Empire. X-Men. 25 covers. 1 issue. It was more worrying than exciting. How on earth would Singer combine two franchises into one coherent film? Answer: very, very well.

The cast serve the story, not their egos, and Singer reconciles both timelines’ conflicting tones perfectly. Falling somewhere between the exuberant chaos of The Avengers and the portentous doom of The Dark Knight, Future Past is built to thrill and delight.

Quicksilver’s prison-break sequence is genius, while elsewhere Fassbender maintains an effortlessly sinister cool. The only weak spots are McAvoy hamming it up and a third act lacking a real villain, which just misses the epiphanic moment it’s searching for.

Joyous, thrilling and masterful in its combination of two different cinematic worlds. The best blockbuster you’ll see this year. And as for the future of the X-Men? Let’s just say time travel is pretty handy when you fancy a spot of retconning.

RATING: 4/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Peter Dinklage, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen

DIRECTOR: Bryan Singer

WRITER: Simon Kinberg, (story by Kinberg, Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman)

SYNOPSIS: The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent a nightmare future that spells doom for both humans and mutants.