Could've been better under Matthew Vaughn's direction

Rating: 5/10 (10 October 2014)

When it was announced that Bryan Singer was returning to the Director's Chair for "X-Men: Days of Future Past," fanboys and girls everywhere squealed in excitement. Finally, the series was going back into the hands of the man who helped start the whole film franchise. I, on the other hand, groaned and wondered why "First Class" helmsman Matthew Vaughn couldn't return to push the story further. It was my favorite entry in the series and took the bad taste out of my mouth created by the mess referred to as "The Last Stand."
In the distant future, robots known as Sentinels have all but wiped out both mutants and humans. Wolverine is sent by the X-Men to prevent an event which will send history down this path to destruction. First he has to find a way to unite Professor X and Magneto in a search for the harbinger of doom - Mystique.
My worries over Singer's return to steer the franchise were all realized after the first hour or so of "X-Men: Days of Future Past." The first portion of the film moves ahead and sets the viewer up for a powerful and epic thrill ride. Unfortunately, like most of the director's movies, it starts to meander and get tedious right after the halfway mark. The action and excitement gets bogged down in a lot of dramatic narrative which feels as if it was injected into the script to make the movie more analytical than it really needed to be.
One thing I was pleasantly surprised by was the way the massive amount of cast members and the parts they played in the story were handled. I was concerned when it was announced that the original and new actors who portrayed their respective characters were going to be jammed into one movie. How in the world were filmmakers going to keep the movie from becoming overcrowded and derailing?
Director Singer and Screenwriter Simon Kinberg handled the whole affair quite well. Instead of trying to cram as much of a pleasurable thing down our throats as they could, they worked towards the greater good of the whole. They didn't play favorites and shove certain popular actors into scenes just to give them more face time.
"X-Men: Days of Future Past" is rated PG-13for sequences of intense sci-fi violence and action, some suggestive material, nudity, and language. I've seen Hugh Jackman's butt enough now. Does it really have to be showcased in every one of these films?
Although I did enjoy "X-Men: Days of Future Past" to a certain degree, I felt myself getting lethargic as it moved along towards its inevitable climax. By no means is it a bad movie, but I think it could've been better under Matthew Vaughn's direction. I do give it props for fully embracing its science fiction roots.