Of all the X-Men films to date, X-Men: Days of Future Past is by far the best. You’ll leave the theatre loving everything you just saw and wanting to see it again and again.
X-Men: Days of Future Past picks up a few decades after the original X-Men trilogy. A small band of mutants are on the run, trying to hide from mutant-killing Sentinel robots, which have successful destroyed nearly all the mutants on the planet. Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Storm (Halle Berry) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) arrive and deduce that this mutant genocide could have been prevented if Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) hadn’t murdered the Sentinels’ creator Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) in the 70s. As a last ditch effort, the mutants use Kitty Pride’s (Ellen Page) powers to help Wolverine travel back in the past to stop Mystique from killing Trask.
This film expertly blends the old- and new-school X-Men casts, making it feel like natural extensions of each of those series. After nearly eight years, the old characters are welcome additions, especially the return of Patrick Stewart’s calm, serene Professor X and Hugh Jackman with his seventh appearance as the grungy Wolverine. It’s a good thing Jackman’s character doesn’t age because his performance in this film leaves you wanting even more of the incredible Logan.
The new X-Men characters are also wonderful. James McAvoy’s depiction of the troubled and complex Charles Xavier is a standout. Jennifer Lawrence is charming in nearly everything she does and her Mystique is no different.
Evan Peters plays Quicksilver, a mutant who can run at lightning speed, and is clearly the breakout character of the film. Quicksilver steals the show every time he’s on scene, especially when he’s running around and it seems as though time has stopped around him. The filmmakers don’t overuse him, which would make these scenes lose their effect and novelty.
Whenever a movie or book deals with time travel, things get a bit sticky. However, the way it is portrayed in X-Men: Days of Future Past is perhaps one of the best, simplest uses of time travel I’ve seen. When it’s all said it done, you’re not sitting there scratching your head thinking about loopholes, but rather it all makes sense. It also sets up the series in an interesting way, making me excited for X-Men: Apocalypse and other future X-Men films.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is the summer’s first must-see movie and is no doubt going to be a summer blockbuster. You’ll even want to see it again and again–it’s that good.
