In the near future, the mutants find themselves under attack by a dangerous enemy known as the Sentinels. In 1973, the US government funded the research and construction of these robotic creatures which target and kill anyone with the mutant gene—including non-mutant humans who may produce mutant offspring in the future. The Sentinels were created using Mystique’s DNA and thus have the ability to quickly adapt to whatever weapons are used against them, making them nearly unstoppable.

The only hope for the future may be to go back to the past and stop the Sentinel program before it is established. So Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellan) and the other mutants send Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) conscience back to his younger 1973 body. Logan must try to convince a dejected Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) to join forces with Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) in order to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from kicking off the chain of events that lead to Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) creating the Sentinels. Can they stop the events of the past before they are killed in the future?!

In addition to the characters already mentions, this film also sees the return of mutants Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Storm (Halle Berry), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Havok (Lucas Till), Rogue (Anna Paquin) and more. Plus, viewers are introduce to some new young mutants such as Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Warpath (Booboo Stewart), Blink (Fan Bingbing) and Bishop (Omar Sy).

While X-Men: Days of Future Past is a direct sequel to X-Men: First Class, it also serves as a wonderful sequel to the original X-Men trilogy. Five movies into this franchise, and the films just keep getting better and better! Days of Future Past is an action-packed thrill ride with some pretty spectacular sequences—Quicksilver’s scene in the kitchen is amazing! However, the film does not rely on visually-stunning action sequences alone—at its core is a really interesting story and some great exploration and development for these characters we have known for so long. As a fan of the franchise, it was so delightful to see all of these characters from the original and new trilogies coming together—the filmmakers have done a great job interweaving the past and future storylines in such a way that each half informs the other.

I really enjoyed the original theatrical cut of the film when I first saw it. The new Rogue Cut adds small amounts of footage throughout the film, with a total of around 20 alternate scenes. However these changes are minimal and don’t affect the overall story—it feels very much like the same film. There are only two completely new scenes. One involves Beast telling Logan about the dangers of smoking and asking about his own fate, which then leads into an intimate scene between Beast and Mystique. The second new scene is an action-packed sequence involving Iceman, Professor X and Magneto getting attacked by the Sentinels while breaking Rogue out of a lab. All of the alternate/new scenes are noted in the chapter listing on the Blu-ray. While this new version is called the “Rogue Cut”, the character of Rogue really only appears on-screen for a couple of minutes.

The Blu-ray looks and sounds amazing. The picture quality is pristine and clear, and all of the special effects look seamless. The audio track is even more impressive, with all of the stereo and surround channels used extensively throughout the film to give the viewer a fully-immersive experience. My one disappointment in regards to the visual presentation of this release is that there is no 3D release for the Rogue cut. In several of the bonus features, the film’s creators mention the use of 3D and it would have been great to also have had that viewing option on this extended cut.

The Blu-ray contains an extensive array of bonus features, including two audio commentaries (one for each cut of the film), a nine-part behind-the-scenes featurette, and a 30 minute interview with the cast and creators. While there are a lot of great new bonus features included on this release, the set unfortunately does not include the material contained on the previous release, which means fans will need to buy both releases if they want all of the supplemental material.

What’s Included:

Film: (Rogue Cut: 2:28:45, Theatrical Version: 2:11:35)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.40:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1 (Theatrical Version Only), Spanish DD 5.1, French DD 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, Commentaries

Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 7/14/2018):

• Digital HD Copy of the Rogue Cut of the film, redeemable via iTunes, Flixster (UltraViolet), Google Play or Vudu (UltraViolet)

Extras:

• Audio Commentary by Bryan Singer and John Ottman (Rogue Cut Only) (2:28:48)
  Director Bryan Singer and Composer/Film Editor John Ottman provide commentary on the Rogue Cut of the film. Throughout the film, they point out the minor and slightly larger changes made throughout the film, and provide a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes regarding the production.
• Commentary by Bryan Singer & Simon Kinberg (Theatrical Version Only) (2:11:35)
  Director Bryan Singer & Producer/Writer Simon Kinberg provide an interesting and entertaining commentary for the Theatrical Version of the film. They talk about the genesis of the story, the challenges of doing a time travel film, shooting in 3D, and other challenges they faced during the production. They also provide a lot of interesting behind-the-scenes stories about the production.
• Second Screen App
  Install the free app and while watching the film, related content—concept art, featurettes, etc.—will appear on your mobile device.
• Mutant vs. Machine (52:41)
  A nine-part behind the scenes look at the making of the film.

