Writer: Naseem Randhawa

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Watch this if you liked: "X-Men: First Class"

Gripping from the very start, the movie wastes no time delving into the action-laden mutant world, but hey, this is the mother of all "X-Men" movies after all, so that's an expected relief. What we get with "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" is an exciting overdose of over dozens of mutants featured in this matured yet political driven story, but following the government against the mutant race saga on a much more perilous scale. Bottom line, this is not a superhero movie for kids.

It is the future and things are bleak for mutants who are executed on grounds of being a treat against the human race. Created by the government, the Sentinel army is designed to obliterate all mutants. With their race's extinction nigh, Professor X and Magneto (Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen) send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back to the 70s to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing Sentinel creator Boliver Trask (Peter Dinklage), an important key event that led to their destructive future. Now in the past, Wolverine is joined by the younger Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), as the group encounters many other mutants as their younger selves in journeying to save their future.

The obvious strength of this movie is its sheer volume of mutants thanks to its star-studded ensemble. Perhaps with this there also lies its short-coming, as with the many characters on screen, often times it feels as if your favourite mutant is fitted into a rigid bite-sized timeframe so that everyone can be streamlined into the movie just like Sushi making its rounds on a conveyor belt. We get plenty of the lithe Mystique, gruff Wolverine (albeit a tad bit tamer) a younger Professor X and Magneto, but it's some of the other mutants whose capabilities we wish we could see more of.

Blending the past and the present is a great idea especially since this allows us to get the best of the entire extended "X-Men" universe; the younger versions as well as the older ones we have come to know dating back from the very first "X-Men" film. Don't worry, the timelines are pretty easy to follow through, so no "Momento" like moments should be expected here. Even the cinematic mood of the film benefits from this arrangement; balancing out the dark desolate dystopian future by contrasting it with the colourful 70s.

Unlike most Marvel entries, the "X-Men" universe has always been more than just a film about superpowers and the occasional slapstick comedy (cough-Avengers-cough). "X-Men" is always for the bigger, more mature issue at hand; the fight for equality and acceptance in society, and it is no different in this one, making "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" the most politically inclined of the lot. Audiences who walk in to this movie should not expect to just be entertained, but educated on the "X-Men" universe too.

The tremendous visual effects of the film will not disappoint particularly where the teleportation powers possessed by Blink (played by a dialogue-less Fan Bing Bing) is concerned. However, surprisingly the most memorable scene of "Days Of Future Past" is not from the big stars, but that of newcomer Evan Peters' scene stealing Quicksilver and his slow-mo bullets montage. It's a wonder why director Bryan Singer and the producers decided to elevate Quicksilver over others by giving him one of the best scenes, but one can only deduce that it could've been done to out-stage actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson whom will also don the Quicksilver suit in the upcoming "The Avengers: The Age Of Ultron".

Although "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" has got all the goods packaged neatly, there still seems to be many things left untold or resolved. Perhaps it is to set the stage for what's to come in the next sequel "X-Men: Apocalypse" in 2016. What matters most is that at least this is eons better than "X-Men: The Last Stand" and more recently, "The Wolverine". Fans will not be disappointed and most of the mutants from the franchise's past and present timelines are gathered here for the ultimate superhuman ensemble, making it by far the best "X-Men" movie made.

Cinema Online, 19 May 2014