Not Up To EXpectations

Rating: 6/10 (13 January 2017)

In the lead up to the release of X Men Apocalypse I was aware that there was going to be an uphill struggle coming of the back of First Class and Days of Future Past, two films that I consider to be masterpieces while this is not a bad film it's not all that great and I was very disappointed. However there is still plenty of good in this film, all the performances in this film are all still as good, James McAvoy adds a more experienced and wiser aspect to his Xavier this time around, Fassbender gives the greatest performance in this film he is such a damaged person in this film and it really added to his character motivations and arc. Oscar Isaac was really good in this film he was very menacing and sunk himself right into the character. I liked seeing all of the original characters back together as younger versions they all were fun characters who were close to their future selves. The relationship between Xavier and Eric has been a major crutch of the last two films and this one doesn't focus on it as much but when it does it's done just as well. The eventual final fight against Apocalypse was great, much more epic in scale than the other films in the franchise, the cerebral aspect of Xavier fighting Apocalypse inside his mind was brilliantly executed and the set up for Dark Phoenix was done very well. Quicksilver is back again, just as good as he was in Days of Future Past, it was nice to see him get an expanded role in this film and merged perfectly into the team. My biggest issues with this film come from the script, the films pacing is pretty awful, most of the first half is just set up for the rest of the film and did bore me quite a bit and times. Apocalypse was also not a very good villain, his motivations were extremely conventional, his powers were never fleshed out and his suit was terrible. All the villains except for Magneto are just throw away thugs essentially who add nothing to the plot of this film. The cameo from Wolverine itself was amazing to see but you get the hint that the entire strikers island sequence was done just for that cameo.
In terms of spectacle, visuals and performances this film is brilliant but the script was this films major downfall, it's pacing is terrible, the villains are bland with no real motivation and fails to build on and improve plot threads and character developments that were set up in the past films.
69%/B-