From IMDB:
Storyline
Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshiped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel's X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto, to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven with the help of Professor X must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction. Written by 20th Century Fox
Reviews 74 user | 126 critic
From Rotten Tomatoes:
MOVIE INFO
Following the critically acclaimed global smash hit X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer returns with X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel's X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.
Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of violence, action and destruction, brief strong language and some suggestive images)
Directed By: Bryan Singer
In Theaters: May 27, 2016 Wide
Runtime: 2 hr. 16 min.
20th Century Fox - Official Site
TOMATOMETER 51%
Average Rating: 5.6/10 | Reviews Counted: 109
Fresh: 56 | Rotten: 53
Critics Consensus: Overloaded action and a cliched villain take the focus away from otherwise strong performers and resonant themes, making X-Men: Apocalypse a middling chapter of the venerable superhero franchise.
WANT TO SEE 99% want to see
User Ratings: 89,895
X-MEN APOCALYPSE OPENS IN MALAYSIA ON THE 19th OF MAY AND IN THE U.S. ON THE 27th OF MAY. TO FIND OUT WHEN IT OPENS NEAR YOU CLICK HERE.
X-Men Apocalypse, the first movie where they're not just fighting each other or the government... maybe...
So this is the third film in the most recent reboot that started with X-Men:First Class (2011) which introduced us to key characters in the franchise set in the early 60's. That film was followed up with X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), which took what was left of the team in the first film and had them meet up with Wolverine who was sent from the future to change things in the past to alter the X-Mens chances in the future. First Class was a lovely way to re-introduce the franchise and introduce us to the key players in the X-Men universe and the follow up was an incredible film that blended an amazing story, familiar characters and new ones in a visually exciting film. This third one somehow manages to do neither of the things that the first two films managed to do.
There may be SPOILERS AHEAD! YOU HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED!
The central plot of Apocalypse is of course the arrival of Apocalypse or En Sabah Nur played by Oscar Isaac whom you'll probably remember as Poe Dameron in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awaken (2015). En Sabah Nur is believed to be the first mutant and is apparently one of the most powerful that ever existed. He's also apparently immortal, you can read about how amazingly powerful he is here and here. During the time of the pyramids he is betrayed by the humans during a ceremony where he transfers his consciousness to a new mutant and is buried for thousands of years. Fast forward to the 80's and we find out there are a bunch of crazy cultist who managed to locate where he is buried and of course he is awakened soon after. This awakening is experienced first hand by Moira Mactaggert (Rose Byrne)
Meanwhile we also get to see Mystique a.k.a. Raven Darkholme (Jennifer Lawrence) who has become a mercenary after the events of the previous film, her mission these days are to save mutants who are being abused or enslaved by humans. She helps Angel/Archangel (Ben Hardy) and Nightcrawler a.k.a. Kurt Wagner (Kodi Smit-McPhee) escape from a fight club. At the same time Magneto a.k.a. Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) is living the quiet life as Henryk a steel worker in Poland. He has a wife and a daughter but his peace is destroyed when something happens during En Sabah Nur's awakening and he is discovered to be a mutant.
During the same period we are also introduced to the new group of youngsters who will become part of the new X-Men. Scott Summers a.k.a. Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) whose mutant powers awaken one day in High School, he is taken to Prof Xavier's School for Gifted Children by his brother Alex a.k.a. Havok (Lucas Till) one of the few remaining X-Men from the first film. There he meets Hank McCoy a.k.a. Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and Prof. Xavier (James McAvoy) and bumps into Jean Grey (Sophie Turner).
Upon awakening En Sabah Nur wanders the streets and markets of Egypt where he discovers a young mutant who becomes his first disciple, Ororo Munroe a.k.a. Storm (Alexandra Shipp), his search for more powerful mutants lead him eventually to Elizabeth Braddock a.k.a. Psylocke (Olivia Munn) who takes him to a wounded Angel. The last mutant that En Sabah Nur enlists as his four horsemen is of course Magneto. With the four of them in his team he begins to wreck havoc around the world.
Meanwhile at his home Peter Maximoff a.k.a. Quicksilver (Evan Peters) is watching the news and sees his father Magneto in the news. He makes the decision to go to Prof Xavier's school to ask about Magneto.
Also in this film is William Stryker (Josh Helman) who's gotten a promotion who's gotten a promotion since the last film and of course Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) who since the last film has since gone through the Weapon X program and now has his adamantium bones and claws. Oh yeah, Jubilee (Lana Condor) is in too but more as the token Asian character she doesn't show off her mutant powers at all. As is Stan Lee but this time he doesn't have a speaking character.
