Movie Review: X-Men: Apocalpyse
To say I love the X-men would be an understatement. If I think back to the earliest memories of my life, the X-men have always been a part of it. Whether it was my dad reading me their stories before bed or watching the animated series, I have always been a fan of them. If I were to choose one image to represent my childhood it would be a tie between them and “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” which should tell you just how cool I was as a young lad.
Because of this, it’s going to be difficult to not be biased during this review, but I’ll try my absolute best. I’ll jump straight to it…”X-Men: Apocalypse” is the summer movie we’ve all been waiting for and delivers one of the best, if not THE best entry in the entire “X-Men” movie series.
The year is 1983, ten years after the events that took place in 2014’s “Days Of Future Past” and we find that Professor Charles Xavier (James Mcavoy) has finally achieved his dream of having an up and running school for young mutants to come and learn to control their powers without having to live in fear of being rejected. As Charles continues to build his kingdom, halfway across the world, an ancient power known as En Sabah Nur, or more commonly known as Apocalypse (an unrecognizable Oscar Isaac), has awakened after centuries of being trapped in a deep sleep. Displeased with the way the world is, he decides it’s best to destroy everything and rebuild it from the ground up better suited to his liking. After learning of this, Xavier, along with his fellow X-Men including Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) must ban together to put a stop to what is the greatest threat they’ve ever faced.
As much as I loved this film, it does have its flaws and doesn’t quite reach the level of excellence that “Days Of Future Past” achieved but, it’s still a fun film guaranteed to blow your mind.
If I had to pinpoint the film’s greatest flaw, I’d have to say it is the overcrowding of its characters, which seemed to serve less of a purpose to the film’s story and more so to please the diehard fans of the X-men comics. If you’re familiar with the comics or even some of the previous films, you’ll recognize quite a few faces within this movie and once the overall excitement of seeing them for the first time wears off, you’ll realize that the movie could have done without them and still would have been perfectly fine. I wish the writers of this film had decided to focus more on developing the film’s central characters rather than wasting screen time on exciting little Easter egg scenes showcasing characters who bring absolutely nothing to this film. I guess Marvel studios really is the only studio in Hollywood that has mastered the art of balancing numerous characters with such grace and elegance that you never feel claustrophobic.
Another thing I felt hurt the film is the downsizing of its female characters, especially when it comes to the characters of Psylocke (Olivia Munn, looking sexier than ever) and Storm (Alexandra Shipp). In all the X-men films, the character, Storm, has always been sidelined and it feels as if the filmmakers never know what to do with her. This is a shame because Storm is one of the most popular characters from the comic series and is an extremely powerful mutant. However, in both this movie and every other movie that she’s been featured in, she merely takes her place on the bleachers and watches her fellow mutants get in on the action. There are numerous scenes that involve her being present but with zero dialog, so you almost start to ask yourself why is she even there in the first place?
It’s the same with Psylocke. Olivia Munn is actually a very talented actress however, she never gets the chance to showcase any of it. Aside from maybe the five or so lines she’s given, her only real role is to stand around looking sexy (which okay, she does!) and give the young men in the audience something to pause when they buy the film on Blu-ray (which I’ll also be doing). I wish the film would’ve taken more time to explore these characters a little more instead of just adding another body on screen.
Aside from those two flaws, I can tell you that, overall, the movie is a fantastic piece of cinema with so many qualities to praise. I’m going to have to focus on just two to keep this review as short as I can, with the first quality being the performance of Michael Fassbender as Magneto. Ever since his first appearance in “X-Men: First Class,” Fassbender has always been the stand out star of these films. He plays the character of Magneto with such emotion that no matter how much evil he does, you never find yourself hating him and instead, always greeting him with a rush of sympathy. We should hate Magneto. We should want the X-Men to bring him down and yet, we never do because Fassbender brings such a strong emotional performance to the screen that we simply see him as a man who’s lost his way and never the monster that the world sees him as. Fassbender has always been the strongest performer in these movies and this one is no exception. In fact, I’d even go as far as saying that this is his best and strongest performance as Magneto that he’s ever given.
The other thing I love about this movie is the introduction of the younger versions of the X-Men we already know and love. Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner, from “Game Of Thrones”) and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) all return to the bring screen, only this time they’re portrayed as young teenagers barely discovering their powers. I especially enjoyed the relationship between Cyclops and Jean that is brought to the screen and the way it is built up in this movie. We all know that one day these two characters will fall in love with one another and get married, but for now, they’re just friends, though we can see small glimmers of love sparking between them. Tye Sheridan’s portrayal of Cyclops is especially good in the sense that Cyclops has always come off as kind of a douchebag, but this time around, he feels like a kid just trying to find his place in the world and doing what he can to help those around him. The young X-Men steal the show every time they’re on screen and it’s exciting to see them slowly start to become the people we know they will one day be.
There’s so much more I wish I could say about this movie but I refuse to spoil it for you. Stunning visuals, solid performances, a spectacular rescue scene involving Quicksilver (returning star, Evan Peters), a climax so thrilling you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat as you watch the X-Men come head to head with Apocalypse, and special cameo from a certain man with metal claws.
By the time movie finished, I had lost count on the number of times I got chills and I walked out of the theater in tears because the final minute of the film was so thrilling, I found myself getting emotional. They were tears of sorrow, they were tears of joy, of pride, of knowing that I was finally seeing the formation of the characters I grew up with who brought me so much joy at a time in my life when I needed someone to look up to.
The bottom line: ignore what they critics are saying. “X-Men: Apocalypse” is the summer movie you’ve been waiting for and will leave you with a grin on your face that you’ll be wearing long after you’ve left the theater.
–keithariaz1@gmail.com