"X-Men: Apocalypse"- A disjointed but highly entertaining continuation of the long-running franchise.

Rating: 7/10 (14 November 2016)

As a proud geek, I must give director Bryan Singer the utmost respect for his contributions to the world of comic to film adaptations. One of the earliest filmmakers to give comic-books the respect they deserve on the big screen, his 2000 release "X-Men" was one of the pioneering films of the recent surge of superhero movies that have been dominating cinemas for years now. And though the series has gone through the highest of highs and lowest of lows, I am proud to have stuck by it. Now, Singer is back again for his fourth directorial effort in the franchise, "X-Men: Apocalypse"- a film that continues the story-arc first began in 2011's wonderful "X-Men: First Class." And while it may not quite live up to the promise of the best in the series, I personally found "Apocalypse" to be a charming and highly entertaining new chapter in the long- running series... even if it suffers a problematic script.
When an ancient and deadly mutant called En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac) is wakened from a slumber thousands of years after being imprisoned, he seeks to unite "four horsemen" to cleanse a world he views as corrupt and wishes to rule as a godly figure. Assembling a team including the tragic but villainous Magneto (Michael Fassbender), En Sabah Nur's actions force the X-Men, lead by Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) to emerge once again to protect the world from this terrifying new threat. And their battle will bring them face to face with various figures from their past that they will need to contend with in order to save humanity.
As is the case with the franchise at large, the film is an ensemble piece, and much of its success lies in the wonderful casting and the performances. Returning cast members continue to play their roles to perfection, and it was a nice surprise to see some familiar faces return who haven't been around in some time. McAvoy and Fassbender in particular continue their wonderful turns as our two friend-turned-enemy leads, and a returning Evan Peters once again steals the show as the super-fast Quicksilver. It was also a pleasure having Rose Byrne back as CIA agent Moira McTaggert following a multi-film absence in the series. She gets a lot of really nice scenes with Xavier and it reminds us how important she was to the story.
New cast members are a blast, and inject new life into the film. Isaac makes for a wonderful new villain with a great sense of threat. Tye Sheridan and Sophie Turner also put in admirable roles as the new Cyclops and Jean Grey. While they aren't given much time together, they both do a fine job with the material, and you can see the seeds planted for what will eventually bloom into the full fledged relationship we saw in the original film. And I adored Alexandra Shipp as our new Storm. She probably gets the clearest arc out of all the new characters, and it came appreciated as Storm has been generally under-developed in the franchise. Honestly, the only cast member new or returning that I feel didn't do an outstanding job was Jennifer Laurence as Mystique. And I do think its because the writers are now afraid to do anything too challenging with her given her fame. As a result, she just seems a bit flat here.
Singer's continued allegiance to the series also helps and is a massive benefit in this entry. His keen sense of scope and composition, along with his nice personal touches help craft the film into a solid continuation with many an awe-inspiring action set-piece and humorous character-gag. He maintains a much-appreciated sense of tonal continuity in his entries of the series, and you get the sense he is carefully trying to craft this entry to be sort-of the be-all, end- all of the entire series. And this thankfully makes up for the biggest issue here, which is the script, written by Simon Kinberg from a story he also co-wrote.
The films have to this point been able to (mostly) maintain a very delicate balancing act. This is an inherent problem in any film with such a wide variety of characters and story lines playing out, and this is one of the entries in the saga where this balancing act doesn't quite work. Try as he might, Kinberg just can't juggle the various elements at play, and the film comes off as jumbled and disjointed as a result. Key pieces of character development are hastily tossed aside as soon as they are completed and major character arcs are resolved in occasionally unsatisfactory manner, causing an emotional rift to the audience. There's also the occasional odd scene here and there that feels questionable and illogical in terms of timing and placement, as though even on set, rewrites were being performed in an attempt to try and fix issues with the pacing and structure. While by no means terribly written and sporting a solid foundation, it also feels as though the film went into production before the writing had been nailed to perfection.
Still, this issue is something I can overlook, in no small part thanks to the infectious charm of the bulk of the cast and for the wonderfully intense visual direction that Singer so excels at. Questionable writing is not a death sentence... sometimes a film can overcome script- related hazards if the other elements excel beyond these issues, and I think that's the case here. Many have been condemning the film for it's quick pacing and issues with character development, but to me, it wasn't a deal-breaker. Should they film have spent a bit more time in pre-production? Yeah, sure. But is it an inherently bad film because of some issues with the writing? No. Weaker than other films in the series, perhaps. But still enjoyable and entertaining despite its flaws.
I give it a very solid 7 out of 10.