X-Men: Apocalypse

Suffering from bizarre narrative choices and weak character development, X-Men: Apocalypse is an otherwise passable and occasionally great installment of the franchise, mainly due to the continued strong performances and glorious action set pieces.

The first X-Men trilogy was weirdly obsessed with Wolverine, and by extension Rouge. I never understood why... This new trilogy is obsessed with Mystique just because America's sweetheart Jennifer Lawrence is portraying her. I don't mind it, but Mystique is no hero, she is a devious villain! And Beast should be well a Beast, but a handsome Nicholas Hoult is better to look at I presume. Storm is not a villain, she is a beloved X-Men character that has never been done justice. These are things that enrage fans over and over again.

It is not about being a purist, but about honoring the original. In an age where superheros are invading our cinemas, one could do worse if one watches a film about hope and freedom, about homophobia, racism, bigotry, immigration and all sort of other social issues. And somehow none of the X-men films so far have successfully brought these themes to the screen.

This film suffers from having to focus on thousands of characters and locations. Some characters like Mystique and Magneto are given substantial screen time, while others such as Psylocke are given only a few scenes. The film also tries to fit into the overall X-Men continuity, while trying to stand up on its own.

A great film for a pop-corn viewing with your friends, but a sub-par X-Men film in general... It is sad that the most substantial superheroes of our age, that really have something to say about the world we live in, are treated as badly as this...

Mutant and proud? Unfortunately there is nothing to be proud of except the money the film is about to make.

En Sabah Nur is Apocalypse, the first mutant who ruled ancient Egypt until he was entombed. It's the 80's. CIA agent Moira MacTaggert goes to Egypt and witnesses his emergence. He recruits his four horsemen Magneto, Storm, Psylocke, and Angel giving them greater power. Meanwhile, Raven recruits Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler from an East Berlin fight club. Alex Summers brings his younger brother Scott to Professor Charles Xavier's school. Quicksilver arrives at the school just in time to rescue almost everybody from an explosion but Professor X is kidnapped by Apocalypse.

I really like the first half. There are some good introduction of the new characters. It's working fine for the most part. It hits the pinnacle with Quicksilver's rescue which is funny and exciting. It is visually dynamic and a joy to behold. The rest of the movie feels like a long slow slide into mediocrity.

The most troubling problem for the continuing franchise is the use of Mystique as the leading X-Men. That character has never been in that role. JLaw is struggling to put out the intensity to match the central part. She and her character is not up to the task so far. It's also funny that her powers is to not be JLaw. The other problem is Apocalypse. I hoped for better but his mega-destruction is underwhelming. It's a lot of bland and his powers are nebulous. I actually think it would have been better to allow Apocalypse to be a two-parter. As an one-and-done villain, he isn't allowed to be anything more than a monster of the moment. With a lower level of power from him, it could be more compelling to struggle for the soul of each horseman. As it stands, the character Apocalypse is nothing special.

X-Men: Apocalypse was very fun, but got quite messy at parts. X-Men fans will like this just like I did. it is a huge step down from Days of Future Past and has a pretty clichéd villain. I forgave the clichéd villain because of how cool and how frightening he was. Oscar Isaac did so good as Apocalypse. The characters are well developed, but some of them do not get enough screen time and some get to much. Angel, Psyloche and Storm have no motivation, there is no reason why they agreed to help Apocalypse destroy the world. What would they gain? Overall I thought the movie was good, I had a blast watching it and will be watching it again.

X-Men Apocalypse takes place in the 1980's, 10 years after the events in Days of Future Past. A god-like mutant has awaken and wants to destroy civilization in order to regain his rule. The X-Men must stop him before he becomes to powerful.

I simply didn't find this story to be particularly interesting or believable compared to the other superhero movies in recent years. Apocalypse didn't look or feel all that powerful even though his powers would indicate he was. He was shorter than some of the mutants when in the comics he is a giant and didn't need much assistance. The gathering of the horseman was also kind of sad as he felt like he just picked up the first four mutants that he saw. There was nothing special about them, they each said I will join you but that is about it. Apocalpse is the kind of villain that you make into two movies, like what Disney is doing with Thanos. The first movie could have been used for Apocaplse to acquire his army of followers and the second could have focused on the battle and how the X-Men will respond to the situation. I guess that is why they are not doing that as the two would look similar. I personally don't think we needed another end of the world X-men movie given that we just got one. DoFP just seemed more intense of a situation which also lead to my mediocre interest in this battle.

The scenes that didn't involve Apocalypse were for the most part quite enjoyable. Most notably the Quicksilver scenes as Evan Peters once again steals the show. The new actors also did great in their roles and had good chemistry with one another. Of course, this may be my own personal problem but again I find Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique to be just bland. The lines she spewed just lacked emotion and her one liners fell flat. I am glad that this was her last movie.

I didn't enjoy the movie as a whole but the parts that I did like made up for the fact that it is just rather mediocre. I still recommend seeing it just be warned. 7/10