Loosely adapted from the classic Chris Claremont comic storyline of the same name, X-Men: Days of Future Past sees the big screen's original X-Men (Wolverine, Professor X, Storm, Kitty Pryde, Iceman, Colossus, and even their one-time enemy Magneto) and their latest members (Bishop, Warpath, Sunspot, and Blink) living in a dystopian future where the massive mutant-hunting Sentinels have practically exterminated mutants, incarcerating the surviving ones in concentration camps with the humans who helped them. The only way for the X-Men to survive is to send one of their own back in time telepathically in order to stop the assassination that paved the way for the mutant holocaust.

As you likely know, the comics had the older Kitty transfer her consciousness into her younger self in order to warn her teammates. In the film, the initial argument is that only Professor X is a strong enough telepath to do the job, but since he can't physically handle such a long trip back the mission falls to Wolverine.

Waking up in his younger body in 1973, Logan seeks out the younger Xavier (a bedraggled James McAvoy) who has become a shambling version of the man we met in X-Men: First Class. Taking a page from Bruce Wayne's Dark Knight Rises playbook, Charles has spent the better part of the last decade moping around his mansion in his robe and pajamas brooding about what he's lost. The only one who's still with him in the now closed, dilapidated school is Beast (Nicholas Hoult), whose miracle serum for Xavier's paralysis has robbed Charles of his psychic powers. But that's fine by Charles, who no longer wants to hear all the voices and suffering and who has lost hope since losing his "sister" Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) to Magneto's (Michael Fassbender) side.

Mystique becomes the key to changing the future as she's out to assassinate Sentinels creator Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage; in the comics the target was Senator Robert Kelly). In order to help them track down Mystique, Logan, Xavier, and Beast will need help from Magneto – imprisoned at the bottom of the Pentagon for the role he allegedly played in the JFK assassination – and a thieving young speedster named Peter Maximoff (Evan Peters), aka Quicksilver. From there it becomes a race against time to stop Mystique, restore young Xavier's hope, and prevent the X-Men of the future from being wiped out.

This is a very plot heavy sci-fi/time travel tale with lots of moving parts, so it's a credit to both director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg that they balance all those elements with relatively little confusion. There are some clunky moments where you can feel the gears of the plot machinery churning, but overall Days of Future Past does a great job in keeping the storytelling concise and clear.

It's kind of amazing that the younger characters take the whole "I'm from the future" thing pretty much on face value, but I suppose when you're surrounded by super-powered mutants then a guy saying he's from the future doesn't sound all that crazy.

As with the best Star Trek movies, Days of Future Past gives each of its core crew of characters something important to do. It's pretty clever how the story manages to make the movie's biggest stars – particularly Lawrence, who had not yet done Hunger Games or won an Oscar when she signed on to star in three X-Men films – integral to the plot. Xavier's arc from self-pity to the hopeful leader embodied by Patrick Stewart is moving, and while the overall story is grim it's not devoid of humor. Yes, Days of Future Past can be amusing at times, with much of the humor stemming from Logan's Back to the Future-style scenario.






The movie's biggest surprise is actually the character that's been the greatest object of scorn online: Quicksilver. Yes, Quicksilver's not only awesome here, but he pretty much steals the show at one point. Chalk it up to yet another example to not judge a book by its cover, or in this case a character by his publicity shots.

The film's action sequences are well-done and engaging, from its opening scene of the future X-Men falling to the Sentinels to the Paris standoff through to the climactic battle in Washington D.C. But the standout set-piece is the Pentagon prison break sequence, which nicely balances humor, visual effects, character, and tension.