X-Men: Days of Future Past

I have been a big fan of the X-Men movies, to varying degrees, for years so I was really excited to see the latest installment last night.  My favorite in the franchise is definitely X-Men: First Class because it completely embodies the mod style of the sixties (it reminded me of an early James Bond movie) and I loved the chemistry between Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender).  Most of X-Men: Days of Future Past takes place in the past so everything I loved about X-Men: First Class is continued.  It begins in a dystopian future where robots, called Sentinels, have virtually exterminated all mutants.  Professor X and Magneto send Wolverine's consciousness back to his younger self to convince the younger Xavier and Lensherr to cooperate in the hopes of preventing the war.  Instead of the Bay of Pigs invasion of the sixties, this movie revolves around the Paris peace talks ending the Vietnam War in the seventies.  Once again, the style of this film is spot on for the iconic seventies.  Bell bottom jeans, leather jackets with wide lapels, corduroy pants, three-piece suits, crop tops, wide ties, shaggy hair, and over-sized Aviator sunglasses all make an appearance.  McAvoy and Fassbender reprise their roles brilliantly as friends who have had a falling out and don't quite trust each other any more (I loved the chess scene).  The special effects are amazing, especially when the mutants battle the Sentinels simultaneously in the seventies and in the future, but I enjoyed the storytelling as well.  In my opinion, X-Men: Days of Future Past is the most entertaining film in the franchise.  I highly recommend it, particularly if you enjoyed X-Men: First Class.

Note:  I honestly do not know who I like better: McAvoy with his long hair and scruffy beard (I've been a fan since I saw him in The Last King of Scotland) or Fassbender in an ascot.  An ascot, I tell you!