X-Men: Apocalypse | Review

By Lone Lez

*The following contains spoilers

The movie isn’t as action-packed as some of it’s predecessors or Captain America: Civil War but it contains enough action for a great superhero film. Being that the new X-Men team is essentially young and new, it makes sense that they still don’t know their ways of combat. 

The story arcs of characters and the seriousness and humor were also well-balanced. It totally felt like a complete X-Men movie, with every significant mutant getting the screen time they needed. 

My favorites characters from the movie were Psylocke, Storm, and Apocalypse. Olivia Munn rocks in the roll of Psylocke and her visual representation was the most accurate of all from the comics; her costume was stunning. While she didn’t have large amounts of screen time like Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique or Michael Fassbender's Magneto, every time she was on screen it was magnificent. Munn definitely brought the character of Psylocke to life. 

Alexandra Shipp’s Storm was also fantastic. This representation of Storm was totally different from the Storm we are familiar from the original X-Men trilogy played by Halle Berry. This new Storm feels more powerful and has more of a fun side as opposed to Berry’ Storm who had more of a serious personality. 

When it comes to big movie villains, sometimes those villains are just so powerful in the comics that when translated to the big screen they have to be leveled down. That's what I felt for Apocalypse. 

He reminded me of Ultron from the second Avengers movie, on how fast he was defeated and how little he actually got to do while alive. Since it is that they have so much power, they could do double and more of what they ultimately accomplished. 

Nevertheless, Apocalypse was amazing. Oscar Isaac brought the persona of Apocalypse to life while at the same time giving him some unique aspects. He was scary-monster-terrifying. 

The close up shots of his face were incredibly haunting, and his ruthless personality was like a combination of Star War's Darth Vader and Harry Potter's Lord Voldemort. 

Like Ultron, it was disappointing that Apocalypse didn’t use his powers to the most of his mutant ability, but he still came out to be a large threat as throughout the movie I was constantly thinking on how the X-Men could possibly defeat him.

In X-Men: Apocalypse we got to see the birth of the Phoenix, and this was the final blow that sent Apocalypse to his death. 

Though Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey only became the Phoenix for a minute or two on screen, I found this representation of the Phoenix more satisfying than that from X-Men: The Last Stand. 

Jean indeed was able to utilize the Phoenix force, but she didn’t completely embrace it. This was good though as that should be a movie of its own. The Dark Phoenix is a great story that shouldn’t be touched upon in just a few minutes of film.

Mystique was the central player of the movie, but the movie did exceptionally well in not just making her the main character for the audience to love. She was the spirit of hope and inspiration for the team and Jennifer Lawrence totally embodied those heroic values. 

What if Jennifer Lawrence was not Mystique or even part of the X-Men films?

Nightcrawler, Cyclops, and Quicksilver were also new additions to the team, and all respectively had great roles to play in the story of the movie. Their representation on screen was also fantastic.

The Angel character was also great to watch, but he felt weak as opposed to the character in the comics, and he could have definitely done so much more. I hope he is able to return from his apparent death, again under the mantle of Archangel.

Another new mutant that was introduced was Jubilee. Being part of the original team from the 90’s animated series, I was hoping to also see her in action. I believe she will have a bigger role in the next installment of the X-Men, and I hope we get to see her interact with her fatherly figure from the comics, Wolverine.

The Wolverine scene in the movie was perfect, and it laid out what’s next to come for the fierce Weapon X experiment. We got to see his first encounter with Jean Grey and the first hint at the future love triangle between Jean, Wolverine, and Cyclops. I was happy to see the adamantium-clawed Logan again as it wouldn’t be an X-Men movie if Wolverine wasn’t in it!

Visually, the movie was beautiful. I loved the opening scene of ancient Egypt and its further portrayal, and the special effects of the wrecked cities and monuments. 

In particular, one of the most awe-filled scenes was the scene of Quicksilver at the exploding X-mansion and when Quicksilver took it upon himself to give Apocalypse a few high-speed punches. 

Another great scene was when Magneto discovered the unlimited amplitude of his magnetic powers and started manipulating the earth around him and around the world. 

We only got to see Apocalypse take his giant form when he and Professor X were having a mind duel. Apocalypse is able to grow exponentially in size, and I was hoping to see him do that against the X-Men, as it is of course one of his most known abilities.

Compared to the previous two films, First Class and Days of Future Past, Apocalypse is definitely great but it is neither better or worse than the two. X-Men: Apocalypse is a fun and entertaining movie, and if you, like me, are a fan of the 90's X-Men animated series then this movie is totally for you. 

Overall I give the movie a total grade of B+. Right now it is my number three superhero movie of 2016, behind Deadpool and Captain America: Civil War.

X-Men: Apocalypse is now in theaters and stars Jennifer Lawrence reprising her role as Mystique, James McAvoy reprising his role as Professor Xavier, Michael Fassbender reprising his role as Magneto, Nicholas Hoult reprising his role as Hank McCoy/Beast, Oscar Isaac as En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse, Game of Throne’s Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers/Cyclops, and Olivia Munn as Elizabeth Braddock/Psylocke.