"the new scenes add to the story without any slowing down of the story"

Question: Can new footage change a film enough so it’s worth re-examining? This is what many asked when it was announced that X-Men Days Of Future Past: The Rogue Cut was announced.

To re-cap for those of you who haven’t seen the original cut of the movie, the story follows on from the outstanding X-Men: First Class in telling the tale of the younger version of the X-Men we know and love, but with a twist. To save the future, someone must be sent back to alter the past. It may sound like an overly complicated plot device for a comic book movie, however, with films like Inception or Interstellar being box office successes it proves that audiences don’t need to be patronised and spoon fed.

Adding to the already impressive cast from First Class are fan favourites from the original trilogy. However, one of the biggest talking points when it was released was how Rogue (Anna Paquin) had all but her brief cameo in the finale cut for time constraints and pacing issues. Some hardcore fans weren’t happy with this and had hoped that the DVD/Blu-ray would include these scenes or at least contain them as deleted scenes. Fox decided to go one better and restore the film to what was the original intended cut, but was it worth it?

The short answer is yes. In terms of narrative, the new scenes add to the story without any slowing down of the story. There are also some very impressive visual comparisons between past and present when the new footage is used, as well allowing for a heroic sacrifice from a fan favourite from the original trilogy. It’s also worth noting that Rouge’s scenes are not the throwaway additions that some have thought they might be. Yes, it’s a small addition to the story but it ends up being a positive one.

As with any comic book movie as of late, the trademarked post-credit scenes are used superbly. This cut also adds an extra scene involving Peter Dinklage’s Bolivar Trask - this may or not be cannon to the story. There’s also the customary build towards the following film and this is done on a large scale with a nod to the beginning of Apocalypse and his four horsemen. With the X Men: Apocalypse trailer debuting at Comic-Con and leaking online shortly after, this re-release is incredibly well timed with fans being able to get their fix of new X-Men related content before next year.

In summary, I’d give the film a solid 4 stars. Whilst it may not have ascended to the heights of The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy or even Ant-Man, it is worth close to two hours of anyone’s time, especially when the story itself is a re-imagining of one of the most popular X-Men stories of all-time.