They are uniting for good....

Rating: 8/10 (8 June 2016)

Ten years after the Paris peace accords, Professor Charles Xavier has recruited several students at his special school with the aim to establish it as the home for humans and mutants alike as they explore their strengths and grow together in harmony. But deep in the dark ruins of Cairo, an ancient power, En Sabah Nur has been awakened after millennia and has realized that the new unrelatable world needs to be destroyed so he can establish a new order. Deemed to be the very first mutant and the all powerful one, Apocalypse needed his four horsemen to pursue his devastating plans. The students at the Xavier school must now find within them, a way to harness their powers and use them to stop the apocalypse. The students must now become the X-Men.
Erik (Michael Fassbender) lives a secluded life with his wife and daughter, concealing his powers while working in a foundry where one day, he is forced to use them to prevent an accident. The incident doesn't go unnoticed by his co-workers who report it to the authorities. An unfortunate encounter drives Erik mad with rage and his resulting vulnerability is soon exploited by Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), who recruits him as his fourth horseman after Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Angel (Ben Hardy) and Psylocke (Olivia Munn). In a powerful display of his newly enhanced powers, Magneto desecrates the site of Auschwitz and threatens to build a new world for Apocalypse. Meanwhile, Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Alex Summers/Havok have been busy recruiting mutants such as Kurt/Nightcrawler and Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan). Also coming to their aid in the nick of time is Quicksilver/Peter Maximoff (Evan Peters), who steals the show each time he makes a run for it. Their sanctuary is compromised as Apocalypse learns about Charles' powers and kidnaps him to aid in his plan for gathering mutants across the globe. In the aftermath of the explosion, Hank, Mystique and Peter are taken captive by the Military, leaving Scott, Kurt and Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) in their hot pursuit. The rescue effort was doomed if it wasn't for the accidental release of Weapon X, that unknowingly aided in their escape from the facility.
Magneto's control of Earth's poles causes widespread destruction, killing millions as En Sabah Nur almost enslaves Charles to his will. But it's Jean's psychic powers that find the call for help from her Professor and along with the young fighters and new recruits, they race to prevent Magneto and Apocalypse from causing Earth's total annihilation.
Cyclops has an engaging introduction to the team and Tye portrays the fear of his uncontrollable powers in a credible manner. Nightcrawler always has a freaked out look but is entertaining while Beast is almost underplayed in his role. Olivia Munn's brief presence has a lot of intrigue still remaining about her origins and powers of being Psylocke. Alexandra plays a young, uncertain Storm who isn't evil enough yet to choose a permanent side. Evan Peters is as witty as he is hasty and Quicksilver is by far a show stealer when on-screen. Oscar Isaac's villain isn't the all-powerful as they hyped him up to be. His God-like powers were seldom on display to be ascertained as the biggest threat to superheroes, let alone break away from the cliché of apocalyptic villains who want to recreate the world. Mystique had the entire world focusing on her eccentricity after being exposed in Paris and Jennifer Lawrence shows her reservations very well. Her performance is deliberately underplayed but she holds her position as Charles' favorite by her own merits. Michael Fassbender displays the torment and inner rage that Magneto experiences with a lot of sincerity, making it an outstanding performance as a villain. His reluctance to join his friend's school is deeply rooted in his suspicion of humans who have caused most of his tragedies. James McAvoy is extremely likable as Prof Xavier because he quite naturally charms his righteousness through to us while showing genuine care for both mutants and humans. Sophie Turner's Jean Grey surprisingly ends up being the highlight of the film and not because of her character's importance in saving the day each time. She has invested in the character that's learning to unleash her powers with a lot of reluctance at first and then realizing her true potential. She is a far better Jean Grey than her predecessor and with Mystique by her side, her development should get a lot more exciting.
Director Bryan Singer (several X-Men films) is more than familiar with character introductions, mega villains and optimizing CGI to aid his storytelling and action. Yet, the film does lose the gravity of a major villain who was supposed to be the greatest nemesis of the X-Men. To see him so grossly under-utilized with just a handful of action scenes and a lot more of clichéd dialogues is quite disappointing.
Apocalypse may not be the best X-Men film to date but it sure is as fun, exciting and entertaining as the best of them. What it lacks in, it makes up for in the attributes of its characters who are either too righteous or perfectly balanced now to fall on either side.
8.513 on a scale of 1-10.