Film Review: X-Men Days of Future Past

I probably don't need to tell you this, but I'm a geek. If the constant talk of The Lord of the Rings didn't give me away then the recently acquired Star Wars rats should have. Other favourite geeky topics of conversation include Harry Potter and Terry Pratchett.

Oh, and X-Men.

I enjoyed the cartoon as a child. I guess from an early age I could see the logic in someone being born different (and therefore a mutant) as opposed to being bitten by a spider (why would you get that close?!) but I really fell in love with it when I saw the film as a teenager.

I admit that this may have had something to do with the fact it features a topless Hugh Jackman.

Living on a small island has meant that I've grown used to seeing films weeks (or even months) after they're released, so imagine my surprise when I discovered we were getting the latest X-Men film at the actual time it was released.

This meant I got to go see it on Friday, the actual day it came out!!!!! I'm not sure there are enough exclamation marks in the world to accurately convey how happy this made me.

And now onto my thoughts on the film, in no particular order:

NAKED HUGH JACKMAN!!!!

Xavier and Magneto having to work together. Twice!

Timey wimey plot stuff. They have Wolverine go back in time, as opposed to Kitty Pryde, this makes sense though because the person going back is projected into their body in the time they went back to. This would make Kitty something like -30 so Wolverine, who doesn't age, is the obvious choice.

Tyrion Lannister is a bad guy. Well, he doesn't think he is, but he kind of brings about the destruction of humanity so he sort of is by default.

There are so many funny bits in it. The woman sad behind me kept laughing really loudly but it was okay because I was chuckling away too.

BIG SPOILERS AHEAD! (Highlight to read)

I also love the effective retconning of everything from around X2 onwards. It's very clever and it gives them a clean slate to work on, with all the characters at their disposal, for more sequels.

I ended up lying awake after we saw it sorting out things in my head too. Basically 1970s Professor X learns that he needs to let people make their own decisions and that he can't control them. Then there's the surprise reveal at the end (which I was not expecting) that Jean Grey and Scott are now alive in the present day (well, our future).

I think that because Xavier learnt not to control people in the past he realised that shutting off part of Jean's mind to her wasn't the best tactic so he did something different, thus preventing the whole Dark Phoenix Saga. As I was always kind of annoyed at the ending of The Last Stand this makes me quite happy.

Unfortunately I don't have anyone to share my geeky theories with, so you'll just have to listen to my ramblings here. Sorry.

In short, this is up there as my favourite X-Men film. It took me right back to being much younger and making up X-Men games for my younger brother. And now I can't wait to see it again, oh, and I want more. Lots more!