Film Review: X-Men: Days of Future Past

Charles Xavier and his band of merry mutants return for the next installment of the X-Men franchise, overseen by the returning Bryan Singer as director, in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

This does not have the big explosions, terrorising villains or the epic battle scenes we come to expect from comic book franchises such as this. Days of Future Past is a character driven affair that is mixed together with stylish set-pieces and an ambitious storyline to match. This time travel saga sees two generations of mutants come together, fifty years apart. Logan (Hugh Jackman), with the blessing of Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen), goes back in time in an attempt to convince their younger selves, played by the excellent James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender respectively, to work together to prevent the war that has obliterated the world they now live in.

Jennifer Lawrence returns as Mystique, as does Nicholas Hoult (Beast) and Ellen Page (Kitty Pryde), as Singer delves into the troubles of mutants over an extensive time-frame. Both the past and present, in their own ways, are just as dark and troubled as each other as we travel deep into the minds of their younger and older selves.

The director deserves credit for his inventiveness. There is a lot going on – and its all very dramatic and serious – but comedic relief can still be found, a long with some awesome set-pieces that vary in both style and size – this includes one very impressive slow-motion prison break sequence. Despite all this, you can not help but feel slightly underwhelmed. Maybe it is because it is different that this feeling lingers – there is no definitive villain, certain questions are left unanswered, whilst the ending, given the magnitude of the events that have just taken place, is extremely underwhelming. Its lack of action is refreshing, but in a way – like its finale – feels somewhat anti-climatic.

X-Men: Day of Future Past delivers both in style and substance –  it is just a shame that its ending petered out so abruptly that left us clamouring too eagerly, for the wrong reasons, for the next installment of the franchise when we should have been taking a few moments to appreciate Singer’s ambitious, different, yet enjoyable approach to proceedings.

7/10