X-Men: Days Of Future Past

Super powered mutants, evil robots, time travel and a whole lot of flares and sideburns going on you wouldn't expect Bryan Singers newest X-Men outing to be anything but groovy, I just wish that was the case.

The latest in one of the longest running comic book movie series going, Days Of Future Past shows our favourite team of exceptional youngsters not so fresh faced anymore. Initially beginning in a dystopian future where mutants and the majority of mankind are all but extinct, no thanks to Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinkalage-Game Of Thrones) an anti-mutant military scientist who created the Sentinel Program, giant morphing robots that seek out mutants to purge them from the earth. Singer begins the film with imagery reminiscent of a concentration camp, bodies being strewn around by machines and the disheveled living wandering through cages. This is where old Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and old Magneto (Sir Ian McKellen) hatch a plan to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back in time to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing Trask and changing the future they reside in. It's a lot to take in this soon into the movie but just go with it, there's so much else that will aggravate you if you think too hard about it and the plot almost pleads with you just to enjoy the ride.

Wolverine must now bring together a haggard and somehow walking Young Xavier (James McAvoy) now powerless after Beast gives him a serum he can take that takes away his powers but lets him walk again. Apparently injections can heal a broken spine, it's pretty dumb. Also having to find the other side of the morality coin is an imprisoned young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) serving life sentences for the apparent murder of President John. F. Kennedy one of the films highlights stems from his rescue with the aide of the super speedy Quiksilver, It's very reminiscent of the opening scene to X2 but somehow the schoolboy style humor he brings keeps it well in your mind after the credits roll.

As much as the internet seems to be loving Jennifer Lawrence at the minute and her characters development from happy go lucky shy girl to conflicted revolutionary is second only to Xavier's transformation into the wise teacher he'll become, she seems to get an abnormal amount of screen time as apposed to some others who could have desperately used it. For instance Trask's motivation for wanting all the mutants isn't that compelling and he's nothing more than a face for the films villains. As much as I hate the casting of Halle Berry as Storm it wouldn't have hurt to see more of what the future mutants could do, Iceman uses his classic ice slide for a moment and fan favourite Blink fights using portals which I left thinking she had one of the more visually stunning powers.

The film flogs a lot of what you've seen before however, Mystiques eyes glowing yellow while she's transformed and the obligatory Wolverine popping the bullets out of his chest/slow unsheathing of the claws, at times it feels like ideas were running thin in the creative department and even some new things they tried are a little forced (Beast can apparently Hulk out now) Everything aside however the performances are usually convincing, McAvoy and Fassbender outdo their elders and seeing the younger versions of characters you're used to be so flawed and full of youthful rage is a refreshing change of pace.

In it's own right the film is perfectly adequate, an oft confusing plot but full of great dialogue and high octane action pieces will keep you hooked, despite this if you're a fan of the series the contradictions to the other films and lazy wink to the audience will leave you feeling deflated.

300: Rise Of An Empire

Review numero quatro!

The unnecessary sequel to the movie full of scantly clad muscular men killing each other in slow motion, and despite all this it's the women that carry this movie.

Director Noam Murro does his best Zack Snyder impression here giving us an hour and forty minutes of unimaginative and frankly painful cinematography, the narrative runs alongside the Spartans battle against the Persians in the first film and see's Athenian hero Thermistokles (charisma vacuum Sullivan Stapleton channeling the ghost of Leonidas) fight, flex and give cliched motivational speeches to his rag tag and unmemorable troops as they battle the Persians at sea.

Eva Green however is one of the films saving graces, she plays Artemisia, a Greek born naval commander working for the Persian Empire who sets the bar for 'not to be messed with'. A powerful femme fatale who's merciless and unhinged psyche is portrayed with such subtlety you'd be best treading on egg shells around her. Though I'm not sure if I'm putting her on a pedestal purely because she acts circles around the majority of her co-stars. 

There are plenty of nods to the original film, familiar characters return such as Xerxes, the giant king from the first movie who with little explanation we see how he transforms from a regular man into the 'God King'. Some magical desert water? Really? Lena Headey also returns as Leonidas' wife Queen Gorgo, again showing that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned as she not only cuts her way through hordes of Persians but delivers a speech with far more weight to it than all of Sullivan's combined. Good God I've missed Game Of Thrones.

In defense of the film the visuals as always look great, from the lavish Persian temples and the flaming rubble of Athens you're always reminded that this is very much a Snyder film, gorgeous visuals and brutal murder seems to go hand in hand with everything he touches. Sadly he also co wrote the screenplay and you find yourself shifting in your seat until another battle arrives to spark some entertainment into a franchise that is very much mirroring the battle of Thermopylae with the critics. They even shoehorned in a "this is Sparta" line, if it was anyone but Lena Headey that said it I would have cringed uncontrollably.

Regardless this movie will do well at the box office and there will undoubtedly be a sequel dealing with the end of Xerxes, a villain literally nobody cares about. Wait for the DVD.

I never thought I'd miss Gerard Butler so much.