Days Of Future Past was a time-travel epic, an adaptation of the much loved comic and the bringing together of a cast even bigger than The Avengers. But what it was most of all was a tricksy, borderline genius flick of the reboot switch. The X-Men continuity had always been a bit of a mess, but between all the flashbacks, prequels and soft reboots it had become an unweidly mess. So what Bryan Singer really did with his return to the franchise was wipe out the universally revived entries (few movies can say they're so bad they were subsequently rendered non-canon) and reset everything to the status quo he left the series with in 2003 (give or take a few changes - Jean's alive and Kelsey Grammar's Beast). That he did this on the sly, hidden within what was already a pretty entertaining sci-fi story, is exactly what made the series so exciting in the first place. All this makes Days Of Future Past an absolutely excellent X-Men film, giving fans exactly what they want in a way that is neither pandering or flippant. As a film in general there are the standard blockbuster issues, with a lot of spinning plates not all getting enough attention (leading to the movie's own share of plot holes) and some odd moments (Magneto lifting the stadium is spectacle for spectacle's sake), but as, like Singer's earlier films, it deals with its geekier sides of the property with such confidence those problems hardly matter.
