X-Men: Days of Future Past 2014

Christy Lemire, ChristyLemire.com: The results are both dazzling and intimate, clever and - during one tour-de-force sequence - spectacularly funny. Read more

Alex Pappademas, Grantland: The plot is about a fearful society whose expansion of its security apparatus has unintended consequences, but Singer doesn't even touch the story's topical resonances... There's also no real moral quandary to be grappled with. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: "X-Men: Days of Future Past'' blows a breath of fresh air through the musty Marvel universe, which increasingly is all about pandering to hard-core fans rather than trying to make good movies for everybody. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Everything is of a piece, and it's dazzling. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Once it reaches takeoff velocity, "Days of Future Past" becomes one of the best installments in the "X-Men" series. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Not since 2003's "X2: X-Men United" has this filmmaker tapped so effortlessly into his talent for comicbook gravitas, his ability to mine emotional resonance, pop poetry and (crucially) sly humor ... Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: For better or worse, X-Men: Days Of Future Past is the first Marvel movie to truly embrace comics-style storytelling. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: "X-Men: Days of Future Past" does just about everything you'd hope an all-star, time-traveling summer blockbuster should. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: "X-Men: Days of Future Past" upholds the acceptably high batting average of Marvel's second-tier movie franchise. Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: Much of this takes place in the early 1970s, which gives the filmmakers an excuse to haul out lots of vintage kitsch and make some rather tasteless references to the Vietnam war. Read more

Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune: [It's got] a lot of plot. And yet, despite resulting in a film that brings together the cast of the original X-Men films and the upstarts of the clever 2011 reboot X-Men: First Class, Singer keeps what matters clear and snappy enough. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: What elevates this film above most of its predecessors is the dynamic action filmmaking and, above all, its wit. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The movie earns its keep with inspired one-off moments that showcase a mischievous sense of humor. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Perhaps more than any other superhero franchise, X-Men captures the overlapping fantasies of being unique yet not alone, and of being a hero but also being saved. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The fireworks, the super-power circus, lots of surprise cameos and Big Moments - "X-Men: Days of Future Past" has them all. Logic? Who cares? Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: There are many superhuman feats on display in the latest installment in the X-Men saga, Days of Future Past. Time travel. Saving the world from big, angry robots. A beautifully restored 1973 Buick Riviera. Read more

Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly: Singer's return in the pretzel-logic pop fantasia X-Men: Days of Future Past is so triumphant because of how effortless he makes connecting the dots seem. It's an epic that couldn't be more Byzantine on paper but scans with ease on screen. Read more

James Rocchi, Film.com: It's a brilliant gameplan for a studio: Manipulate time and space to make the X-Men movies infinitely re-bootable, infinitely re-castable and assuredly profitable, until it sounds like, and is, a kind of prayer: Forever and ever, X-Men. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: While it's more dramatically diffuse than the reboot and lacks a definitive villain, the new film is shot through with a stirring reverence for the Marvel Comics characters and their universe. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: Time travel, Peter Dinklage and 1970s kitsch top a very long list of what makes "X-Men: Days of Future Past" such a blast. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: It's like discovering your box of Milk Duds is really chocolate-covered vitamins. Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: Days of Future Past toys with history, but stays true to its outsider roots, expressing them with conviction and a sense of narrative sure-footedness. Even better, it's timeless fun, a summer movie that engages and entertains us in equal measures. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: This is the best, most entertaining and mature comic-book Hollywood franchise currently in existence. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: For all its sociopolitical smarts and coded subtexts, the "X-Men" franchise, based on the Marvel comics, is primarily about entertainment, and this seventh installment is no different. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: If you are an "X" maniac, Singer's given you the movie you've been hoping for. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: With characters like the impish Quicksilver, the movie recaptures something of the spirit of the comic's early days. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Quicksilver ... is the coolest of this picture's new guys, zipping around so fast ... that he can taste soup, rearrange guards' limbs, and nudge bullets off their trajectories all in the time it takes to blink. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The movie finds a lot of success, largely due to solid work from a lot of extraordinary actors. They maneuver around a jam-packed plot that, in lesser hands, could have left you looking at your watch. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The characters - and the performers playing them - step unto the breach to provide just enough wit and feeling to make "Days of Future Past" something other than a waste of a reasonable person's time. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: The most exciting big-studio release so far this year is X-Men: Days of Future Past. It tops even Captain America: The Winter Soldier, another bold Marvel superhero film, for ambition, emotion and thrills. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Ambitious, even audacious, the movie's mix of action and for-devotees-only intrigue can overwhelm, but there are moments of sheer virtuosity, too ... Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: For those who felt The Last Stand was a poor exit for many of these characters, X-Men: Days of Future Past should at least salve the wound in part. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: A mind-bending thrill ride with great special effects. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Step up, cynics, and see the summer 2014 blockbuster that gets damn near everything right. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: I basically really enjoyed this movie, even while lamenting that I was enjoying it under mendacious premises and that there was something fundamentally cynical about its elegiac, retrospective tone. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Most important, there is an emotional undercurrent in this installment that the earlier films only aspired to. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: It's maximalist Hollywood filmmaking at its best, the kind of extravagant production that, like a Wagner opera, can sweep you up in a sense of mythic grandeur even as you struggle to follow what's going on. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The film is visually exciting, aping the look of period camerawork effectively in several 1970s scenes. The actors aren't overwhelmed by effects for the most part. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Some sequels have such a complicated back story they should come with printed footnotes. The latest sequel in the "X-Men" series requires an encyclopedia that can be read in a fun-house mirror. Read more

Christopher Orr, The Atlantic: I would be remiss not to note that tucked away amid all the existential melodrama is perhaps the most hilarious set piece ever to grace a superhero film. Read more

Adam Nayman, Globe and Mail: Having already directed the first two (and superior) X-Men films, Singer shows a level of comfort with both the material and the cast ... Read more

Bruce Demara, Toronto Star: In the capable hands of director Bryan Singer, who helmed the first two X-Men films, it's a nearly seamless adventure ride despite a plot that at times strains credulity. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Bryan Singer keeps things moving along briskly enough that you can just go along with the ride of Superhero Stuff without getting bogged down in the labyrinthine plotting if you don't want to. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: It all trots along at a brisk pace with genuinely impressive special effects and decent gags. Bryan Singer really cares about his mutant outcasts, weaving just enough drama into the superhero shenanigans. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The most ambitious and ingenious of the long-running series, X-Men: Days of Future Past keeps the key crew of mutants busier than ever. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: [Singer is] reborn - deft, elegant, spring-heeled - in X-Men: Days of Future Past. The special effects don't bog him down: They lift the movie to a surreal and more emotional dimension. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: "Days of Future Past" is, in itself, as intoxicating as a shot of adrenaline. It's what summer movies are meant to be. Read more