!Warning – Here there be slight spoilers!

The best thing I saw last week was X-Men: Days of Future Past, twice on opening day in fact. This may not mean a lot to some people but to me it is a big thing. I’ve got a streak going that has lasted over a decade now. I’ve seen every Marvel film on opening day since Blade. So not only seeing X-Men: DoFP on opening day, but being able to catch it twice was great, the streak continues and will continue with Guardians of the Galaxy in August. For which I have already requested the afternoon off from work so all things should be good.

So I saw X-Men: DoFP twice on Friday and both viewings were great for different reasons. I saw it early in the afternoon first by myself in a theater that ended up only having about 100 people in it by the time the film started. It was quiet, no shouting, and no cell phone interruptions, peaceful. The only downside was only a couple of us being secure enough to laugh out loud at the funny parts, but other than that it was great. Later in the evening I returned with the wife and a huge soda and a bucket of popcorn and sat in an almost full theater which cheered and roared with laughter during the funny parts. All together this made for a great Friday. So just as a reminder people, when you get a chance, treat yourself to a movie, however you enjoy seeing them.

The spectacular Bryan Singer returns to the X franchise with his unique flair and ability to make these mutants seem to be such a part of the world they inhabited while also seeming so shunned by their society. A dark future, tragic historical events, crazy jailbreaks, and attacks on the Whitehouse make for large chunks of action broke up by some interesting seems filled with what is usually pretty funny and or seriously and well delivered dialogue. We get the return of X-Men from both the earlier trilogy as well as X-Men: First Class which is great. Fassbender, Lawrence, Hoult, Page, Ashmore, Berry, Stewart and McKellen all turn in solid performances and do well bringing their characters to life. However its, James McAvoy, Hugh Jackman, and Evan Peters that turn in the star performances and really kick this movie in the ass.

So yeah, Jackman, McAvoy, and Peters. Jackman you all know and love. This being his 7^th time playing Wolverine he only gets better, and when he wakes up as his younger self we get to see Jackman in probably the best shape of his life. And boy do we get to see Jackman, word of mouth is going to sale an additional 20 million in ticket sales and probably 50 million Blu-Ray buys just so the ladies can get a glimpse of a whole nother side of their favorite Canucklehead. McAvoy tears things up as a young Xavier that believes he has lost everything he ever cared about and see’s no way of getting his old life back. For any of you familiar with McAvoy’s other work, seeing him turn it up to 9 ½ is no shock, he’s an actor with power in him when the right director’s find it. But the shocker, to me and you, is Peters.

Evan Peters a.k.a. Pietro Maximoff also known as the Marvel speedster Quicksilver, the kid you might know as the creepy neighbor from American Horror Story Season 1, or the MMA lover from the Never Back Down flicks (don’t judge me, I love those!), or better yet as the friend of Kickass in Kickass #1 which is awesome because Kickass, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, is also Quicksilver, but over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe of Avengers: The Age of Ultron. Like many others I was really worried when the pics of Quicksilver were released for this film. It showed in a 70’s silverized outfit that I thought could be best described as Dazzler Quicksilver, this is not a good thing. But lay all fears aside, on film, in the setting, and powered by Evan Peters performance you don’t even really notice his outfit, much less have time to be bothered by it. It actually seems to fit, and crazily I now really like it, it works. From start to finish Peter’s acting is a tour de force and the only bad thing I would point out is that it doesn’t last long enough. Though after showing what he can do in a spectacular Pentagon kitchen scene it’s easy to see that the writers were ready to run him off so the rest of the film couldn’t be so easily handled. Quicksilver is the perfect scene stealer in this movie, and staying true to the character rubs a few people the wrong way, but I have to say, along with a few smaller items he steals the show. Peters is funny, sarcastic, and just enough of a joker that you come off loving a somewhat jerk of a character. In all honesty it’s worth seeing this film on the big screen just for the Quicksilver kitchen incident.

There are all sorts of other things going on as well but I’m not going to spoil too much. A dastardly villain played well by Peter Dinklage, great fights, superior CGI – in no part of the film does the CGI appear fake and take you out of the movie, and the biggest bonus of all, the time travel is done well and clear, there’s never any confusion of which era you are in or which part of the past or future you are looking at. X-Men: Days of Future Past is one to pay full admission for and catch on the big screen, you won’t be disappointed, so go see it people!

P.S.  Of course, stay until the end end end of the credits for the end credits sequence, it’s SO good!

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