How Professor X Lost his hair

Rating: 8/10 (21 May 2016)

This was actually a lot better than I expected it to be. Okay, it is an X-men movie so I was going to see it within days of it hitting the cinemas, but a part of me was expecting it to be a little washed up and a little dull, especially since this is movie number 10. Well, as it turned out it wasn't – it was really enjoyable. Mind you, don't expect it to closely follow the timeline as set out in the previous movies namely because, as we all know from Days of Future Past, the time line has been changed. This means that Scott Summers is introduced to the X-men in a different way (as opposed to how he was introduced back in X-Men Origins:Wolverine).
As you are probably aware, Wolverine doesn't really make an appearance in this film (well there is an uncredited cameo, but that is about it). This is not surprising since Hugh Jackman is on the verge of hanging up his adamatine talons (he is getting pretty old). However, rumour has it that this is probably going to be the second-to-last X-men movie in the franchise, and I suspect that we won't be seeing McKellan or Stewart reprising their roles in the future either (most likely, if another X-men movie does appear, it will be Fassbender and McIvoy).
In a way this is another of the origin movies, though here we see a rebooted version of the Scott Summers origin story, and the Storm origin story (as well as having Jean Grey and Nightcrawer taking lead roles as well, which is somewhat different from when Nightcrawler made an appearance in X2). What the movie does is that it sets the scene of what will become the X-men, though I have a feeling that the Brotherhood of Mutants may be something that has now been left in the alternate timeline (you will see why when we get to the end of the film).
What we have is the first mutant – Apocalypse – waking up from a five thousand year slumber after a conspiracy resulted in him being buried deep in the Earth. Apocalypse has the habit of transferring his consciousness to other mutants, thus gaining their powers, and in turn becoming stronger himself. However he can also imbue others with his powers, thus strengthening them – he is always known to travel with four lieutenants, who are known as The Horsemen. Thus when he awakens his first job to to find four mutants to be his henchmen.
We also find Magneto has withdrawn from society to live in a small cottage in Poland and is working in a steal mill. I should mention that the film is set in the late eighties, thus continuing the Origins theme, which has set all of the X-men movies in the past (which was designed as a way of rebooting the franchise after a rather disastrous X-men III movie). However, the two movies that are referred to here are First-Class and Days of Future Past (though we do note that Steward and McKellan did revise their roles in the last movie).
All in all this was a pretty enjoyable movie, and the character of Apocalypse was actually really well done. I also quite liked Magneto, who is still struggling with his identity and his place in the world. He doesn't necessarily come across as the stereo-typical villain, but rather a man with internal struggles, and one who was suffered pain because of who he is, and then lashing out in anger at a world that does not seem to care. As we know, the X-men franchise has always been one about power, and power struggles, and how to respond against persecution because of who one happens to be. This theme comes through into this film as well, as well as bringing along many of the other characters, such as William Stryker and Moira McTaggart, who have been staples in some of the other films.