X-Men: Days of Future Past

Well, the franchise season, oh, I mean summer season is in full swing this being the long Memorial Day Weekend. Can you say cha-ching? Whomever started the idea of making films from comic book premises was a financial genius, because we've seen a plethora of them: "Spider Man", "Captain America", "Iron Man", and now another X-Men film appropriately titled "X-Men: Days of Future Past". with these films and all their sequels, Hollywood has raked in serious bucks.

The ultimate X-Men ensemble fights a war for the survival of the species across two time periods-- present day and 1973. The characters from the original X-Men film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from "X-Men: First Class" in an epic battle that must change the past-- in order to save our future.
One individual must go back to 1973 to get things going. Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), a mutant, has the power to send people back in time-- but only an hour, a day, a week, maybe two at best, but certainly not decades lest being majorly injured if not die. So Logan/Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) agrees since he has the ability to rapidly heal. The one catch in going back? No one in 1973 will know anything about Logan or why he's there, especially when he approaches both younger Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender). Logan must warn these two that Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) will have to kill Dr. Trask (Peter Dinklage) back in 1973. However this must be averted in order to change the starting of a horrifying event that not only could be the end of mankind but mutants as well.

Others to round out the cast are Halle berry as Storm, Nicholas Hoult as Hank/Beast, Anna Paquin as Rogue, Shawn Ashmore as Bobby/Iceman, Omar Sy as Bishop, Evan Peters as Peter/Quicksilver, Josh Helman as Maj. Bill Stryker, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Daniel Cudmore as Colossus, Adan Canto as Sunspot, Mark Camacho as President Nixon, Booboo Stewart as Warpath, Bingbing Fan as Blink, Lucas Till as Havok, and Evan Jonigkeit as Toad.

This was directed by the incomparable Bryan Singer ("Public Access" '93, "The Usual Suspects" '95, "Apt Pupil" '98, "X-Men" 2000, "X-Men 2" '03, "Superman Returns" '06, "Football Wives" (TV movie) '07, "Valkyrie" '08, "Mockingbird Lane" (TV movie) '12, "Jack the Giant Slayer" '13). The effectiveness in which Singer was able to relay to us that Magneto and Xavier were so evidently similar to their counterparts in 1973 was amazing. And the use of Logan in making that connection with the characters in the present as well as in the past was equally strategic--being the 'anchor' for the audience. He is making the next, "X-Men: Apocalypse"--I know, what a shock. It was written by Simon Kinberg based on a story by Jane Goldman, Kinberg, and Matthew Vaughn which is based on the Marvel comic book. In my opinion, Kinberg can write the rest of the films of this franchise. This film simply rocked. It could have easily been convoluted in its writing, but, aside of a couple of very small choppy parts, this script was spot on. Wow! I did not see that one coming. This has you riveted from beginning to end. The visual effects predominantly created by Digital Domain, Rhythm & Hues, and Hy*drau*lx were absolutely seamless all in a 3D process.

Whether you're a comic book film afictionado or not, this is a crowd pleaser second to none. So, if you're looking to fill your Memorial Day festivities, look no farther--this has all the bells and whistles a moviegoer is looking for in a summer flick and more.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                           Rated: PG-13                          131mins.