A decent entry but not without it's faults

Rating: 5/10 (4 June 2016)

So after loving DOFP, circumstances (eg: Holiday)caused me to have to wait several weeks after the release date to watch this movie and before showtime I had heard mixed reviews, but with most of them leaning towards a poor one I went in without any expectations so that I may avoid any potential disappointments.
Now firstly let me say I wasn't disappointed, I found this film to be a decent enough entry in to the Xmen universe, certainly better than some other notable entries (Origns - I'm talking to you...). There was lots in this film that I liked, mostly as it seemed more loyal to the cartoon I watched back in my youth that I loved so much. There were plenty of characters involved in the film, comic book style action sequences and the always fun quicksilver scene, such a welcome addition to the xmen movies, and something that maybe points out one thing Marvel have done wrong with a character in their films...
The Weapon X "cameo" - I enjoyed this but think it would have been so much better had they not spoilt this in the trailer, it fitted well with the story and you knew you were going to Alkali lake so it would've been nice to have had the anticipation of whether you would see Wolverine, but it was done well done and I liked that this was all we saw of him. Now I like the Wolverine character but personally felt that the original trilogy suffered due to an overdose of Wolverine, yes he was the main character of the first films but none of the other characters got developed which I felt made the films suffer, this is why I liked that Cyclops had a much more prominent role in this film and enjoyed that it seemed to focus more on him and Jean Grey and his rise to becoming a leader of the X-men.
Now this wasn't the perfect film and there were bad points that I found to it. The pacing of the film was a little strange at times, it was a shame that Havok's death seemed to be almost glossed over "He was closest to the explosion" "Oh, I thought I got everyone" ..... "Oh well, never mind...!"
Bit of a shame as we never got to see the "Bad ass" he was made out to be in the previous outings. Speaking of deaths I did have a sneaky feeling there may be another one in the film and almost expected Mystique to die in the final battle, especially with her being built up as a hero all the way through the film, but then wondered if Quicksilver might perish when taking on Apocalypse on by himself - in another fantastic sequence, but this was not the case.
Whilst it was good to see a big cast, The horsemen seemed to just be "there" and with the exception of Storm (slightly) were not fleshed out - Angel is seemingly built up as some seasoned warrior and is introduced with a cage fight scene having just beaten the blob and having gone 10 fights undefeated (Which we don't see any of) before he meets nightcrawler where he promptly gets his "ass handed to him". Even in the rematch at the end of the film he still struggles to put up any kind of fight. Psylocke was just sat in a room with Caliban evidently as his bodyguard, and for no real reason just decides to join Apocalypse, though this may be to save Calibans life?? But it would've been nice to have spent a little more time giving them some character - especially in a 2 & 1/2 film.
My biggest problem though which I had ever since he was announced was Oscar Issac as Apocalypse. Whilst I have no problem with him as an actor I just never saw him as being that character and wasn't convinced of him at any point through the film. Apocalypse is a hugely overpowered mutant who has a deep booming voice and should be menacing and instil fear in to those he meets, yet Issacs is tiny and had too much of a softly spoken voice in the film and I just found he didn't fit the part at all., he just looked like one of the gang when stood with his horsemen. Now whilst I'm not saying he should've had the part instead, I think someone like the Rock, with his build, would've been more visually suited to the character, but that's just my opinion.
Whilst this does almost wrap the whole Xmen story up I do hope there is another one after this, they have after all teased the Phoenix saga again so can see this being the next big thing, though I think the next film will be too soon for this story to resolve as it will need fleshing out more first, but the end credit scene leaves a couple of potential movies, with a potential creation of X-23, or hopefully Mr Sinister as the next big bad.
But overall it's a good enough entry and I don't think it's as bad as some people have said, it's certainly not worthy of the 1's and 2's out of 10 that some people have given it??? But again it's the nods to the comics and cartoons which I liked about the films, with the scene at the end with the team in their cartoon costumes in the training room a brilliant way to end the film.