X-Men Apocalypse comes to us from director Bryan Singer as the third film in this new rebooted/prequel series of the X-Men franchise. It tries to pick up from where we left off in X-Men Days of Future Past and also First Class at the same time. The X-Men now face a new villain by the name of Apocalypse (or En Sabah Nur) who is known as the first and most powerful mutant since the Egyptian days. He has been known to form a team of four horsemen who now will be known as Magneto, Storm, Psylocke & Angel. Professor Xavier has started teachings at the X-men school for the gifted and introduces us to some of the most beloved new characters, Nightwing, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Jubilee.
With the success of the first two reboot series films, I expected this film to be a little more exciting for me especially since you have such a great villain from the comics. The introduction of En Sabah Nur in the beginning was really great. The look of Apocalypse and small glimpse we get of the human form of En Sabah Nur I really liked. I would have liked to seen more of his backstory of the character and the relationship building between him and his new horsemen. Why the four horsemen worshiped him so much. Were they just under his mind manipulation? And ultimately I would have loved to seen his powers better established. He is supposed to be this big hulking ancient powerful mutant but his powers seemed a bit lackluster at times. After about the fourth time of his eyes rolling into the back of his head I got annoyed. I really enjoyed the character development of the new Cyclops. With his brother, Havok bringing him to the X-men school after he discovers his powers was a great character building move. They nailed the Nightcrawler characters' look and personality from the comics. Quicksilver was still the standout character for me with his super speed and comedic role. His action scene was the showstopper for me. The addition of these youthful, fun and energetic mutants is what was needed for this new rebooted series. It brought me back to the 90's X-Men cartoon. I was very disappointed that we didn't get to see Jubilee's powers in this film. Storm was played very well by newcomer Alexandra Shipp. They kept her original comic book origin from Africa but again I would have liked to seen her backstory a little bit more. Olivia Munn as Psylocke was very disappointing. It's not that I think she is a great actress but the fact that she had mentioned to the press that she fought so hard to get extra fight scenes to establish this character but she literally had 3 lines in film and it all fell flat. She looked great in her costume but that's it. Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique is so not working for me anymore. I felt like she phoned in her performance and it really bothered me that she is still dealing with not wanting to be the Mystique character. We only see her for a few moments in the Mystique makeup and then she doesn't showcase off her powers. I guess in this movie her powers are to look like Jennifer Lawrence all the time. It was so annoying and I'm done with her. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy were meant to play Magneto and Professor Xavier respectively. They command such great presence and gravitas when you see and hear them in every scene. The backstory and character development of Magneto is something I could watch all day. However his struggle/anger with the passing of his wife and daughter are met without any real payoff. He expresses his anger with words instead of action which was really disappointing. He had so much anger and hate built up but ultimately to release that anger created a giant earthquake at the end. That was very unsettling to me. Once he turns back to the good side I expected him to really release that built up anger onto Apocalypse but it didn't really play out that well.
Plot points in the film just feel empty to me. Their is no human element to this story at all. Once we see Apocalypse in the end trying to destroy the world, we don't get the connection to the human world. All we see is cars and buildings being ripped to shreds from an empty world. There is one shot of the government saying basically that the mutants are creating a massive earthquake but that's it. It's like a world with nothing but a handful of mutants fighting each other. The ending battle between the mutants was also very like one-two steps for me. One person throws a car at the group and then dodge out of the way. Then someone steps up next to slam someone through a wall. In the meantime you have Magneto just twirling around some metal in the air. Just flat and boring. The highlight of that scene was the powerful appearance of Jean Grey and the glimpse of the Dark Phoenix. The 15 minute Wolverine scene was totally useless and could have been cut from the film. It's totally setup to let the audience know that they are working on a new Wolverine sequel but most of the audience knows that. There was a huge applause when he first shows up but I wonder if most of the audience regretted it once they realized it didn't add anything to the story.
There are some really great things about this film in the first half but the second just falls off. The character development direction in the first half is really great. The action sequences and the story lines towards the end are just very off putting. New characters are added, destruction is happening, yet it just feels kind of oddly bland. The most fun I had during this film was being in the Xavier school. It really gives you the feeling of being their as a student and I loved it. The money shot other than the Quicksilver action scene was the very last frame of the new X-men in their new costumes as they are beginning to train against the Sentinels. The costume designs were ripped right from the pages of the comics. At one point in the movie, Jean Grey says "you know the third film is always the worst". Well I guess she was right. It's not the worst of the X-Men franchise it just isn't the best of this new trilogy.
I would give it 3 1/2 Stars. It's good popcorn with butter just not the good kind of butter.
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