X-Men: Apocalypse

Rating: 5/10 (27 May 2016)

The Marvel X-Men movies have been mostly successful, especially the previous two before this, First Class, and Days of Future Past, this was the third film to feature the principal characters in their younger guises, directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, Superman Returns, Valkyrie). Basically powerful En Sabah Nur aka Apocalypse (Ex Machina's Oscar Isaac) is the very first mutant, he rules ancient Egypt until he is betrayed and entombed alive by his worshippers, but he is preserved. In 1983 (ten years since the events of Days of Future Past), Apocalypse is awakened, believing that without his presence humanity has lost its way he decides to destroy and recreate the world, he recruits mutants and upgrades the powers of young Cairo pickpocket Ororo Munroe aka Storm (Alexandra Shipp). Metal-controlling mutant Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is living in Poland with his wife and daughter, authorities attempt to capture him, his family are accidentally killed, he retaliates and kills the men, Apocalypse approaches the disheartened Erik, reminds him of his past in Auschwitz, and recruits him. In East Berlin, shape-shifting mutant Raven Darkhölme aka Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is investigating to find other mutants, she finds an underground fight club, she rescues Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who can teleport, moments after this Apocalypse recruits and enhances the powers of mutants Warren Worthington III aka Angel (EastEnders' Ben Hardy) and Elizabeth Braddock aka Psylocke (Olivia Munn). Scott Summers aka Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) has developed mutation, shooting optic beams, he is taken by his fellow mutant brother Alex aka Havok (Lucas Till) to the X- Mansion in Westchester County, New York where founder Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Hank McCoy aka Beast (Skins' Nicholas Hoult) can teach him to control his abilities. Scott meets telepathic and telekinetic Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) and they develop an attraction, Raven brings Kurt to the institute and informs Xavier about Magneto, then Apocalypse's powers cause disturbance across the world, Xavier and Alex consult CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) who has been researching the legend of Nur. While using mutant-locating computer Cerebo, Xavier has Apocalypse hack into his mind, using his power to force all global superpowers to launch Earth's entire nuclear arsenal into space, Apocalypse and his team later arrive at the mansion to kidnap Xavier. Alex attempts to stop them, but causes an explosion, coincidentally Peter Maximoff aka Quicksilver (Evan Peters) was arriving, hoping to get help to find Magneto, who he has learned is his father, he arrives in time and uses his super-speed to evacuate everyone during the explosion, Alex is presumed dead. Hank, Raven, Peter and Moira are subsequently arrested by the forces of Colonel William Stryker (Josh Helman), taken to the Weapon X facility for interrogation, Scott, Jean and Kurt secretly follow, rescue their comrades, and get some help from Stryker's brainwashed experiment Weapon X, this is in fact Logan aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who Jean partially restores the memory, he escapes. Commanded by Apocalypse, Erik uses his powers to control Earth's magnetic poles, causing worldwide destruction and casualties, following a secret telepathic message from Xavier, Jean directs the X-Men to Cairo to battle Apocalypse and his lieutenants. They rescue the professor before En Sabah's consciousness is transferred to his body, Xavier loses his hair during the process, Angel is defeated in battle, Erik and Ororo are convinced to turn on En Sabah, keeping him occupied while Xavier fights him in the astral plane (the celestial world of souls). Finally Xavier pleads with Jean to unleash the full might of her powers, she appears to destroy Apocalypse, Psycholocke flees, in the aftermath Moira's past memories of Xavier are restored, Erik and Jean rebuild the school, Erik leaves having turned down Xavier's offer to teach, and Raven guides new X-Men, Scott, Jean, Hank, Ororo, Kurt and Peter to train for battles ahead. The end of the film also sees Stryker collecting a blood sample of "Weapon X" on behalf of the Essex Corporation. Also starring Lana Condor as Jubilation Lee aka Jubilee, Tómas Lemarquis as Caliban, The Breakfast Club's Ally Sheedy as Scott's Teacher and Stan Lee as Fearful Man. The cast who have returned are again great, new additions are mostly terrific, Peters does steal the show in his speedy scene, I agree with critics Isaac is a bit stiff as the villain, the story is certainly understandable, there are the right amount of slow moments as well as spectacular scenes of fights and things blowing up, meaning a lot of amazing special effects, it may have partly predictable stuff, but overall it is a reasonable fantasy action adventure. Worth watching!