Review of X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) by Timothy S — 11 Dec 2016

Perfectly serviceable, though comparatively so-so entry in the franchise. Light years better than X-3 or Origins: Wolverine, but not as good as First Class or Days of Future Past. A lot of great moments and individual scenes. About 30 minutes too long. Seriously needed tightening. Too many flashbacks. Too much slo-mo (though the Quicksilver stuff was outstanding, not surprisingly). A lot of "Okay, we get it" moments. WAY overdid it on the cities-and-landmarks-being-destroyed front. Some great practical SFX, but also some pretty laughable CGI. Oscar Isaac is as watchable as ever, even though he looked, and kind of acted and sounded, exactly like Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy (alas, no dance off, bro). Great to see so many great characters, but, dare I say it, there might have been too many for one film. The new actress playing Storm looked great, but did not do the character justice, though neither did the script. She just stood there through most of the film. I fear that Angel/Archangel will never be portrayed entirely satisfactorily in a film. Returning top-billed cast was reliably good. New actors playing Nightcrawler, Scott, and Jean were pretty great. Psylocke was swell. More of her, please.

Solid C+ to B- effort. It'll do. :).