REVIEW: X-Men: Days of Future Past 3D

MOVIE
X-Men: Days of Future Past

CAST
Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy

RATING
PG-13

RELEASE
May 23, 2014

DIRECTOR
Bryan Singer

STUDIO
20th Century Fox

RUNNING TIME
2 hours 11 minutes






STARS
***3/4






REVIEW:

I think the main concern I had with "X-Men: Days of Future Past" going into it was how they were going to make certain things from the other films seem plausible here.  For example, the character of Beast in "First Class" becomes this blue, monstrous creature with no chance of turning back.  And then in the trailer for this movie, he's a normal human again.  Things like that made me question how things were going to turn out and how things were going to explained.  Luckily, all of my speculation was thrown out the window within the film's first 25 minutes, as this movie not only explained why things were the way they were, but it also managed to tell an incredibly awesome story along the way.  Exciting, awesome, deep, and fun are just some of the words that perfectly describe this incredible superhero film.  It's not my favorite one of the year at this moment, but that might all change upon repeated viewings.

In case you haven't seen any of the other "X-Men" movies, this is pretty heavy on spoilers for the previous films.  So, the year is 2023, and the X-Men are living in an apocalyptic future that is run by artificially programmed robot known as The Sentinels.  Professor X and Magneto, having now teamed up after years of hatred, decide that the only way to make the future right again for the Mutants is to send Wolverine, who can heal easily from any type of harm that the travel might cause to his brain, back into the 70s and warn the younger versions of the X-Men team about the impending future that will happen.  When Wolverine gets to the 70s, though, he sees that Professor X has given up on life, Magneto is in a highly guarded prison in the Pentagon, and Mystique is a loner whose actions towards the creator of the Sentinels cause the apocalyptic future in the first place.  The only way to stop this from happening is to gather up the X-Men and team up enemies in order to fight a common enemy.

To start off, all of the acting in this movie is great.  Hugh Jackman is better than ever as Wolverine, and it's incredibly easy to tell that this is the role he was born to play.  Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, Ellen Page, and all of the returning cast members from the original trilogy are all really good in their roles, despite having smaller roles than one may expect.  James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, and Michael Fassbender are among the returning cast members from "X-Men: First Class," and all of them are great in the movie.  Though the younger version of Magneto, played by Fassbender, is a little overbearing at times, everyone gives it their all and in return give performances that surely help to elevate the movie entirely.

I admire the fact that Fox decided to bring back Bryan Singer to the helm.  In a way, the "X-Men" films are his babies, so to see the original director come back to combine the old cast and the new cast together is something kind of extraordinary.  And believe it or not, Singer returns to the directors chair in style and makes it feel as if he never left to tackle other projects.  He showcases the action beautifully, manages to tell a great story without feeling bombarded and overstuffed, and even throws in a few comedic gags that work really well.  Singer, along with screenwriter Simon Kinberg and the help from Jane Goldman and  Matthew Vaughn, (both were heavily involved with "First Class," as well as "Kick-Ass") have managed to make a superhero that may very well represent the entire "X-Men" franchise as a whole in the coming years.

While "X-Men: First Class" still holds the title as my favorite "X-Men" movie at the moment, this one stands at a very close second.  The action is brisk and lots of fun to watch, the acting is superb all over the board, and Singer's direction is spot on and makes the movie feel both old and new, if that makes any sense.  Not to mention, the entire section of the film with the character Quicksilver, played by Evan Peters, is both entertaining and quite hilarious.  This is the type of character who deserves his own spin-off film, if I say so myself.  I didn't enjoy this as much as I enjoyed "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," but I can definitely say that this is the smartest film of the two in terms of its story and its scope. The ending might be a little confusing and there are some little things that don't quite work as well as other things, but regardless, this is the "X-Men" movie fans could have only dreamed of.






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