Review of X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) by Sabyasachi S — 02 Mar 2017

I know I'm late to the party, but I just finished watching "X-Men: Apocalypse" and I have to say, I enjoyed it a Great deal, and I truly don't understand a lot of the ha.... well, perhaps not hate, rather, disappointment from most of the people and reviewer that have talked about it. As I say, I found it highly enjoyable, and I feel that the entire cast (including that of Jennifer Lawrence) did a fantastic job.

Having heard all of the critiques since the release of the film, I went into this expecting the worst, and was happily surprised to find that I did Not agree with the vast amount of criticism that I have read and seen. While it may not have been the most powerful or emotional evoking of the vast "X-Men" cinematic franchise, it is by NO means the worst and in my opinion is most deserving of place with said franchise within the mid-upper tier.

One thing that stuck out to me that I most enjoyed seeing was the tying in of the other films, such as Eric and Charles that, beat for beat, hearkens back to the very first "X-Men" film back in 2000.

Now granted, I do believe they could've sowed together the elements a bit better, but frankly in regards to the continuity (or lack thereof) I feel they didn't do too bad, definitely not nearly as bad as the majority of people say they did, and I have Certainly seen it done worse (within this cinematic franchise, at that).

To be fair, certain elements of the film lacked to make as much sense as I would've liked it to, it by no means leaves you scratching your head as to what happened and/or is happening.

Yes, some of the battle scenes were a bit ...quick, and somewhat glossed over, but with regard as to what is happening in the story at those points and the Vast amount of shit going down around everyone involved, it makes sense, albeit, at times it does have a Jeremy Jahns/quick cut feel to it, but personally, I can give that a pass as all the battles that I've spoken of were quite exciting, and gave you a legitimate feeling of suspense. I found myself often screaming at my computer screen cheering for, or rooting for whichever character was being showcased at that the time in question.

The special effects were quite well done, perhaps not what most people would call mind bending- but to be fair, after all the "mind-bending" effects that we've seen since the year 2000, I feel that a great deal of us (the audience) have become spoiled with seeing spectacularly amazing things on film, so much so that when we see special effects that are still done quite well and blended together Exceptionally seamlessly, we tend to be somewhat 'numb' to them, expecting to feel how we felt the very first time we saw.... "The Matrix", for example, every single time we see an effects heavy film, and realistically speaking, such cannot be the case every single time.- That being said, I feel they did fine. No, not mind blowing, but at the same time there was NEVER a point in the film where said special effects took me out of the moment.

In closing, I believe the movie as a whole was very well done, the cast and crew did their jobs exceedingly well, the characters were portrayed as well as they've ever been and likewise with the hair, makeup and overall character appearance. I'll admit, it would've been nice to see the character of Mystique is her naked blue glory as most of us have become accustomed to seeing her, but that being said, her human appearance did not detract from the character as a whole.

All in all, I would say to someone that has yet to see it, to check it out. Give it a chance (especially if you consider yourself an X-Men fan), and see what YOU think of it? I HIGHLY doubt that you will consider your time wasted after having watched....

"X-Men: Apocalypse".