X-Men: Apocalypse

Per Gunnar Jonsson 5/16/2024 3:21:15 PM 8.4

X-Men Apocalypse is typical of what you would expect from a Marvel X-Men movie. Light on story and depth and heavy on special effects and action. In short it is exactly what I, as a Science Fiction and Fantasy geek, would expect as well as hope for. The X-Men faces a new threat in the form of the worlds first mutant. Naturally said mutant is really a Übermutant vastly more powerful than any “normal” mutant. Equally naturally this Übermutant is set on a path of world destruction and domination. I quite liked this villain. He is a good all evil and powerful bad guy and a worthy adversary. No nonsense about trying to make the villain likable or trying to explain why he turned evil or such like. This guy is evil, he is the bad guy, he needs to be taken down…full stop. As I wrote the story is not the most elaborate one around but it is a good one within the confines of a Marvel super hero movie. It gets the job done without being overly stupid or silly. It is set in the “prequel” universe created by X-Men First Class. The movie adds a few new X-Men to the ranks of Professor Xaviers team. Some of them thanks to the manipulations of Apocalypse although they start out on the bad side at first. The movie moves along at a decent enough pace and, as was mentioned, there are quite a few action sequences and special effects thrown at the viewer throughout the movie. Personally I found the special effects to be quite good. Even stunning at times. I am quite a bit of a special effects nerd so of course this pleased me a lot. The movies ending certainly opens the door to future X-Men movies and I for sure would like to see the franchise continue. I very much enjoyed these almost two and a half hours in front of my TV set.

Wuchak 6/23/2021 3:58:14 PM 8.4

***Ranks with the best in the X-Men franchise*** Released in 2016 and directed/co-written by Bryan Singer, "X-Men: Apocalypse" has the team go up against the first mutant, Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), whose origins date back to ancient Egypt. After thousands of years in stasis, Apocalypse is immediately disillusioned by the state of the world and so recruits a team of worthy mutants, including a dispirited Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to purge humanity and craft a new world order over which he will reign. Professor X (James McAvoy), with the assistance of Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), leads a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction. Josh Helman is on hand as Col. Stryker. This sixth film in the franchise (not including the several spin off films) easily ranks as one of the best. It includes many of the best elements of the X-Men and everything I would want in a great X-Men flick: Professor X's ongoing goal for an educational sanctuary for interesting mutants from all over the world; his love for Moira (Rose Byrne); Magneto's increasing mastery of his great powers and his struggle to go on the offensive against prejudiced humanity; a greater focus on Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) and his potent power, both of which were neglected in the original trilogy; an outstanding actress to play Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), who is far better than the bland Famke Janssen; Olivia Munn's ultra-hotness as Psylocke; a worthy subplot on Weapon X with the corresponding guest appearance of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman); an excellent collection of young mutants, like Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Havok (Lucas Till), Angel (Ben Hardy), etc.; a worthy main villain in the mold of Dr. Doom and Thanatos; an epic, apocalyptic final act (sorry); I could go on and on. This isn't to say the movie doesn't have faults, however; the cartoony overblown prologue in ancient Egypt is Exhibit A. The film runs 144 minutes and was shot in Quebec, Canada (Greenfield Park, Montreal and Oka). GRADE: A-

Myles 6/23/2021 3:58:15 PM 8.4

Plenty of action with good acting, however, Apocalypse (the villain) lacks originality. X-Men: Apocalypse is a mediocre film in the respected franchise that is "X-Men"