It hasn’t been easy being a mutant. It was OK for a few years, with the release of the very first big screen outing for the X-Men in 2000, as the superhero landscape was a lot less cluttered back then.

But their biggest battle yet began in 2008 with the release of Iron Man, considered the first in what’s become known as The Infinity Saga in the on-going Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Since then, the MCU has gone from strength to strength, whereas Professor Xavier and the team have often been battered, as if by the weightiness of Thor’s hammer itself, and struggled to make an impact.

This instalment then is the last in the current X-Men franchise (which should be called something like Xav and Mag’s X-cellent adventures, as they don’t have a cool umbrella term of their own like MCU), due to the fact that the studio that made them, 20th Century Fox, has been gobbled up by the insatiable appetite of Disney, and therefore bringing the mutants into the MCU fold for the first time.

It’s a shame then that this entry doesn’t burn as bright as it should have for a swansong.

Having just left planet Earth the US space shuttle Endeavour finds itself in serious trouble. It’s at this point that Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) gets a call on the exclusive X phone from the president of the US of A, asking for his help. Despite not knowing whether the ship designed by Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Xavier gives his team the thumbs up to take off on a rescue mission to save the crew.

It nearly goes to plan, until Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) finds herself absorbing the energy from the threatening solar flare. Although shaken, it appears after tests back at the school, that Jean is physically fine. Actually, more than just fine, her stats are off the charts, but don’t seem to be affecting her much.

But the extreme power she has absorbed has taken a hold of her, and magnified her abilities a hundred fold. And when she learns of a secret, she goes rogue, which leads to an unlikely alliance to bring her back.

Meanwhile, an alien race, who just happen to be passing, lead by Vuk (Jessica Chastain), become aware of the exceptional powers of Jean, and are keen to make her acquaintance too, making her the number one target for all concerned.

There must have been a considerable weight on the shoulders of Brit Simon Kinberg, making his directorial debut here after carving out a career as a producer, and it looks like he crumbled somewhat under the pressure of it all.

It doesn’t help that the story is garbled; the focus on Jean Grey is not a bad one, but the alien element is extremely vague. Their back story is non-existent, rocking up as they do, with little for audiences to get excited about. It doesn’t help that as far as their powers are concerned, they must have just finished Terminator 2: Judgement Day on their in-flight entertainment getting here, as they are pretty much versions of the T-1000. So not exactly original.

It also somehow manages to feel like a two and a half hour film, despite coming in well under two hours. This is achieved from too many static, dull, dialogue-heavy scenes, which drag the overall pace of the film down to a snail’s pace. The set pieces liven things up, but there’s nothing breath-taking about them, and there’s just not enough of them to push up the thrill quota.

All in all, this finale is disappointingly average. Fox have one more mutant film up their sleeves before the mouse-shaped iron fist of Disney snatches the franchise, but the forthcoming The New Mutants, featuring a whole new group of powered-up youngsters, has certainly got its mutant work cut out for it.

As far as Professor Xavier and his X-team are concerned however, it’s probably no bad thing that they’ve been forced into early retirement, as the franchise is feeling tired and could do with a necessary rest.

Who knows, maybe it wouldn’t do any harm if a few of them knocked on the doors of Avengers Mansion and see if there are any job opportunities going over there, as they’re currently a little short on numbers.