Richly Rewarding

Rating: 9/10 (23 May 2014)

I am extremely pleased with what Fox has done with this franchise, starting with X-Men: First Class, through The Wolverine and now this film. Redemption and moving back in the right direction, towards what it was in the beginning. This one is a tremendous experience, a culmination of a decade and a half of character development and social and emotional themes. Days of Future Past is a very powerful story that is both vast and intimate.
Without droning on, the story is a classic, spanning decades and incorporating some historical fiction with futuristic science fiction. But the characters are at the core, and this is such a brilliant, incredible group of actors. McAvoy, Lawrence, Jackman, Fassbender, Stewart, McKellan, Dinklage...the list just goes on. And there are some great performances in this film. Some incredibly moving moments.
Visually, it's jaw-droppingly rendered, from the 1970s past to the dark future. There are so many different types of scenes and looks. In a way, this is like the Cloud Atlas of X-Men movies, and I mean that in the best way possible. (This is far easier to keep track of than Cloud Atlas, rest assured of that, but they share a similarity in different groups of people in different times and places all being tied into the same theme.)
Why do I not give it a perfect ten out of ten? Well, there were a few small things that I think could have been improved, such as a line of dialog here or something else there. Also, the climactic scene contained something that I can only make sense of as a "let's include a huge visual effect" move. But any complaints are just drops in the ocean, really.
Overall, this is an incredible thing. The amount of resources involved here is astounding. And fortunately, it works. This film is what it was meant to be, an ultimate-level storyline that is breathtaking in scope without losing the personal character moments that make it all worthwhile and give it its real power. There will surely be more X-Men films to come, but for now, this is a very fitting, heartswelling way to take fourteen years and six previous films' worth of universe-building and bring it all back around in a most satisfying way. Highly, highly, highly recommended.