X-Men Apocalypse is another entry in the franchise, acting as a sequel to Days of the Future Past (DOTFP), with Bryan Singer once again returning as the director. Now, I always liked the X-Men movie franchise, and the ones directed by Bryan Singer are my favorites, especially DOTFP, which is my favourite of the franchise and one of my favourite super hero movie to date. So I was naturally very excited for Apocalypse.
The movie is about Apocalypse, an ancient mutant believed to be the very first of his kind, with unimaginable powers. He wakes up in current times, and decides to rule the world again. Only thing standing in his way are, ofcourse, the X-Men.
Now there was a lot of stuff that happened in the movie, a lot of characters to introduce, storylines to develop etc. And I think the movie managed to handle most of it quite well, instead of crumbling on its weight. I liked the build-up, and I liked the middle act. The flow felt fine to me, and everything was building up to the final act, which I was so into. But the last act kinda felt apart in areas, which I'll get to in a bit.
As always, the emotional core came once again from Magneto and Professor X, again portrayed excellently by Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. Magneto especially had a very heartbreaking arc, which I was not expecting, but loved it all the same. The younger cast worked quite well too. Since Singer was at the helm, it was no surprise the young versions of Jean, Cyclops and such felt right, as he did direct the first two X-Men films with the older versions. Quicksilver was back again, this time with an even more amazing sequence, and he stuck around too, which was awesome.
The cameo sequence was pure entertainment. I was so happy with it. BUT I fucking hate the marketing team for ruining the surprise. If you don't know about it yet, just watch the movie, don't watch any more of the trailers etc.
The action scenes were mostly good, with quicksilver's and cameo sequence obviously being the standout. But there were times, especially near the end, where it felt sloppy. The CGI followed the same suit. For the most part, it was good (Not great), but there were times were too much green-screen usage was very apparent, and took me out of the moment.
My main issue with the film was with Apocalypse. Oscar Isaac was good, but it was the way they used this character that bothered me at times. He was 50/50 for me. There were times where he worked and I was excited to see him as the villain, but there were times where he didn't, especially given the nature of his being. There were just too many conveniences and stupid decisions in the last act, that parts of it didn't manage to hook me in like I really wanted to. Going into detail will put this into spoiler territory, so I'll stop.
Also, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique didn't work for me this time. It felt like she just wasn't into this role anymore. Whatever the actual reason, I hope they don't make her a big role in the next film. And with so much in the film, some characters were completely neglected.
All in all, not as good as DOTFP, or even X2 for me, but still a solid entry in the franchise. The good far outweighs the bad, just like it did for BvS, for me. So ultimately, I had a good time watching it. And if they make a sequel (I Wish), I hope singer returns because once again he has shown interest in a particular saga(Originally hinted in X2), and I would love to see him direct it finally.
8/10
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