X-Men: Days of Future Past, edge-of-your-seat time travel

Movies that flit back and forth between the past and the future, with events in one time zone affecting the other, make me feel like my poor dog when I pretend to throw a stick, then hide it behind my back: confused as hell.

(Fox Movies Premium, Saturday at 9pm), the seventh instalment of the franchise based on the Marvel Comics characters, does just that. With killer robots threatening the extinction of mutants, mutton-chopped Wolverine (Hugh Jackman, pictured, far right, with James McAvoy, centre, and Anthony Hoult) has his consciousness sent back into his 1970s body, in order to change the course of history and save mutantkind.

Time travel is the centrepiece here as director Bryan Singer tries to tie the stories of the original X-Men to their younger counterparts, seen in Matthew Vaughn's 2011 prequel, X-Men: First Class.

The year is 2023, Professor X (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) are in hiding, as the army of Sentinel robots - created by the villainous Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) - edges closer to wiping out the "special" kids. Their last hope is a young girl with mind-transporting abilities, who sends Wolverine back in time to try to convince the past selves of Professor X and Magneto (played by McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, respectively) to undo key events and erase the Sentinels before they ever existed. Their objective is to track down shape-shifter Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence in her blue birthday suit) before she assassinates Trask and unwittingly speeds up the weapons programme.

Less than halfway through I was already lost, but it really didn't matter. Singer, who helped to launch the franchise back in 2000, wisely concentrates on the younger cast and performs an admirable job of juggling the complicated relationships with plenty of humour and high-octane action. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

As any self-respecting X-Men fan will tell you, there are still some griping continuity issues across the seven story arcs (as to what they are, though, don't ask me!), and there are at least two more spin-offs in the pipeline. X-Men: Days of Future Past, despite being confusing, proves to be one of the best in the series so far, and serves as a fine addition to the franchise.