  Includes interviews with screenwriter/producer Simon Kinberg, director/producer Bryan Singer, producers Lauren Shuler Donner & Hutch Parker, X-MEN comics writers Chris Claremont & Len Wein, costume designer Louise Mingenbach, production designer John Myhre, cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, property master Simone Leclerc, SPFX supervisor Cameron Waldbauer, editor/composer John Ottman, supervising sound editors Skip Longfellow & John A. Larson, sound designer Warren Hendriks, re-recording mixer D.M. Hemphill, visual effects supervisors Richard Stammers & Matt Sloan, and stars Hugh Jackman (“Logan/Wolverine”), James McAvoy (“Charles Xavier”), Patrick Stewart (“Professor X”), Michael Fassbender (“Erik Lehnsherr”), Ian McKellen (“Magneto”), Peter Dinklage (“Dr. Bolivar Trask”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Raven/Mystique”), Anna Paquin (“Rogue”), Ellen Page (“Kitty Pryde”), Daniel Cudmore (“Colossus”), Booboo Stewart (“Warpath”), Shawn Ashmore (“Bobby/Iceman”), Fan Bingbing (“Blink”), Nicholas Hoult (“Hank/Beast”), Halle Berry (“Storm”), Omar Sy (“Bishop”) and Evan Peters (“Peter/Quicksilver”).

  Play All or select from:

  • Time Switch (3:18)
    Doing a time travel movie and bringing the two casts together.

  • Panels to Frames (5:27)
    Adapting the original Days of Future Past story for the film, and the differences between the comic and the movie.

  • Core Cadre of the X-Men (3:38)
    Reuniting the cast/crew from the first films.

  • Two Worlds, Two Battles (12:46)
    From costumes to sets to props, creating the look of the film for both the future and 1973.

  • Through the Lens: Revising History (3:49)
    The challenges of shooting the film n 3D; creating unique visual looks for the 70s and the future.

  • Synchronizing the Vision (6:33)
    Scoring the film and mixing the sound effects.

  • Mutant Menace: Mankind’s Defense (8:06)
    Creating the visual effects, and how technology has progressed since the first film.

  • A Rogue Move (2:58)
    The decision to eliminate the Rogue scenes from the theatrical version of the film, and creating the new, extended Rogue cut.

  • What’s Next (6:02)
    A discussion of the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse.
• X-Men: Unguarded (30:11)
  The cast and creators sit on couches for a fun, casual discussion of the film and the franchise as a whole. Present are Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Evan Peters, Omar Sy, Ellen Page, Ian McKellen, Michael Fassbender, Patrick Stewart, James McAvoy, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Hoult and Shawn Ashmore.
• Gallery:
  Collections of artwork from the movie. Each gallery can be set to auto-advance every 5 seconds or manually step through the photos via the remote. Select from:
  • Storyboards: Paris (13:25), Climax (30:56)
  • Costumes (2:55)
  • Concept Art: Desert House (:30), Monestary (2:50), Moscow (:45), Paris (2:25), Saigon (:25), Washington D.C. (4:50), Pentagon (1:35), X-Mansion (2:25), X-Jet (6:25), Xavier’s Chair (2:50), Sentinels (5:10), Trask (3:20)
• “Fantastic Four” Sneak Peek (1:49)
  Clips from the upcoming film along with interviews with director Josh Trank, writer/producer Simon Kinberg and stars Miles Teller (“Reed Richards”), Michael B. Jordan (“Johnny Storm”), Kate Mara (“Sue Storm”) and Jamie Bell (“Ben Grimm”).

Final Thoughts:

X-MEN: Days of Future Past is the fifth film of the franchise, but manages to feel both fresh and exciting while also rewarding fans of the films by reuniting the original cast with the wonderful characters/actors introduced in X-Men: First Class. The Blu-ray presentation is top-notch and the disc includes an excellent collection of bonus material. Unfortunately there is no 3D option this time around, and the bonus features from the previous release are not included. The Rogue Cut of the film is not a very drastic change from the original film, but fans of the franchise will enjoy the extra footage seamlessly added into the film, and all of the new bonus material. This is a truly amazing and exciting movie that should not be missed, and this disc comes Highly Recommended.