X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Get ready for the best movie of the summer (so far). Sure, we might only be a few weeks into the summer movie season, but it will be very hard to top this one.

Hugh Jackman is back as Wolverine, and the future is bleak. Mutants and those who support them are on the run, and they are near extinction. With very little hope for survival and facing a foe that cannot be defeated, Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) have teamed up to contrive a plan to do the unthinkable.

Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) has developed the power to transport a person’s consciousness back in time to inhabit their body at that time, so the X-Men have determined they should send Wolverine’s mind back to the early 1970s to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from committing a heinous act that has led to this disastrous timeline.

However, for the plan to work, Wolverine must bring together two diametrically opposed personalities, Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik “Magneto” Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender). If you remember X-Men: First Class or any of the X-Men movies, you will realize how this is a massive challenge.

X-Men: Days Of Future Past is amazing. Writer Simon Kinberg has put together a story that seamlessly melds together each generation of the X-Men, while giving us a story full of action, great reliance on characters, a plot jumping back and forth through time without becoming confusing, and some deep themes about co-existence and acceptance of those who are different. The ladies even get to see a side of Hugh Jackman they have wanted to see for some time (and that side is kinda naked).

Most of all, Kinberg and director Bryan Singer (I will leave it to others to discuss his legal issues, since I am here to talk about movies) find the perfect tone for X-Men: Days Of Future Past. They deliver a great sense of humor when it is appropriate, but don’t hang on too long or go for laughs when it is the right time to let the drama and seriousness of the story to take over. Kinberg and Singer have a great feel for when we need some levity, but also when it is time to focus in on what is important, so it can wash over the audience.

Evan Peters steals the show in those comic relief moments as Quicksilver - a future X-Men member who can move very very fast, and uses the power in all of the sneaky and unethical ways a snarky, troublemaking, cocky teenage boy would. Combined with some moments where Singer slows down the action for the audience to see all that is happening faster than light, we get to see some hilarious and playful mischief.

You’ll also love McAvoy, who is fantastic as the broken Xavier. The character is struggling to deal with the events of the last X-Men movie and afraid of his power just when it is needed the most. Jackman knows his character inside and out, so you get the expected and appreciated performance from him, as well as Fassbender, but McAvoy is the actor who has to stretch a bit more, and meets the challenge.

Singer also delivers an amazing dramatic climax in X-Men: Days Of Future Past. The pacing of the movie is perfect. The audience is provided just enough background and action to appreciate all of it coming together and there is plenty of material for the uninitiated and the hard core fans to go, “Wow”.

Long time fans get to see all of their favorite X-Men, and new fans might just love the action enough to get excited about the sequel (which will be teased after the credits have run).

X-Men: Days Of Future Past is rated PG- 13 for sequences of intense sci-fi violence and action, some suggestive material, nudity and language.