X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

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X-Men: Apocalypse Review

X-Men: Apocalypse is a 2016 superhero film directed by Bryan Singer and starring Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy and Oscar Isaac. It is a solid entry in the franchise.

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“Everything they’ve built will fall!

And from the ashes of their world, we’ll build a better one!“

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The plot here is nothing new. In fact, it is a basic good versus evil superhero storyline and although that is certainly a problem, at least it was executed pretty well and is always entertaining to watch. I adored that opening sequence as it was memorable, visually powerful and exciting. And overall the first half is stronger than the second one because some of the later fights were a bit lacking, but more on that later.

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Charles is really good here. I didn’t quite like what they did with him and Moira as that led to a somewhat awkward comedic approach with the character, but he is otherwise very strong and continues to be such a strong presence and one of the most endearing characters in this franchise. Magneto is expectedly good and again tragic, but he wasn’t in the movie as much as I hoped he would be.

I found Apocalypse to be a solid villain. He is a typical superhero bad guy for better and for worse. Yes, he is over-the-top and his goal is way too clichéd. However, I found him to be a great villain in terms of strength and power as he posed a real threat to the mutants and he was genuinely tough to beat which I really liked. Mystique is the weakest link in the movie as she is very poorly utilized and weakly acted, but more on that later.

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Beast is again forgettable, Quicksilver is solid, but his comedic scene is too similar to the one in the last movie and Moira is definitely quite solid and a likable addition to the cast. Cyclops is pretty good as is Jean, but Psylocke is underdeveloped, but great in fights. Storm is excellent. Here we finally get a good, powerful Storm to whom you can easily root for and who is genuinely awesome. Archangel is again forgettable, but as Psylocke, he is great in terms of action sequences. Jubilee is very forgettable and slight, but Nightcrawler is pretty good, if his humor is forced.

Let’s talk about the performances. X-Men: Apocalypse benefits from a really solid cast of new young actors and all of them play their parts really well with Sophie Turner being great as young Jean Grey and Tye Sheridan being a pretty good Cyclops. Oscar Isaac is also very good as the villain. James McAvoy is expectedly terrific as is Michael Fassbender and both are the highlights. But Jennifer Lawrence is very mediocre. She obviously doesn’t want to play this part anymore and it shows in her performance which is lifeless and quite weak which is a problem as her character needed great acting. She really disappointed me and I just wish that they finally replace her with another actress as that is sorely needed for this character to work again.

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The action is very good in this movie, but with a couple of reservations. That mind fight was basically a rip off of the exact same scene with Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter. That was disappointing. And not all of the characters contributed to the fights which was a shame. But the action was mostly very exciting and very well filmed with Psyloche’s powers being very well utilized and the same goes for Nightcrawler. And I just loved the Phoenix at the end of the fight in that very powerful sequence.

X-Men: Apocalypse is well made and well acted. It is also well paced and is thoroughly entertaining for its quite long running time. The tone is great as it is quite light and comedic at times with solid humor, but also quite dark and dangerous in other scenes. The score is pretty good, but the visual effects are nothing impressive as some scenes had some heavy CGI. Also, the 3D wasn’t particularly great despite a few outstanding sequences.

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The emotion is definitely there, but the major problem with this flick is that it just lacks the same power that some of the best X-Men movies have which is why it is inferior to the last entry. It is never as emotional as I wanted it to be and above all, the film just lacks sophistication and they basically turned it into a basic superhero flick. Yes, it was hugely entertaining that way, but I am a fan of this franchise mostly for its strong character relationships, drama and politics, all of which quite lacking this time around which is evident in a weaker dialogue as usual. In terms of storytelling, it is solid and it is great seeing and finally learning how Charles lost his hair, but it isn’t as strong in its plot as the previous X-Men entries were. But at least it does succeed as solid sequel.