While it falls under the shadow of DOFP, X-Men Apocalypse is another great entry in the superb X-Men series

Rating: 8/10 (31 May 2016)

With the great amount of superhero movies released today, it is difficult for many directors to deliver a high quality of movies of the course of a series. With X-Men Apocalypse, Bryan Singer may have just proved himself to be the best superhero movie director. Singer once again crafts an interesting story, balances a large cast of interesting character, and shows his ability to direct elaborate action sequences. Although the overall execution is not perfect, it still results in another entertaining superhero film. As with any superhero film, a hero (or in this case heroes) are only as good as its villain, and Apocalypse emerges as a well-done villain, which is a welcoming sight compared to some other recent superhero villains. The opening sequence provides a great backstory to the character, and perfectly establishes him a false god who can't possibly exist without the presence or physical bodies of other mutants. By the time he awakens in 1983 and begins to enact his plan of eliminating the weak, it all makes sense and has actual purpose. His role as an alien of sorts who doesn't understand today's world perfectly lends itself to his plan. It gives the character a commanding purpose, and as a result makes him feel like the all-powerful character Apocalypse is meant to be. Where X-Men Apocalypse especially shines is in its decision to go with another new cast of X-Men. Each actor does a nice job capturing the spirit of their young, inexperienced mutant. Tye Sheridan especially impressed me as Cyclops, showing the mutants growth throughout the movie from fearing his powers to becoming a member of the new X-Men. The addition of fan-favorites like Nightcrawler and Quicksilver were also pretty awesome as the two prove to be the movies biggest scene stealers. Talking about great scenes, I have to mention THAT scene. Yes, X-Men Apocalypse boasts another AMAZINGLY AWESOME Quicksilver scene that somehow transcends the previous one!!!! Combine that with the equally excellent Weapon X cameo, and you'll be sure to walk out the theater with mind blown! For all the flashy scenes that X-Men Apocalypse may boasts, it is littered with flaws. To start, coming into this movie, the X-Men storyline had already been riddled with a number of holes, and this movie only compounds the problem. Even the most dedicated fanboys will have trouble trying to piece together the events from X-Men (2000) to Apocalypse. Also, while the addition of a number of new characters did help to expand the scale of the plot, the movie definitely reaches a maximum occupancy level, which results in a number of characters serving absolutely no purpose. While X-Men Apocalypse's flaws do prevent it from being the best in the X-Men series, it in no way keeps it from being another superb superhero movie. Singer has created a fantastic formula for superhero movies that has shown itself time-and-time again with great results. His ability to create compelling characters, action sequences, and (most importantly) stories has made him one of the best superhero movie directors. X-Men Apocalypse is just another example of the greatness that results from Singer's formula.