X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Review

The X-Men franchise has had a hell of a bunch of ups and downs.  The first two installments hold up pretty well and are still entertaining, if slightly dated.  The third film was never good and certainly isn't now.  After that, the series got weird and started going in a bunch of different directions, with varying results.  X-Men Origins: Wolverine was hilariously bad, X-Men First Class was also pretty lackluster (suffering from a lot of the same goofiness that Origins did), but the followup sequel to Origins, simply titled The Wolverine, was a marked improvement.  So with as many bad movies as good ones, where could the series possibly go?

How about they go ahead and make the best entry in the franchise yet?  X-Men: Days of Future Past not only reconciles both the original timeline with the First Class timeline (which had their fair share of inconsistencies), but does so with elegance.  It fixes the garbage they did with some of the lousier installments, all the while creating a fun and intense film in its own right.

Look at that little scene-stealer on the right

I don't know or care anything about the comic books, so I can't say how faithful this film is to the particular arc in the comics.  All I know is that the storyline is brilliant; the X-Men are completely screwed from the beginning, and this single hope to save them (Wolverine) drives the whole movie, making the whole thing feel important and suspenseful.  The entire cast is back (well, mostly...sorry Nightcrawler) and although the movie is jam-packed, few people get the shaft.  I am pretty disappointed with Rogue's three seconds of screentime though.

Other than that, there's not a lot to dislike about this movie.  There are plenty of great tentpole moments, the most impressive one involving the Pentagon and a new character named Quicksilver (I'd rather not spoil its greatness).  The acting is solid across the board, everyone improving massively from the dismally cheesy First Class (points to my main man Peter Dinklage).  Overall, the film goes a long way in combining the two X-Men universes while omitting some of the dumber things that happened along the way.  If you have been waiting for that great X-Men movie, well then wait no longer.