More of the same from Singer. Whether that's a bad thing or not....

Rating: 6/10 (4 July 2016)

With a name like Apocalypse you've got to expect big things. The true definition of the word expects to exhibit destruction of biblical proportions and that's exactly what we have been promised here. Our gang of misfits are up against the first mutant that ever existed and the most powerful, or so they say. Imagine people's surprise when pre-release set photography showed their supposed ultra-baddie looking like Ivan Ooze from the Power Rangers Movie. Under the heavy prosthetics lies the superb acting talent of Oscar Isaac, a man with enough grit to pull off a truly menacing antagonist but, thanks to their overzealous make-up team, the movie took a worrying turn before it even had a chance to hit the screens. Bryan Singer announced that this is a 'monster of a movie' and that audiences have not seen 'this level of destruction in any previous X-Men movie'. That may be the case but has the monster he created come back to destroy him?
We catch up with our heroes seven years after the events of Days of Future Past. Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and Hank McCoy's (Nicholas Hoult) School for Gifted Youngsters is thriving with new editions; a pale and lifeless Jean Grey (Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner), a lovable and creepy Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and the all- American reject Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan). Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) is now a mercenary, picking up stray mutants who are being abused by humans and sending them into hiding, a far cry from the slippery assassin given to us from Rebecca Romijn in the original trilogy. She's a hero in the eyes of other mutants and greatly admired, especially from an impressionable Storm, played here by Alexandra Shipp sporting a pretty cool Mohawk. Unfortunately for Shipp, her Mohawk is all that's cool about her as she barely gets the opportunity to shine.
As the great Deadpool once said, 'These timelines are so confusing.' Thanks to the events of Days of Future Past, this movie is set with an alternate timeline giving Singer the green light to reintroduce characters who existed in the previous movies. Olivia Munn plays Psylocke, a mutant who is clearly a lot older in 1983 than her first appearance (played by Mei Melancon) in The Last Stand which was based in present day. Ben Hardy received a lot of attention in the press for his portrayal of Angel (mainly because he looks cool), a role taken by a Ben Foster who, at the time, is younger than the likes of Storm and Jean Grey. And Raven is a good guy now! Who knew?!
The reintroduction of the prominent characters in the series immediately becomes premise for constant nods to the original trilogy, something Singer was annoyingly guilty of in Days of Future Past. He's not necessarily doing it because he likes to blow his own horn but because he finds out what works for his movie and milks it for all it's worth. Quicksilver is a prime example of this; Evan Peters stole the show last time with his quick quips and hilarious slow-mo action sequence aptly played along to 'Time in a Bottle' by Jim Croce. Well, he's back with an equally hilarious, extended scene and a few more lines this time around. However, after the initial reintroduction, it's almost like Singer doesn't know what to do with him and what seems like a prominent story line fades into the background with the rest of the "new editions".
That brings us to the main man himself, Apocalypse. Singer's decision to put Isaac in a suit rather than have a fully rendered CGI version of the character (like Marvel's Thanos) is so that he can fully interact with other characters on screen but the size of his character makes him less than impressive. It's not just the fact that he looks ridiculous, they don't impact on what makes him such a serious threat. Apocalypse existed as a God amongst men for centuries before some of his followers buried him alive in a tomb, only to be rudely awakened by a snooping Moira McTaggart (Rose Byrne returning to her role from First Class). He has the ability to transport his body into other mutants and with that picking up their powers along the way. The idea of Apocalypse should be terrifying but what we're given is another unimpressive, run-of-the-mill, bad guy set up to be defeated by an untrained team of kids and a pep- talk.
On a positive note, while we all complain about movies that contain too much CGI, in reality that is why we watch these movies, so that we can see what cannot be done with average special effects. X-Men are certainly good at that and you will not be disappointed with action sequences. Any fan of the series will enjoy this movie for the gratuity of it and they have certainly spent money and time building their apocalyptic World with some exceptional visuals.
On the way into the cinema a friend of mine told me that he was, 'a bit superhero' d out' and at the moment I'd be inclined to agree with him (Gasp! Shock! Horror!). What we expect as an audience to is to be entertained in new and exciting ways but if all they can do is churn out the same movie with a slightly different cast then, in that respect, audiences are going to lose interest. X-Men: Apocalypse is not as bad as the critics make out if you can accept that this is a comic book movie made for the sole purpose of pure, unadulterated, nonsensical entertainment and you can look past Oscar Isaac's horrendously silly costume.
Ivan Oopocalypse. Sorry, not sorry.