My Favorite X-Men Film

Rating: 9/10 (24 June 2014)

This is a well told story. The time travel is so complicated, but it is easy to follow. Xavier is truly the focal point. The Wolverine is only there to get a ball rolling and create this change. Erik and Xavier are still having the same argument they are making in every other film and Mystique still doesn't know who to side with. She can't decide what she wants to be. She has to choose her own path. Mystique is brilliantly acted in this film by Jennifer Lawrence. I loved her portrayal in First Class and anyone should be glad about this performance because she turns into Rebecca Romijn. James McAvoy falls away in this role and equally brilliant in his role is Michael Fassbender. Each of these men give the characters a dynamic that is so much better in this film. The weaknesses of some of the first films is the fact that the didn't get a lot of screen time together, but in this film they get to play out their struggles to each other and fight over their beliefs. Mystique is in the middle and she has to fight the both of them. Magneto is the villain of the past in this film and it is so great to see that he still the same Magneto that we love. A man who is hurt from his experiences. Nicholas Hoult is also really cool as Beast and his change is also explained. Hoult is there as a support for Xavier and it takes a talent to be able to handle your own against Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman is Huge Jacked Man. He is the most fit person I have ever seen in my life and is brilliant in his role as Wolverine. Hugh takes this to a new level and his also added dimension. Trask is a villain that you get what he is doing and has a clear motivation that I really enjoyed. Peter Dinklage's height is pleasantly absent from the script and is satisfying for this character and actor. You don't like Trask, but you can see where he is coming from. Peter is even one of the best parts of the film. His comedy and action blows you out of the water. The hint at the his relations to Magneto and it isn't very overbearing about it. His action scene is also so good that it is on the level of Nightcrawler's raid on The White House.
I also have to give a hand to Bryan Singer. I believe that it is hard to come back to a franchise a couple films removed and he did an excellent job. He was able to go from future to past so seamlessly that it is really cool and the action is so well directed. You also have to give a hand to Simon Kinberg and Mathew Vaughn as well because they also had to write this story that seamlessly goes between times and each time brings its own feeling and that comes from the writing itself. Kinberg does a great job of bringing in the funny comedic moments without it going into silliness. The special effects are really great and are well done. The sentinels in the past looked like a newly made creation with the limitations of the time and the future sentinels are well explained why they look like that and are quite frightening. The time travel is so well done that you give credit to the people behind the camera who have to set it up well.
The future in itself is its own film. Each of the introduced mutants don't just seem like characters that need to be there so they can die or CGI tricks. They each get a moment to bring some kind of emotion to the screen. Professor X an Magneto in the future are so well done that they are friends and you get to see them together and you just enjoy yourself by seeing it. The future sentinels, like I said, are scary. They are frightening. When every future scene comes on my heart is pounding because of how well the suspense is built. The history of this film is so interesting that you can see where the future might be going, but you don't know how its going to get there.
I am flabbergasted about how well this film balances the time travel aspects and while being a pretty dark film and also balances the comedy as well. The time travel might over complicate the already confusing canon of the X-Men universe, but I only question it because of how good this film does on so many other levels of fixing the canon. Singer returns with a competent direction with the help of Kinberg's well written script. The action and effects is spectacular. Each actor gives a great performance that helps blend the two times together even more fluently. I am fan of superhero films that are simultaneously another genre at the same time. This is a great time travel film and a great superhero film. This is a great film and deserves a 3.75 out 4 stars.