MTV Review: X-Men: Days Of Future Past

UK Release Date: May 22

Certificate: 12A

Running Time: 131 minutes

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage.

Director: Bryan Singer

Plot: A dystopian future where badass robots called Sentinels are successfully X-Terminating every mutant on Earth. With X-Tinction inevitable the beleaguered X-Men (and X-Women) send Wolverine’s consciousness back in time to change the course of the world’s future.

An afro-haired, post-Vietnam 70s America. A flare-wearing Wolverine (Jackman) must get a young Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and Magneto (Fassbender) to bury their beefs and stop Mystique (Lawrence) murdering mutant-hating, Sentinel creating, Professor Trask (Dinklage). Unlike his mutant mates, time is not on Wolverine’s side (and neither are the stupid humans). 

Best Scene: Hyped-up Quicksilver (whose power, it seems, is an X-Treme case of ADHD) stops the X-Men from getting chewed up by a blitz of bullets in the Pentagon’s round kitchen. Using his mega fast skillz he speeds (well, just walks normally, as everything else moves in super slo-mo) around the kitchen adjusting bullet trajectories and having megalols by maneuvering various cops’ limbs so they hilariously hit each other in the face in a X-Ceptionally stylish scene.

Best One Liner: “You’re a cold hearted bitch!” Wolverine’s way with women leaves a lot to be desired as he fails to impress Mystique with a chat up line straight out of the divorce courts.

Date Movie or Mate Movie? Despite Professor X and Magneto’s much publicized beef, X-Men: Days of Future Past is the ultimate mate movie – literally - for this gang of outcasts stand side-by-side against society’s prejudice and persecution. But like, whatevs! Who’d want to be mates with society anyway? Society doesn’t have any amazing mutant skills. Society can’t turn fuzzy and blue and smash things up. Nor can society levitate whole sports stadiums with the power of its mind. WARNING. If you take a date to this movie X-Pect to be persecuted yourself for not having any amazing mutant skillz and for being totes norm.

Scene Stealer: Jennifer Lawrence in a blue body suit. X-Traordinary! 

WTF Moment: When Magneto lets Charles Xavier into a secret: JFK was also mutant. (And we discover that, and despite having powers of deception, Nixon is not a mutant. Just a dodgy human that Magneto tries killing by dropping a sports stadium on top of.)

Summary: If you’re X-Pecting X-Plosions and an X-Ttra large helping of X-Citement then X-Men: Days of Future Past will not disappoint. This new chapter in the comic book franchise follows in the footsteps of the previous X-Men movies in being something more than just another action packed popcorn blockbuster (obviously this movie is packed full of action like a 70s X-Rated movie is packed full of skin and moustaches) with difficult ideas of identity and prejudice discussed. With the time-traveling framework of X-Men: Days of Future Past the narrative can often feel confusing as you don’t know whether you’re watching a futuristic sci-fi shoot ‘em up or an American Hustle-esque retro romp. But if you like your big budget blockbusters with brains, blue jumpsuits, bad shirts with big collars, and some badass best mates sticking it to the man then this movie fits like an X-L sized pair of action pants (flared, obviously.)

By Michael Currell @MTVUK