X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

GRADE A+ Starring Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Halle Berry, Peter Dinklage, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan Directed by Bryan Singer Reviewed by Paul Gibbs Rarely has a major movie franchise varied as wildly in quality as the X-Men franchise. The first two films, directed by The Usual Suspects' Bryan Singer, are about as entertaining as the genre gets and go a little deeper than usual comic book fare by adding a soulful subtext about the oppression of society's misfits. But when Singer left the franchise, these were followed by a horribly disappointing sequel and spin-off. Since then the situation has improved, but in the latest installment Singer returns, superhero-like, to fix the mistakes of the past and restore the franchise to its former glory. X-Men: Days of Future Past begins in a slightly more distant version of the franchise's Not Too Distant Future, when mutant hunting robots called Sentinels are hunting down and kill the X-Men and their kind. The X-Men, lead by Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his onetime nemesis Magneto (Ian McKellan), conceive a bold and dangerous plan to send Wolverine/Logan (Hugh Jackman) back to 1973 to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from setting in motion the future that brought about the Sentinels (If you don't know who these characters are, you may want to brush up on some of the previous installments before venturing forth). Arriving in the past, Logan hooks up with the younger Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) from the prequel First Class (the only really good film in the franchise not directed by Singer). But Xavier has changed, he's become a bitter, depressed shell of the man he used to be. His rundown school is now occupied only by Xavier and Beast (Nicholas Hoult). Soon our heroes decide they need the help of 1973 Magneto (played again by Michael Fassbender), who is now doing time in a maximum security prison. Singer has created a film every bit as good as his first two installments, one which balances spectacular action and effects with humor and heart. He shows again that he has a magic touch with this franchise and makes one of the very best films of his career, getting the most out of the massive budget without losing track of the humanity (mutantity?) of the story. One sequence feature the ultra-fast mutant Quicksilver would be worth the price of admission on its own. But there's much more to it than that, a well-rounded movie that's everything both an X-Men movie and a summer blockbuster should be. The principal cast members all deliver stellar performances, with Jackman returning to the lighter, funnier version of the character rather than the brooding one we saw in last summer's second spin-off The Wolverine. McAvoy and Fassbender (who is giving us something of a McKellan impersonation this time) are again excellent, with McAvoy's Xavier doing the majority of the dramatic heavy lifting along with Lawrence, whose Mystique is torn between her allegiance to Xavier and her desire to fight the humans who oppress her people. And of course it's a joy to see Stewart and McKellan in these roles again.

If you're a fan of any of the X-Men films, you're likely to love this one, easily up there with the best of them, and finally rids us of the bad aftertaste of Brett Ratner's X-Men: The Last Stand. This is the X3 we had hoped for. It's going to be next to impossible to beat as THE blockbuster entertainment of the summer, and it gives Joss Whedon reason for concern on whether his The Avengers: Age of Ultron can follow it next summer. I'll be going back to see it at least two or three more times, and thoroughly enjoying each viewing. I imagine a lot of other film goers will be able to say the same. X-Men: Days Of Future Past is rated PG-13 for violence (some of which is fairly graphic), profanity (including one use of that word which really freaks out some people and endlessly entertains others), brief nudity (Jackman from behind, and of course Lawrence in blue body paint and prosthetics) and some implied sexual content.