My favorite X-Men movie to date.

Rating: 9/10 (2 January 2015)

I got into the X-Men franchise within the past year after seeing the teaser for this film. I really like the first two films by Bryan Singer, First Class is really good and I actually like Wolverine (2013). I didn't bother with Origins, and yes X3 was a piece of crap. But luckily, this movie makes up for that in so many ways. I still have yet to read an X-Men comic or watch an episode of any of the animated series, but I'd consider myself a fan of X-Men after watching these movies.
The story as far as time travel is very reminiscent of Terminator with the sentinels search for humans and mutants in the future which fits in with the tone of the original trilogy and with the bright color palette in the past that ties into First Class and it also reminded me of Back to the Future with the fish out of water humor for Wolverine and of course with the ending where Logan wakes up to find that the future has changed for the better with Cyclops and Jean being alive. It might be too hard for some people to follow because of the multiple character, but each one gets their moment to shine. All thanks to Simon Kinberg's screenplay, the story doesn't feel packed as it seems at first glance. Singer also shows that he's more comfortable in his direction, out of respect to his previous movies, the scope of this film feels bigger and energetic than X 1 and 2. Even more than First Class I'd say. The drama and comedy have a nice blend together, the pacing is relentless but it doesn't forget to focus on the important things much like Dark Knight. And John Ottman's score is amazing, especially the opening theme.
As I said, the characters each get their moment to shine and the actors deliver 100%. Hugh Jackman as Logan is great once again, and it's cool to see him as a more experienced Wolverine and is the one trying to help a younger Charles Xavier who at this point in his life has lost his way. And James MacAvoy gives probably the best performance out of the entire cast as we see Xavier learn how to hope again. Michael Fassbender is even more terrifying as Magneto than he was in First Class, and Jennifer Lawrence (my favorite actress) kicks ass as Mistyque. Nicolas Hoult, Patrick Stewart, Mckellan, Ashmore, Dinklage, Ellen Page, etc. are really good in their roles. And yes, Quicksilver is awesome. That scene in the Pentagon is priceless!
I also like the central theme of hope particularly the hope Charles has for Magneto and Raven despite them getting their hands dirty. In a way I feel that this plays into how the franchise is now back in full form since X3 and Origins brought the quality down through the floor and with First Class turning it back in the right direction. It's easy to get pessimistic about the future when things don't go your way, but it goes to show in this film that things can and will get better in time. Hope sometimes really pays off, and the film's ending is the prime example.
As far as the flaws, they don't really matter to me but I would've like one explanation as to why Mistyque wasn't in the future and how Kitty Pride had the time travel powers. But at the end of the day, they don't really matter.
This movie has officially made my top comic book films of all time with TDK trilogy, Spider- Man 2 (2004), Winter Soldier and Avengers and I'll go as far as to call this movie my favorite of 2014. Thank you Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg and the rest of the team for making this movie, and I look forward to seeing Apocalypse!