X-Men Apocalypse

X-Men Apocalypse stars Michael Fassbender and James Macavoy in their returning roles of Professor X and Magneto.  This film also stars Rose Burne, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Kodi Smit-Mcfee, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicolas Hoult.  The film centers on the world’s first mutant Apocalypse attempting to cleanse the world of its issues by destroying mankind and rebuilding it with mutants as its gods.

Brian Singer came back for this 6^th installment in the X-Men franchise and he does so with positive results.  I love the fact that Singer wisely chose to give Magneto a form of happiness and show that he could build a life outside of his powers.  Magneto has always been ruled by anger and sadness and it was great to see him happy for once.  The idea that the happiness is stripped from him via him doing an act of good immediately puts you on his side.  Fassbender continues to excel in his role as Magneto and the emotional pathos put forth by the actor is nothing short of spectacular.

Another positive of this film is that all the actors work extremely well as a team and without intending to really do embody the best aspects of what it means to be a family.  This film doesn’t feel as heavy handed with the racial prejudice divide as previous efforts and in part that is something I missed because when you introduce that component it bonds you to the character’s struggle as they deal with their powers and who they want to be in life.

Oscar Isaac is a phenomenal actor but honestly his version of Apocalypse put me to sleep.  He really didn’t add anything special as the villain of this movie.  I wasn’t motivated to hate him and I definitely didn’t have any sympathy for him before he became a villain.  The dialogue for this character is basically just him ordering people around to make them join his cause.  He’s a meaningless prophet for a world absolutely no one wants to live in.

One other glaring negative is the addition of a love plot for Charles Xavier with the FBI agent Moira McTaggert.  I really hated how they forced a romantic sub plot in this film because we hadn’t seen Moira since X-Men: First Class.  It feels entirely like a waste of time to have him not only still be in love with her but he’s  also consistently complaining about the decision he made in erasing her memory of him because he wanted her safe from any future attacks that may occur in the future and while that’s a smart life decision, however the FBI could have very easily cooperated with the mutants and helped them throughout the many missions and crisis.

The action set pieces are spectacular in this film.  The best of these again involves a scene where quicksilver literally saves the entire school and it is one of the most breathtaking sequences I have seen in awhile.  I loved the final battle which featured many of  the younger X-Men because of the way they worked to support each other.  I love Jean Grey’s use of her powers in this film and the way her relationship with Scott Summers develops throughout the film and makes me root for them to become a couple.

In the end, if you take out the weak villain this is a great time at the movies.  Jennifer Lawrence gets less to do but it allows so many other newer actors to shine and really gives other younger comic book characters an opportunity to shine.  I hope this franchise continues to grow and change just like its source material has over the last 50 years in Marvel Comics.