Every superhero movie from the last ten years really has Christopher Nolan to thank for the direction they have moved in. Although the superhero genre has changed quite a lot over the last twenty years, we can really trace the beginnings of the serious, dark superhero movies to Batman Begins. The character of Batman has always had an edge of humour, especially considering the Adam West 1960's show and the Tim Burton films but Nolan gave him a new serious persona, a totally believable real character who just happened to be a flying bat at night. There were still moments of humour but DC in general were embracing a new darker type of superhero, a humanly flawed one at that. The influence of Nolan can be seen throughout the X-Men series. The first film, directed by Bryan Singer way back in 2000, was still a slightly cartoon-ish affair. Although X2 certainly displayed more maturity, it really wasn't until X-Men First Class that we really saw the dark elements of X-Men come into play. We don't need to refer to the Last Stand here, it doesn't exist to us and thankfully it doesn't exist to Singer and his writers either. We have always just accepted that Professor Xavier and Magneto were sworn enemies, First Class really got under the skin of where those problems began and the beginning of the end of their friendship. Vaughn did a spectacular job with First Class, it was really up to Singer to bring all those elements together. Thankfully, he does this beautifully. Days of Future Past begins by reconnecting us with the characters of the original series, an older Professor Xavier, his enemy Magneto, who is now working with him in order to prevent the end of the mutant race and Wolverine. The trio have discovered a mutant who is able to project someone's mind back into their younger consciousness, essentially, she can cause someone to travel back in time. Since the future involves the end of the mutant race, Wolverine volunteers to go back in time and convince a younger Eric (Magneto) and Charles (Professor X) that they must put their struggles aside and hunt down Mystique. Mystique is the source of the mutant and human war. Still floating between giving up her entire soul for the cause or remaining as the Raven who Charles knew and loved or embracing entirely who she now is, Mystique is on a mission to take down Dr. Bolivar Trask, whose tests on mutants bring about the ultimate machine that will destroy them. Trask is murdered by Mystique and following his death, society becomes less tolerant of mutants, insisting that they must get rid of them entirely. The source of all the problems stems from Mystique and Wolverine must stop her in the past before she gets to Trask. Of course, convincing Eric and Charles to reconcile is not the easiest task in the world. The main thing to note about Days of Future Past is that this actually quite a weighty film and certainly one that has a lot to say. Besides the emotional aspects of very fraught relationships between Charles and Eric and of course, Charles and Raven, X-Men still weighs in politically, albeit quite subtly by addressing the rights of minorities in society and what happens when someone is an any way "different." In fact, Days of Future Past just may be the most emotional film yet, especially considering the pain Charles has gone through in his life, his battle to stay out of a wheelchair, his inability to listen to the pain of others and the loss of Raven, who he clearly adores. As well as that, many have lost people that they love and this weighs down on the various characters. The performances are exceptional but then what else could you expect from a cast that includes Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart. Jennifer Lawrence is outstanding as Raven, bringing an emotional depth and understanding to the character that we probably wouldn't have seen in any of the previous X-Men films from the older series. James McAvoy is fantastic as the young Charles, injured, heartbroken and finding it difficult to deal with his reality. However, the outstanding performance from the film must be Quicksilver, who most certainly has best scene on top of that. Cheeky but not obnoxious, he brings the most laughs and certainly the best soundtrack. If there could be any complaints about Days of Future Past it may be that some of the action is sacrificed for these emotional moments and it doesn't quite build to the climax quite like some of the other films have in the past, even though the alternate timelines do all converge. The action scenes that do exist are terrific however, especially Quicksilver's. You will feel like that there is certainly more dialogue here than the previous films but in no way does it work against the film. On top of that, with the various timelines and tonnes of characters, this could easily get confusing and yet at no point does it feel weighed down. A fantastic superhero film and well worth checking out. Arguably the best of the X-Men films.