On Time Travel (briefly) with X-Men Days of Future Past and Edge of Tomorrow

Time travel has become its own sub genre of the larger science fiction genre. At its best it is hugely entertaining and if you care to look hard enough, always flawed. At its worst it’s Timeline (2003).

The flaws will always be there in time travel; there’s simply too much to consider, making continuity a nightmare. Even those that keep locations fairly locked down, like Source Code (2011) can’t quite manage it (the ending raised a lot of question). But the best advice is to not look too closely, or you might spoil the fun, especially when it comes to two time travel films of last month: X-Men Days of Future Past and Edge of Tomorrow.

Days of Future Past goes back to the 1970s and takes with it its most enduring character and the one character that makes the franchise as enduring as it is, Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Edge of Tomorrow proves Tom Cruise can still do it after 20 years of blockbusters with a premise taken from Source Code and extended into a wider historical context. Both are entertaining, both of funny, both are well acted, directed and written and both are what you want from a summer blockbuster. Forget any films with Transformers in the title; these are what you want for the summer.