The best of the series, of any time

Rating: 9/10 (26 May 2014)

Given that the future is a dystopian wasteland, because of the murder of a prominent figure in 1973, Wolverine(Jackman, by this point inhabiting the part) has to go back to keep it from happening. Why him? To drive up audience interest. He'll stand around and look pretty. Beast will have a little more to do. But this is actually about the trinity of Xavier(McAvoy, and giving us a compelling portrayal, one who has lost hope this is his film, and the scene between him and Stewart is amazing), Magneto(Fassbender, dignified) and Mystique(Lawrence, showing us her immense range and she is the assassin that has to be stopped). This is where the laser-sharp focus comes from: All three are fiercely determined, bridge the gap between young and old(First Class, take notes), conflicted in what they feel they have to do, and using different approaches to solving the same problem: how will mutants be safe among humans who hate them and fear them? Especially given that this is a pivotal point
Singer is back, with a vengeance. Any frustration with him for his absence and the mess the series fell into after he left is almost instantly forgiven. He seamlessly fixes the plentiful problems, turning what once looked like insurmountable obstacles to retcon into stepping stones to new, gripping conflicts. This is a drama more than an action movie, with the latter derived organically from the former and not missed. It is never boring, and understands that the love of this half a century old franchise is not so much what these people can do, but who they are, and how they relate to one another. Everyone's powers are used well, and they aren't particularly written out, which was one of the bigger problems with the otherwise excellent first two pictures. The pacing is spot-on, giving us breathing room after emotions are driven through the roof, humor taking the sting out of the dark material, and at no point does it lose our interest or play its cards wrong. Every character is a human being, reacting based on their viewpoint, to the very real problem here. The xenophobia is dealt with well.
Almost everything here is amazing. The 2023 bits do tend to be a display case for fan-service(and yes, for what that is, it is squee-inducing), with everyone present not mentioned in the first paragraph of this existing there only to use the considerable strength of their abilities(no arc, barely any personality) and fairly inconsequential. It really doesn't help that the first fun portion of it literally turns out to be a fake-out. We don't return to it much, and it does give us something incredible, but it is overall the one weak point. And it's not that much of one. This sets a new standard for these, and, frankly, gives us something to rival the Marvel Studios outings, now that Nolan is no longer helming Batman. The FX are excellent. The stakes are set up immensely well right off the bat, with the large, humanoid robots known as Sentinels clearly an insurmountable threat that has to be stopped before it starts.
There is some deeply disturbing, brutal and violent(if not bloody) content in this, pushing to the edge of what PG-13 can get away with. I recommend this to anyone who can imagine liking it. 9/10