The first trailer for X-Men: Days of Future Past hit the Ethernet cable in October 2013 and from the very first look of things it confirmed the old meets new pie and mashup that the movie’s name and initial details seemed to imply. Combining the original Patrick Stewart cast from the first three films with their younger-self equivalents from X-Men First Class, including James McAvoy (Arthur Christmas) and Michael Fassbender, there’s a time travelling blurred line that brings the two eras together.
Release date
The movie hit the big screens in the UK and the US on the 23rd May 2014, bringing a storm of mystique (we literally couldn’t stop ourselves) to cinemas for the first signs of summer. It was available to watch in both 2D and the full-on, in-your-face 3D, which added a lot of impact to big budget sci-fi action flicks like X-Men.
It went on to be released on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download on the 10th November 2014 in the UK, and the 14th October 2014 in the States. It’s also available in Blu-ray 3D, so you can relive the Sentinel attacks in all their screen popping glory.
Story
Based on the comic book story of the same name and directly following on from the storylines of X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: First Class and this year’s Wolverine, Days of Future Past features a new threat in the past that needs the X-Men from the two timelines to combine their efforts to stop it from wiping out mutant kind once and for all.
When present day Professor X, played by Patrick Stewart, picks up on the danger in the past he manages to use his immense psychic control to send the consciousness of the modern day Wolverine (Jackman) into his past, identical self (Logan doesn’t age like the rest of us, by the way) to find the younger Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and save the day. However, the younger Charles isn’t so easily enlisted leaving Logan with a lot to do to pull things around.
Cast
The cast is massive, covering the split time-frames in their entirety. Magneto of the present, played by Sir Ian McKellen (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) is just as much of a force to be reckoned with as his younger, Michael Fassbender (Macbeth (2015)) portrayed equivalent. He’s got the double edged sword of the shape-shifting Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), tentatively on his side too.
There’s also the return of Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class) as Hank McCoy, AKA Beast, Halle Berry (Cloud Atlas) as mistress of the elements, Storm, Anna Paquin (X-Men: The Last Stand) as the power sapping fly-girl, Rogue, and Shawn Ashmore as her beau Iceman. They’re joined by Ellen Page (Super) as time manipulating, Kitty Pryde, Omar Sy as the worrying man from the future, Bishop, and Peter Drinklage (Ice Age: Continental Drift) as Bolivar Trask, head of Trask Industries and creator of the Sentinels.
The movie also includes a whole lot of other classic X-Men characters into the mix, including Collossus, played by Daniel Cudmore, Warpath, played by Booboo Stewart, Blink, played by Fan Bingbong, Sunspot, played by Adam Canto, Havok, played by Lucas Till and the brilliant Quicksilver, played by Evan Peters.
Production
Days Of Future Past was directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men: First Class) with the screenplay written by Simon Kinberg (Fantastic Four (2015)). Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker produced the film with Newton Thomas Sigel as the director of photography. John Myhre was the production designer and Louise Mingenbach costume designer. The music for the film was composed by John Ottman, who was also in charge of editing.
Review
From the look of the trailer, it was hard to say how well X-Men: Days of Future Past would stack up against previous films, but following its release in 2014 it’s gone on to impress. It may well have had a pretty big job right from the start convincing everyone of the plot that sees the return of Charles Xavier from death’s door, but it all come together for an epic new Marvel movie. Read our full X-Men: Days Of Future Past review for more details.
