Review of X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) by Mrmoviebuff — 27 May 2016

The superhero genre is not over yet, with 'Deadpool' (2016) delivering all the goods, then came 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' (2016) which didn't live up to expectations, but were quickly turned around when 'Captain America: Civil War' (2016) promised us everything it can deliver.

Fourth superhero movie in, and we are only just over half way there. 'X-Men: Apocalypse' is a dark, threatening, and sometimes deliberately paced story. The movie begins somewhere in Egypt where we see En Sabah Nur who used to rule Ancient Egypt, until he is betrayed by his worshippers, and they try to stop him, but his four loyal men die trying to preserve him.

We cut to 1983, and it seems that the mutants we know as "X-Men" are still going their separate ways. We see that Erik aka "Magneto" (Michael Fassbender) is living a happy life with his partner and daughter. Charles aka "Professor X" (James McAvoy) is taking charge of his school for gifted mutants with Beast (Nicholas Hoult) also looking after the school.

Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is still looking for new mutants and comes across a teleporting mutant who goes by the name "Nightcrawler" (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who she takes to Charles' school. Havok (Lucas Till) is back as well, and is concerned for his younger brother Scott (Tye Sheridan) as he cannot control this dangerous laser beam that emerge from his open eyes. Havok decides its time that he goes to Charles' school where he can learn to control these powers. This is also where Scott meets Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), who is having trouble sleeping as she can see/predict the end of the world, which will be caused by Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac).

There is a lot of this plot to talk about, but to avoid spoiling it, I'm just going to talk about the things that worked and the things that didn't work. What worked the most was the story, I found myself invested in the somewhat scary story of Apocalypse and how he plans on bringing the end of the world, along with his allies including; Magneto, Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Angel (Ben Hardy) and Psylocke (Olivia Munn). I also liked the more darker and violent tone of the movie, probably the darkest since 'X2: X-Men United' (2003), and it is a very trippy experience, especially towards the final battle at the end of the movie.

Oscar Isaac is great as Apocalypse, he seems menacing, he blends in fully to the role, and when he screams, his voice is convincing enough to lead you to believe that he is truly Apocalypse.

Evan Peters returns as Quicksilver, the fast and zippy mutant we all loved from 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' (2014), he has another scene stealing moment, and it's arguably better than from the previous movie.

James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender also commit to their roles as Xavier and Magneto, you still believe their tested friendship, and the way that they seem so drifted apart because of the different things they go through, it's almost heartbreaking when you see what happens with Magneto.

What didn't work would be the pacing, this is a very unevenly paced movie...but it isn't as disjointed as 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' (2016), nor does it use all of its characters to their full potential like 'Captain America: Civil War' (2016). There are some mutants, mostly Angel and Psylocke, who aren't seen as much, and they're not as fully fleshed out as I would have wanted them to be.

The stand-out performance here is 'Game of Thrones' star Sophie Turner as Jean Grey...she commits 100% to her role, and she is definitely memorable in her performance.

All in all, 'X-Men: Apocalypse' may not be 'X2: X-Men United' (2003) or 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' (2014), but it is definitely nowhere near the poor quality of 'X-Men: The Last Stand' (2006) and 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' (2009) (a movie I don't like to mention), and certainly nothing like the abysmal 'Fantastic Four' (2015) (a big mistake from Fox). Bryan Singer does what he can with this movie, and at least 70% of the time, he's succeeded. It's better than you would expect.