Starring: Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Lawrence, Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Hoult, Ellen Page, Halle Berry
Director: Bryan Singer
Writers: Simon Kinberg, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn

X-Men: Days of Future Past opens with a very grim view of Earth's future, resulting in the last remaining X-Men fighting a never ending war against evil killing machines called Sentinels who are programmed to wipe out all mutants and any human sympathizers. The older Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Eric Lehnsherr / Magneto (Ian McKellen) decide that the only chance of any hope is to send somebody back to the 1970's and convince their younger selves played by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender to change history.

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Wolverine / Logan (Hugh Jackman) points out that he is the only one of them physically capable of withstanding the time travelling mind warp and volunteers to go back to 1973. The only problem is he has to make Charles and Eric believe that he is from the future sent there by the pair of them to save the world.

This film could quite easily have disappeared up itself with an over complicated time travelling storyline and as we all know, there aren't any 'cast in stone' rules of how time travel works. However, this story works thanks to some great character development and well placed humour to break up the 'science bit'. That's not to say that the film doesn't have the usual action set pieces which I might add are the most violent I've seen in the X-Men series. We are also introduced to some new X-Men characters my favorite and by the sound of the audience reaction everybody else's too, was Peter AKA Quicksilver who has the ability to move at the speed of sound. But it's the actor Evan Peters who has given a charismatic cheekiness to the 70's teenager and the highlight for me was the slow-mo scene when we follow him as he races around the prison guards toying with their weapons while listening to music on his headphones. It's a shame that his appearance is quite brief. Quicksilver will also feature in Avengers: Age of Ultron under the guise of Aaron Tay lor Johnson, with his sister the Scarlet Witch to be played by Elizabeth Olson. What a pity Disney, Fox and Sony can't get together with the Marvel franchise to share these creations.

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This is very much Wolverine's film who fits in well in the 1970's era along with President Nixon (tricky-dickie) tinny mono radios and lava lamps. But it's Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique who acts as the catalyst in the film and she holds the key to how the future will turn out. James McAvoy's Xavier looks like his tortured bent copper in his earlier film Filth and puts in a convincing turn as the younger Patrick Stewart (they even have the same nose). Michael Fassbender shows star quality and has that James Bond coolness to his performance and little Nicholas Hoult who was the annoying 'pudding bowl haircut' kid Marcus in About a Boy, not so little now as the young Hank AKA The Beast (the future Kelsey Grammar) who is also upgraded to an important role.

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I also have to mention Peter Dinklage who has proved that being short of statue doesn't get in the way of becoming a big star. To many of us Tyrion is the best and most popular character to come out of Game of Thrones. This time he plays the evil scientist responsible for the creation of the Sentinels and the creation of a 70's porn-star mustache.

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Hats off to the story writing team of Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class 2011, Kick-Ass 2010 and Stardust 2007) and screenwriter Simon Kinberg. This is by far the best X-Men movie to date. I don't think you will be disappointed, even with the 130 minutes running time. I thoroughly recommend you get along to see this movie.

Four out of Five Foker On Film stars

UK cinema release May 22, 2014

Certificate 12A