Another year, and another great X-men movie to watch

Rating: 9/10 (23 May 2016)

"X-men: Apocalypse" is the second movie directed by Bryan Singer, who back in 2014 also made the critically acclaimed "X-men: Days of Future Past". This year, fans and critics where exited to see if the movie could hold the high standards as its predecessor. To me, the movie delivered the way it should. For starters: Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr AKA Magneto – wow, what a strong performance that guy brings to the screen. In the first act of the movie when we are introduced to the X-men cast, 10 years after their clash at Cuba, we meet a happy and peaceful Eric who now lives a normal life in Poland, settled down with both a wife and a daughter. Working at a steel factory (of course) Eric really tries to lay low since the world first took notice of him in "X-men: days of future past". However, an accident at work forces him to use his powers and reviling himself to his co-workers. Soon after begins the witch-hunt, and the rumours of a wanted mutant in Poland travels fast. It doesn't take long before Eric finds himself out in the woods surrounded by the Poland police and friends, accusing him of being the man who can bend metal. With the police holding his daughter as hostage, Eric chooses to give himself up in exchange for his daughter. All of us at the theatre who saw what happened next, we all felt a cold chill running down our spines. Eric's story managed to work as the most emotional part of the movie, and gave us enough reason to see why he would choose to join Apocalypse's army of terror and destruction, which makes him a good antagonist to follow. If we take a look at Oscar Isaac and his role as the Apocalypse, it really wasn't that impressing to me as I would have hoped. I don't know if it was because of all the make-up he had on, the robotic voice or the neutral facial expressions he would make in every scene, but it gave me a feeling that anyone could have played Apocalypse if they had to use the same amount of practical effects as Isaac. The Quicksilver slow- motion scene was amazing, and I actually think it topped that last slow- motion scene we saw of him back in Days of future past. The finale battle between Apocalypse's squad and the x-men was great. It was nice to see McAvoy as Xavier being the guy giving out some of the punches to the antagonist, instead of always being the one taking them. The fight sequence Xavier had in his mind was awesome, and he actually did better than Fassbender, who for the most part of that finale battle choose to isolate himself in a big metal bobble and not take part in any of the action. Overall, great performances from all the X-men cast. Nicolas Hoult, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy did a solid job as always. It was great to see some new young faces who also delivered: Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler, Sophie Turner as Jean Grey and Tye Sheridan as Cyclopse also made themselves at home in the X- men franchise. The story was well executed, and Bryan Singer has managed to make yet another great X-men movie. And before I end – what a great Wolverine scene, that really saved the second act of the movie for me and made it much more entertaining to watch.