Thanks to an excellent cast, great action sequences and a gripping story, “X-Men: Days of Future Past” is a great movie on par with 2011’s excellent X-Men film “First Class” and well-worth the price of admission to see on the big screen.

In “X-men: DOFP,” the world has become a dystopian future after the creation of the Sentinel program, a project that uses mutant-detecting robots to exterminate any people with mutant abilities. As the Sentinels have killed or imprisoned more and more mutants and mutant sympathizers, a small group of mutants led by Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and villain Magneto (Ian McKellen) are forced to send Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back to the 1970s in the hope that he can enlist their past selves to stop the Sentinel program and create a better future.

Of all the great aspects present in “X-men: DOFP,” the films focus on plot and writing was what I appreciated most. This film has some fantastic action sequences that really blew me away, especially any moment in which Quiksilver (Evan Peters) has the chance to use his ability, yet the fact that the movie had just as many sequences of great passionate dialogue was something I liked to see just as much.

Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are excellent as younger Magneto and Xavier, respectively, and their scenes together add a lot of depth to what could easily be portrayed as good versus evil conflict as opposed to two differing opinions on what’s right. Even the main “bad guy,” Dr. Bolivar Trask — played to low-key perfection by Peter Dinklage — sees his robot army as a means to a brighter future.

The film also does a great job of adding weight to the film by tying it with actual history, much like “First Class.” This makes the world feel organic, even while massive robots are flying around trying to kill the president. The film’s logic, however, does take a few missteps. For instance, the grand finale could easily be seen as supportive toward mutant segregation rather than against it, but for the majority of the film the drama holds consistent and interesting in both the past and present portions of the film.

I really enjoyed “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and I think it says good things about the future of the franchise after the relatively mediocre “Wolverine” films of the past few years. The action is solid, the acting is well done and overall the film is a great addition to the quickly expanding “X-Men” film universe.

5 out of 5 Stars