X-Men: Apocalypse

http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/x-men-apocalypse

Before anyone points out to me that I have not written a review for Captain America: Civil War, I will just say that I was disappointed with the movie and have no intention of elaborating on that in a review at this time. It's the unpopular opinion as everyone on general consensus seemed to think it was the best Marvel movie yet and I'm tired of explaining why I don't agree with that. Let's just move on shall we?

I feel I should preface this review by saying I'm not a huge X-Men fan, although I have seen all of the X-Men movies (original trilogy and current trilogy) and all of the spin offs too (X-Men Origins Wolverine, The Wolverine and Deadpool). I liked the first X-Men, wasn't keen on X2 (again unpopular opinion) and to be honest I don't remember much about The Last Stand. I was not a fan of either of the Wolverine films as they contradicted each other, and the X-Men movies to date, and to be honest that kind of annoyed me. I had a lot of time for Deadpool, especially as Ryan Reynolds got to make it his way. Of the prequels, I enjoyed First Class but not enough to buy it, really liked Days of Future Past, and that brings us bang up to Apocalypse.

So why am I reviewing this movie when I'm much more invested in the MCU? Well, I felt I had more to say than would fit into a Facebook status update, that's why. Let's get the synopsis out of the way...

The Apocalypse of the title is the world's first mutant. Looked upon a something of a God because of the powers he possesses. Unlike other mutants, he can transfer his essence to other beings, therefore once his current body is all used up, he can put himself into a shiny new one. The great thing about this is that if the new body has abilities too, different to the ones he already possesses, he takes those on, this is why he's much more powerful than your average mutant. The opening sequence of the movie is the transference and then for reasons I won't spoil, Apocalypse has a bit of a snooze and wakes up in the 1980s. Which is where we pick up with our heroes after we left them in the 70s at the end of DOFP. Some are at Xavier's school for the gifted, some are off by themselves, helping mutants, or hiding their powers, and some are just discovering their powers. Ultimately they all come together, some on the side of Apocalypse, becoming his four horsemen, and others against him. Let battle commence.

Some of this movie works really well - Quicksilver's scene at the school is a film stealer for me, absolutely perfect - and some of it is distinctly average. I do feel as though the parts that work really well overall make the movie better than average, and I did enjoy it, and unlike Civil War I didn't come away disappointed. But that may be because unlike Civil War, my expectations weren't too high for this one.

As much as I hate to say it I think Oscar Isaac was this movie's downfall. He was catastrophically mis-cast in this movie. He's a fantastic actor, but this character needed to be physically and mentally menacing, all powerful, he needed to be a tall, hulking man, who made you feel nervous as to what he would do next, and unfortunately I just didn't ever feel like he was. Plus it was a travesty that they covered up his beautiful face with all those horrid prosthetics. Before you say that I am shallow, it does add credence to what I'm saying. Why even hire Oscar Isaac if you could have had anyone in that suit and they would have looked exactly the same? Hire a wrestler, hire a stuntman, what does it matter, no-one can tell who it is anyway?

Sadly I also felt like the ending was kinda predictable. I'm not usually the one that spots the plot twists in movies, but I saw the ending of this one coming a mile off. These are my only two bugbears with the movie but unfortunately they are kind of big ones. 

The rest of the movie worked fine, the new backstories for the characters we know and love were all decent, the film moves along at a good pace, the big scenes of destruction look great, but without a really good villain the whole thing leaves you wanting.

Finally, for those of a delicate disposition, I will warn you that although the film carries a 12a certificate, this comes with a warning of bloody images. There are at least five bloody/gory scenes which I can elaborate on in the comments if required.

Not a bad third film by any means, but it doesn't surpass DOFP and the villain leaves a lot to be desired. 6.5 out of 10. 

Viewing Date - 18th May 2016
UK Release Date - 18th May 2016

Cast Overview:

 James McAvoy ~ Charles Xavier

Michael Fassbender ~ Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto

Jennifer Lawrence ~ Raven/Mystique

Oscar Isaac ~ En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse

Nicholas Hoult ~ Hank McCoy/Beast

Rose Byrne ~ Moira McTaggert

Evan Peters ~ Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver

Josh Helman ~ Col William Stryker

Sophie Turner ~ Jean Grey

Tye Sheridan ~ Scott Summers/Cyclops

Lucas Till ~ Alex Summers/Havok

Kodi Smit-McPhee ~ Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler

Ben Hardy ~ Angel

Alexandra Shipp ~ Ororo Munroe/Storm

 Olivia Munn ~ Psylocke

Director ~ Bryan Singer

Writer(s) ~ Simon Kinberg (Screenplay and Story), Bryan Singer (Story), Michael Dougherty (Story), Dan Harris (Story).