Olivia Munn looks real good as Psylocke but that's pretty much it. Hope they bring her back and give her more to do. ©20th Century Fox
So once all the characters are in place in their respective team in all goes to hell as En Sabah Nur uses Prof Xavier and Cerebro to launch all the nuclear missiles and then tells everyone in the world that their time is coming to an end. Then Magneto decides to play with all the magnetic elements in the world. Meanwhile Mystique teams up with whomever's left after En Sabah Nur takes Prof Xavier but their rescue attempt is stopped short by Stryker when they're taken to his secret base. They are then saved by Jean, Scott and Kurt.
So this is like the second or third time I think that Cerebro had to be destroyed. ©20th Century Fox
Once everyone is saved they all suit up and head over to Cairo to try and kick En Sabah Nur and his teams ass. Is the usual a new super bad guy has shown up so let's come together and beat his ass story. And oh yeah, for like the umpteenth time someone pleads to Magneto to remember that he hasn't lost everything and that there are people who still care for him and believe that he will do the right thing. So in short the usual thing/tropes happen in this X-Men movie much like the previous/other X-Men movies.
So here are the pros and cons as I see them.
Pros:
- The visuals during the action sequences are very cool. It'll make the superhero-loving kid inside of you go WOW!
- The performances by the key cast, more specifically by McAvoy and Fassbender are good. Oscar Isaac was equally impressive in that he is has completely disappeared while playing En Sabah Nur. I mean when you were watching James Spader play Ultron although it was brilliant you could still recognize it as a James Spader performance. But Isaac truly becomes Apocalypse under all the make-up and prosthetics. The other fun characters to watch were Nightcrawler and of course Quicksilver.
- Quicksilver. He's received more screen time in this one and it was totally fun to watch. If you loved him in the last one you'll love him even more now. Evan Peters is totally likeable as Quicksilver. Would love to see him play him more but rumour has it is that this is the last time we'll see him as Quicksilver.
- The score and soundtrack were very dramatic though at times I sort of felt it was a little overwhelming.
- The attention to detail trying to make each era portrayed look right.
- Very cool to have Wolverine included and have him put in after his Weapon X transformation. It sort of ties this film into past X-Men films, specifically X2: X-Men United (2003) and The Wolverine (2013) even though it wasn't entirely necessary.
- Prof Xavier pleads Jean Grey to let go and the Phoenix is awaken.
So the team arrives back in En Sabah Nur's hometown and it's time to give the place a makeover.©20th Century Fox
Cons:
- The story is much too simplistic which is a huge letdown having it be a follow up to the incredible complicated story in Days of Future Past.
- The lack of depth to the new characters. All you are is introduced to the characters and not much else. Even when they do get some decent screen time you don't really get to sink your teeth into them. The characters I'm talking about are Angel, Storm, Psylocke, Scott Summers, Jean Grey and Nightcrawler. Maybe Nightcrawler didn't fair as badly as the others.
- The motivation behind why En Nur Sabah does what he does and of course who he is. Much like the lack of depth that you feel for his disciples applies to him as well. Here he is the biggest baddest mutant to ever live and he just feels like a caricature of himself. Sure he's got some pretty cool powers and does some amazing stuff and Isaac does a brilliant job at bringing him to life but that lack of depth to the character makes for a shallow character. I'm thinking the handful of times that Thanos has showed up in the end credits makes him more interesting than Apocalypse.
- The fact that this movie relies on the same story formula as every other X-Men movie with only a very slight variation. Talk about predictable.
- Maybe not so much a con but probably could have been revealed in a better way storywise or in a later film is Jean Grey letting go and revealing the Phoenix.
So yeah, it might seem like they copied this from Civil War but I'm guessing this was a coincidence. ©20th Century Fox
So there you go. I do have to say I did enjoy it though. It's pure eye candy with a few cool character related moments. But the thing is is that we go to movies not to just enjoy eye candy, we go for a good story and good characters. This movie only has the eye candy done right, the rest of the time you're just watching new characters go through the same thing you've already seen before from this franchise.
So I'm going to give this film a 3.2 out of 5. A fun even if a mindless and unoriginal film.
Check out the trailer for it below.
This dude shows up too. Goes on a killing spree then runs out into the woods in the middle of winter. ©20th Century Fox
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