It's a beautiful Day!

Rating: 9/10 (25 May 2014)

What makes the majority of the "X-men" franchise work, except for the terrible "Origins", and not so much with the mediocre "The Last Stand", is that it clings to the theme about those who are different, how they react to the world, and how the world reacts to them. In "X-men: Days of Future Past" is takes the theme again for the seventh time and makes it seem fresh. This is a film that is not only a hell of a good time to watch but also contains some great commentary.
We open up with a war going on. Both new and old X-men are battling it out with machines called, The Sentinels, who are overpowering our beloved and misunderstood heroes. It is quite frightening to see these God like mutants, that we come to love, being easily taken down. These machines adapt to each individual power that a mutant throws at them. They are truly frightening and unforgiving with the punishment they put down on the X-men. In a desperate attempt to change the current events, Charles Xavier suggests that he uses time travel to go back in time and prevent the assassination of Bolivar Trask ("Game of Thrones" Peter Dinklage, having a great time). Trask is responsible for the creation of the machines that are wiping out and imprisioning all the mutants around the world. On the other side of the trigger of the gun that will kill him is Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). Since Charles is too weak, Wolverine (the ever reliable Hugh Jackman) volunteers to go back.
Wolverine's challenge is not just stopping the assassination but also convincing the old Charles of the tragic future. Charles is not the calm and wise man that he is in the future. As played by James McAvoy, he is full of regret and anger. Though he is able to walk, through the use of a serum that calms his telepathic abilities, he has given up on life and the cause he started in "First Class". McAvoy gets so much to play with, thanks to a wonderful script by Simon Kinberg, and he once again makes Charles a great, but flawed, character. Ian McKellan's Magneto also gets a worthy performance out of his younger self. Michael Fassbender provides Erik, Magento's real name, with the same conflicting sense of self we have come to know of the character. He is so "magnetic" that you can't help to actually understand him and feel for his side of the cause. While this is being sold as the ultimate X-men movie, those two characters along with Beast, Wolverine, and Mystique are the main focus of the story. Nicholas Hoult is a great beast. His nerdy and nervous side is as convincing as when he rages then turns furry and blue Academy Awards winner Lawrence is still as vicious and sexy as ever as the shape shifter. Jackman, getting up there in age seems to get more ripped and angry as ever. Unlike "Origins" where he was just a ball of rage, he sells the urgency of saving his kind quite well. The newcomer here is a rebellious mutant teenager named Quicksilver. "American Horror Story" star Evan Peters speaks as quickly as his mutant character runs. The character's power has a whole scene dedicated to it. It is one of the highlights of the film. Peters not only captures the coolness of the character in that scene, but the playful rebellious nature any teenager would have if they had that power.
Though the time travel aspect of the story is the main gem of the story, it is the philosophy of the results of both scenarios where the movie finds its dramatic footing. The film takes a nice turn when the younger Magneto starts to question the mission. Mystique also has hesitations about what she has set out to do. Lawrence perfectly plays the ever going battle of both Charles's and Erik's philosophies doing battle in her mind. Every facial expression or expression of dialogue is captured with ease. What do you expect from an actress of her caliber being able to play in a comic book world? She is going to add so much to it, and she does.
When Bryan Singer came back, the director of the first two, there was worry that he may mess up the tone that Vaughn captured in "First Class". It was a film that respected what Singer had set up in the originals but established its own feel and attitude. Singer pays back Vaughn by remaining true to the playful nature that this thing can be sometimes. The film is just so cool sometimes that you expect it to be wearing a leather coat and sunglasses. Singer also creates some of the most exciting action scenes in the franchise. The ending battle has Magneto stealing an entire baseball field. Yeah, you read that right. That is not to say the other action sequences aren't worthy. The action is as big as it is fun.
Singer has taken the attitude of "First Class" and combined it with his grand scale ambitions to create a summer blockbuster that is something more. It is smart, funny, cool, and one hell of a ride.