An underwhelming and frustrating film

Rating: 4/10 (11 September 2016)

Since 2000, Marvel and 20th Century Fox have created a number of movies with the X-Men, usually led by director Bryan Singer, who is also at the helm of their latest installment, X-Men: Apocalypse. There have been some great films like Days of Future Past, and some pretty bad ones like X-Men Origins, and this movie lies in between. Boasting a great cast, led by James McEvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence, and some great characters, this movie ends up being an underwhelming and slightly frustrating film as you reach the credits. But it also manages to spice up some memorable moments, in particular a scene involving Quicksilver.
The movie lacks in several areas, with one standing out the most being the plot. The plot is very simple yet bloated at the same time. You begin with the antagonist, Apocalypse, and introducing his origins. Then the protagonists, which are the X-Men, gather a force which can hopefully sustain itself against Apocalypse, who also gathers his own followers. It sounds very simple, yet when you see the movie, it starts to get confusing. As of late, superhero films such as Captain America: Civil and Deadpool have attempted to expand the genre, whilst this film continues with a very cliché story and archetypal villain. If it were a couple of years ago, I might not make the same case as these movies were only beginning to be a part of the movie industry. Another downside is the misuse of some of the cast, in particular Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse and Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique. Apocalypse doesn't seem the least menacing or frightening, which isn't entirely the fault of Oscar, but maybe the writers. Likewise with Jennifer, who feels much underused in the context of the story. Some of the other characters feel very forgettable, especially some members of Apocalypse's team (Angel, Psylocke). They aren't that interesting and are very one- dimensional.
The final battle was good, though a little underwhelming, which had the occasional wince of bad CGI. Magneto's transformation was by far the best of all the characters, and probably one of the only sides of the story you can get emotionally involved in. Fassbender did really well in his performance, especially given he had quite a change in character throughout the movie. McEvoy as usual was great as Professor X, and some of the young newcomers proved they are capable of being part of a massive blockbuster. Its movie worth watching as it is fun and enjoyable ride, but make sure you enter with low expectations.