The seventh film in a series that started all the way back in 2000, X-Men: Days of Future Pastsees returning director Bryan Singer getting the band back together in true style.
Not content to settle for just one incarnation, he unites the original line-up with their younger, hairier selves and brings in a few extra session musicians for good measure. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?
The cast of the original films take centre stage at first, with Ian McKellen’s Magneto and Patrick Stewart’s Professor X under siege in a distant, apocalyptic future.
They’re pinned down by a seemingly unstoppable breed of human-made robots called Sentinels and only have one shot at survival. This being a superhero film, it involves sending Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back to the Seventies to root out younger versions of Magneto (Michael Fassbender), the Professor (James McAvoy) and the elusive Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence).
Don’t worry if that sounds a little less than straightforward. Singer brings the two strands together in surprisingly comfortable fashion and delivers a coherent, plot-driven romp that combines show-stopping visual effects with a spot of old-school slapstick.
Oh, and there’s also a superb performance from [programme]Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage as the brilliantly named villain Bolivar Trask
X-Men: Days of Future Past is a Film programme that first aired in 2014 and has been classified a 12 certificate.
