X-Men: Days of Future Past

I was worried about the latest X-Men film going in to the cinema. The trailers looked promising but you never know with this franchise, it's always been very hit or miss after X2. Saying that, the prequel film X-Men: First Class was my favourite film of the franchise. That's right 'was' my favourite, because X-Men: Days of Future Past just completely blew my mind and exceeded all my expectations! Read on for my spoiler free, full review of the film.

Set in a dystopian future where the mutants are being hunted down by Sentinels, the only chance they have left is to send Wolverine back to the 1970's where he can try stop the bad events of the future ever happening. The film seams together the old cast with the new in a very ambitious 'inbetwequel' of sorts to patch together the X-Men Universe into something more linear then it previously was.

The cast is huge and the main members get a good amount of time to shine, however some new additions such as Bishop are there to show off their powers rather then bring anything new to the plot. That being said it does make for some pretty cool action scenes, but more on that later. For once this film does not feel like Wolverine and the X-Men, he has a big part to play but it's not his film as it has been in the past. This film belongs to the relationship between Professor X, Magneto and Mystique which is played out so well throughout. The characterisation of all three is brilliant and I lreally enjoy the love/hate relationship between Charles and Erik, which is explored even further in this film. James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence are the highlights of the film in these roles. Peter Dinklage also shines as villain Boliver Trask, he may not be getting the brilliant material he gets as Tyrion on Game of Thrones but it was a nice change to see a different kind of villain that isn't just going to end up in a big boss battle at the end of the film. I also love the fact that the actor's size is not referred to throughout, it isn't a defining trait of the character, Dinklage was just the best actor for the part.

This film has a lot of heart, a lot of the characters are in a bad place at the beginning and it's all about whether they can regain hope and compromise for the greater good of the world and mutantkind. Writer Simon Kinberg has done a brilliant job of keeping these themes throughout and the final edit of the film is a really tight piece that balances all the different characters, times and emotions perfectly. Having Bryan Singer back was a god send as he really knows how to direct these characters, you can tell he is in his element with the X-Men and I hope that the recent allegations against him are false so he can come back to do more!

Visually this film looked great and there were some awesome action sequences where we get a really cool look at some of the mutant powers in action. Because this is a bigger budget film and more technologically advanced then the previous ones, we get to see some really epic sequences that prove to be some of the best we have seen in comic book movies so far. One of the best action sequences in the film comes surprisingly from Quicksliver, how ever stupid he looks, when using his super speed on camera it is treat and turns out to be one of the highlights of the film. Days of Future Past has raised the bar high for Age of Ultron who will be using a different iteration of the character next year.

It feels different to previous comic book films and doesn't abide by all the same rules making it something more than your average superhero movie. With the inclusion of the Sentinels, this finally feels like the X-Men from the comics and make no doubt, this film is definitely for X-Men fans with many little nods to the source material placed throughout, along with its pretty faithful adaptation to the actual comic arc it's based on. Going in with no knowledge of the films that came before it may prove a bit confusing but either way it's a lot of fun. It's going to wipe the bad taste of Wolverine Origins film and X-Men: The Last Stand from your mind. I really can't find much wrong with this film!

Overall this is the best X-Men film to be released so far. In fact it's up their with the best of comic book movies. It truly is something special and I cannot wait to watch it again! I'm giving X-Men: Days of Future Past a rating of 5/5. Remember to stay after the credits for a taste of big things to come!

What did you think of Days of Future Past? Best of the X-Men franchise or another miss? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!