X-Men Days of Future Past - plot

[DaveC426913]

The X-Men films came so fast and furious I lost track, so I only just saw X-DoFP now.

Something I don't understand about Magneto and the Sentinels in the final scene.

Let me back up for a second. When he caught up to the train in which they were being shipped, he weaved steel into their frames. Presumably this was part of his plot to control them. I'm not sure whether he simply controlled their movements, or whether he re-programmed them.

So, skip forward to the final confrontation in the stadium.

They are now under his control. (Again, not sure whether that's physial or programmatic control. Got to assume it's programmatic, or they'd resist). He tells them to go do what they are designed to do (which is kill mutants) and off they go. (So, they MUST be under programmatic control, or the first thing they'd do, once released, is shoot him.)

They go after the Beast. One is about to kill him, but he injects himself and (instantly) becomes non-mutant. The Sentinel then looks around for other mutants - and spots Magneto.

So, the Sentinel tries to kill Magneto. Did it suddenly forget it's programming? If Magneto was a valid target, why didn't it shoot him the moment he told them all to do what they're designed to do?

 

[Sarkus]

Magneto is not a programming wizard so one must probably assume that he only has motor-control of the robots, but sufficient that they can't demonstrably resist. And presumably he has them on a tight leash while around him but let's them do their own thing when they're a distance away where their programming exerts more control than him.
So eventually being targeted was probably something he foresaw but not something he couldn't handle, and only after the other mutants had been taken care of.

Or something like that. I'm trying to remember the scene as best I can.

But it's an X-men film... probably best you don't think too hard about it.