X-Men: Days of Future Past Review

     Before the relaunch of Batman, or the popularity of the Avengers movies, the X-Men started the super hero craze with the first film in 2000. Since then the series has been rather hit or miss; The first two films and "X-Men: First Class" were great and some of the best super hero movies ever, the other films in the series were sub-par. Really it all came down to the director, and despite the controversy revolving around him of all the directors to get behind an X-Men movie Bryan Singer is easily the best. Director of the first two movies (also "The Usual Suspect"), every fan of this movie series was thrilled to hear that he would be directing the latest movie "X-Men: Days of Future Past." Based off the comic of the same name (arguably the most well known of the X-Men comics), "Days of Future Past" is the movie this entire series has built up to. And the result is just phenomenal. 

     "Days of Future Past" starts off in the year 2023, where a species of sentient robots known as the Sentinels have nearly wiped out the human and mutant population. The last pocket of resistance is the surviving members of the X-Men. After gathering together, Professor X and Magneto come up with one last plan to save the world; they want to send someone back in time right before the event that caused the creation of the Sentinels. It turns out Mystic is who causes this terrible future, because she murdered the creator of the Sentinel program which was all the convincing the government needed to approve the program. They also reverse engineer Mystic's DNA to obtain her power and give it to the Sentinels, meaning they can adapt to any mutants power and be more effective killers. Using Kitty Pryde's ability to send a person's consciousness back in time to their past body, they send Logan (the Wolverine) to convince a young Professor X and Magneto to unite in order to change the future; but they were much different men back then. Professor X has all but given up on life, and Magneto is being held by the US government. While he doesn't think he's the best man for the job, Logan understands the severity of the situation. If he can't change the past, the future will be lost. 

     The third film in this series, "X-Men: The Last Stand," is often credited with ruining the franchise; "Days of Future Past" is so good it actually makes up for the mess that was "The Last Stand." This movie does just about everything right, and is easily the best film in the series. One thing that this series has always done right was the casting, it's been perfect since the first movie; and every actor gives a great performance. I'd also like to add that the actor who plays Quicksilver steals the show, I thought he'd be a dumb character but is hilarious and plays an important role in a few scenes. The movie has a really good screenplay, the source material is one of the most respected comics ever and the film adaptation is great. The movie also has a really great sense of humor, and will have you laughing several times; but the movie's sense of humor doesn't take away from the overall serious tone of the movie (unlike other super hero movies like "Thor: The Dark World" and "Iron Man 3"). While the movie is certainly funny, at the end of the day this is an action movie and those action scenes are awesome; it also helps that the CGI and the cinematography are great and really add to the action. Everything that is great about this film is all due to the brilliant directing of Bryan Singer. It's obvious he had a vision of how he wanted this movie to be and he did it. I also respect him for taking on this movie at all, "Days of Future Past" is the most well known and respected X-Men comic and turning it into a movie must have been a daunting task; and he did an amazing job. As great as this movie is, it's not devoid of some problems. The biggest issue with the movie is that a few new characters are introduced and some old characters are re-visited that don't play a very important part in the movie. They feel kind of shoe-horned in for fan service. Also, and this is just nitpicking, there is some ugly costume designs for a few characters. "X-Men: Days of Future Past" is the X-Men movie we've all been waiting for. It takes all the strengths from the previous movies and even manages to fix some things it's done wrong. From start to finish this movie was fantastic, and if you plan on going to the theater anytime soon I would suggest seeing this movie. "Days of Future Past" isn't just the best X-Men movie or even one of the best movies of the year, it is easily one of the greatest super hero movies ever made. 

Pros: Perfect casting, cool action sequences, beautiful CGI and cinematography, great acting from the entire cast, very funny, sense of humor doesn't ruin the serious tone, good screenplay, brilliant directing from Bryan Singer.

Cons: Several characters are introduced that don't play an important role, some ugly costume design.

4.5/5 Stars