A Good (But Not Great) Chapter in the X-Men Saga

Rating: 7/10 (2 June 2016)

I've been a fan of the X-Men since I first read the "Age of Apocalypse" comics in the mid-90's, and as such I was intrigued by this film. I've of course seen all of the X-Men movies leading up to this point, which put me at an advantage over someone who wanders into this film blind.
This is a reasonably good movie. The whole Egyptian element of Apocalypse's background and the setting for much of the film doesn't really work for me (it makes for a strange hybrid between comics and Egyptian mythology, in my view), but the movie is faithful to its source material in this regard. Similarly, the story is a bit convoluted, but that, too, is something that has precedence in the comic books.
That said, there's much to like about this movie, from its reasonably good acting and its well done CGI effects, along with a good script overall. This is not a bad movie, by any stretch.
However, there is something about this film that is hard to articulate that is simply bothersome. My biggest problem with the X-Men franchise at this stage is that it has become hackneyed. The previous installment, "Days of Future Past", reset much of the story's timeline so that a new generation of actors could bring us new stories to the big screen, which is great--the new cast is off to a nice start.
And yet, this film feels very much like a direct sequel to "X-Men: First Class", a film which is itself five years old this year. And "Apocalypse" features so many references to previous films (including a clever self-deprecating dig at "Last Stand") that the movie takes on the feel of the latest chapter in a t.v. series more so than a feature length film. That serial nature of this film, and others in the series, is both the franchise's trademark feel and yet also takes away from the individual films as standalone movies.
All this said, I'm going to give this movie 7/10 stars. It's well made and fun--a good popcorn movie, as they say. But it's not outstanding. Worth seeing if you're an X-Men fan or a comic book fan in general, but not mandatory viewing for those who are just fans of good movies, period.