A Solid Entry To The X-Men Franchise, It May Not Be The Best One But It Doesn't Deserve The Hate

Rating: 8/10 (30 May 2016)

While Marvel clearly is the top brand right now, if you look back the X-Men franchise has been putting out quality movies since the early 2000s (except for a couple of sub-par entries but the less said about those the better). Since they re-booted X-Men with X: First Class, we've had 2 very good movies and expectations were high for X-Men: Apocalypse so the mixed response to it was pretty surprising. After seeing it first hand, it may not be as complete as some of the best superhero movies, but it still brings the excitement and the characters that you've come to enjoy watching every few years.
*Minor Spoilers Ahead* X-Men Apocalypse starts off with the introduction to the title character as opposed to Charles or Magneto. In Ancient Egypt Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) rules as a living god. He was the first mutant and transfers his consciousness from person to person to live for centuries. There is a ceremony to perform the transfer but just as it's about to go down, his guards try to bury him alive in the pyramid. His followers are able to prevent him from being destroyed but he is entombed in the pyramid under layers of debris. He remains very much alive but asleep, waiting to be awakened.
Next we catch up with Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). She's a one woman operation now and she is attending a shady mutant pit fight in Germany. The reigning champion is Angel (Ben Hardy) but she's there to rescue the challenger Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee). Nightcrawler doesn't seem terribly interested in fighting though, he's still a kid and doesn't seem to have a mean streak. He actually wins the fight (Angel's wings are partially burned off) but he escapes before things go south with Raven.
As for our other 2 main characters, Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) has seemingly settled down as a steel worker in Poland. He has a family and is living the simple life when it is all thrown into chaos when he has to unexpectedly show his powers to save someone's life. Prof. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) has his school up and running with some impressive new students in Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) and Jean Gray (Sophie Turner) but he gets thrown back into the fray when Moira Mactaggart (Rose Byrne) happens upon the resurrection of Apocalypse accidentally and requires his assistance.
Putting aside the talk about the visuals and the action, I think the point where this movie shines is the introduction of new characters. If you've watched the older X-Men movies or read the comics, you know who Cyclops, Jean and Nightcrawler are but their re-introduction is handled very well. They cast the right people in those parts and you connect to their struggle. The deeper message behind the source material has always been about exclusion because of being different and trying to find a sense of belonging and just like those earlier movies Singer knows how to get you to feel for these characters.
Aside from all the talk about Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse you get some good performances in X-Men Apocalypse. Michael Fassbender continues to show why he's one of the best actors working. He's got a pretty dramatic arc and he nails it. James McAvoy, Rose Byrne, Nicholas Hoult all deliver typically good acting performances, they're franchise vets and they know what they're doing. Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan , Kodi Smit-McPhee and Alexandra Shipp were all cast well and they make you excited for where this franchise will go in the future. A lot of people ripped on Jennifer Lawrence and Oscar Isaac and I agree neither of them are spectacular. Jennifer did a decent job but she doesn't seem to have the same energy she brought to the previous movies. I though Oscar Isaac actually did a good job but he's dragged down by a really over-the-top character and having to perform under all that makeup, it just doesn't help. If you're a fan of Olivia Munn or Hugh Jackman don't get your hopes up too much, neither of them are in the film very long and they don't get much to do.
While this movie brought in cool new characters and showed the continued adventures of our favourite X-Men, I do have to agree with the critics in that the ending isn't nearly as strong as the beginning and the middle of the movie. Most of the better scenes are watching the kids learning to use their powers and interacting with each other or watching smaller characters stealing scenes (just like Days of Future Past, Quicksilver steals the movie with his montage). When we get to the big battle at the end, it becomes CGI overload, characters make weird decisions for no other reason but to further the plot and you get some of the clichés that you were hoping the movie was going to avoid. I thought the action looked decent but it wasn't anything special and it didn't measure up to the promise I thought the movie had in the beginning. It was disappointing but it didn't diminish the rest of the movie for me.
We've had 2 of the most polarizing and divisive superhero movies ever already this year. This one goes more down the middle. I feel like this movie took a critical beating because we've been spoiled as fans of the X-Men franchise. Sure, Apocalypse wasn't a great villain but was he that bad or did he just pale in comparison to Fassbender's version of Magneto? The setting of Apocalypse in the 1980s wasn't as prominent but does it just look that way because X: First Class did the 1960s so well? Maybe but that's up to you to decide. This movie is a lot of fun if you're a fan of this franchise. Expectations have to be managed though, if you're expecting X2 or X-Men: Days of Future Past, you'll likely be disappointed