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Created Jun 07, 2014 02:27PM PST • Edited Jun 16, 2014 01:08AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Count it, X-Men deliver again. Does Marvel ever fail? Notwithstanding several major cooks in the kitchen of this particular production and the ugly problems surrounding one of them, X-Men: Days of Future Past is yet another first rate blockbuster originating from the X-Men solar system within the Marvel Universe.

   The title refers to dual time settings: now and back in the early 70s, complete with several scenes involving President Richard Nixon. The story hangs together because, well, because Marvel worked out all these stories a long time ago in comic books that held to a particularly high standard. Now the dual time settings allow for dual casts, notably with young and old incarnations of the two most senior X-Men.

   • Young Professor X in James McAvoy and old Professor X in Patrick Stewart
   • Young Magneto in Michael Fassbender and old Magneto in Ian McKellen

   More physical characters are played by singular stars: Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. Thus the movie’s star power rivals its character’s super powers. Typical Marvel. A laundry list of A-List talent fills out the extensive cast, though some are mere ciphers in their cameos.

   Smart and compelling, X-Men: Seven is a must-see movie for many cohorts of movie fans. As is their habit, Marvel uses this great power with great responsibility, turning a must-see into a very-happy-I-saw.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Main X-Men

   • Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine is refreshingly restrained in this outing, even though the movie revolves around him as the connection between the two time settings. Jackman and Wolverine have become old friends on the silver screen for me and so many other fans, especially after last year’s The Wolverine.
   • James McAvoy as the young Charles Xavier & Patrick Stewart as the mature Professor X are a one-two combination of British gravitas, especially Stewart, who has become one of the greatest moviestars ever relatively late in his career.
   • Michael Fassbender as the young Erik Lehnsherr & Ian McKellen as the mature Magneto are each fully capable of the internal performances their character requires.
   • Jennifer Lawrence etches another beguiling performance as Raven / Mystique, she of the super-sexy blue body paint. JLaw Rocks.

   Peripheral X-Men

   • Nicholas Hoult is touching as the young Hank / Beast, with Kelsey Grammar contributing a cheerful cameo as his older incarnation.
   • Ellen Page is a bit disappointing in a difficult little role as Kitty Pryde. She tends to look more petulant than powerful.
   • Evan Peters as Peter / Quicksilver has an engaging puckishness to him.

   X-Men Cameos

   • Anna Paquin as Rogue. Nice to see her happy.
   • Halle Berry as Storm. Pity they’ve never found a powerful way to use her.
   • Shawn Ashmore as Bobby / Iceman
   • Omar Sy as Bishop
   • Daniel Cudmore as Colossus
   • Bingbing Fan as Blink
   • Adan Canto as Sunspot
   • Booboo Stewart as Warpath. Cool Look
   • Lucas Till as Havok
   • Evan Jonigkeit as Toad
   • Famke Janssen as Jean Grey doesn’t seem worthy of Logan.
   • James Marsden as Scott Summers

   Non Mutants

   • Peter Dinklage, 4’5" of superlative acting, is a worthy villain for a superhero movie.
   • Josh Helman as his henchman
   • Mark Camacho delivers a pretty good recreation of President Nixon, even though he doesn’t look exactly like him.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

8. Male Costars Good 3.0

10. Film

    Perfect 5.0

    X-Men’s theme of disaffected youth gets broadened into disaffected adults in Days of Future Past. This seemed to broaden the identity groups who might see themselves in this metaphor of mutants-living-amongst-us, certainly to include religious minorities and gays.

    In any case, Bryan Singer’s film from Simon Kinberg’s screenplay ably upholds the esteemed standard of the best X-Men movies, several of which were also directed by him.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Really Great 4.5

13. Music Perfect 5.0

    Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle is used especially well when Quicksilver dashes about during one terrific scene.

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0

    Dozens of stuntmen and thousands of FX artists and techs make this a state of the art live action comik story.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.1

17. Sex Titillating 1.8

18. Violence Brutal 2.6

19. Rudeness Salty 1.9

21. Reality

    Fantasy 4.2

    Nevermind the ample reality liberties that make X-Men a fantasy. I’ve documented them in regards to countless other Marvel movies, noting especially that Conservation of Energy is the most abused law of nature in these stories.

    Of more interest is the reimagining of the Nixon-era military industrial complex and US-Vietnamese relations at the end of the Vietnam War. Savvy storytelling, this.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 3.0

23. Biological Fantasy 5.0

24. Physical Fantasy 4.5