): This one isn’t quite as good as the Rogue Cut commentary, but it’s still interesting. They focus more on the story and some of the technical aspects of the film.
Mutant vs. Machines (52:40): This is just a series of shorter featurettes, a lot of which I believe (not certain) were on the original Blu-ray release.
X-Men: Unguarded (30:10): The cast and crew sit down and talk about the movie and their characters.
Gallery and a Second Screen App
