X-Men: Apocalypse

ratings3

In the conclusion to the X-Men trilogy that begun with 2011’s First Class, an ancient threat resurfaces and the X-Men must reteam to prevent him from causing global extinction.

X-Men: Apocalypse tries its best to be the epic third installment we’ve been waiting for, but instead its story is in all the wrong places. There are times when the wrong characters get more screen time than the others, and storylines should be focused on more than others were. The first half of the film was unimpressive and all over the place. The events of the previous film feel treated too much like the way Man of Steel was treated in Batman v Superman and Age of Ultron in Captain America: Civil War. Almost every scene within the first hour feels very bland, and nothing flows well or feels in place. Apocalypse, in my opinion, was a terrible villain. His voice is weirdly edited, his motive is weak (not that he even has one), and his background is not written well, with everything about his origin feeling ridiculous and too forced. Oscar Isaac’s performance of the character was very disappointing, and this villain did not appeal on screen at all. Some characters aren’t treated as well as they should have been. Some characters I wanted more from, like Storm and Angel, only have a few lines and don’t do very much. James McAvoy is still a great Professor X but his character does not get the time that he needs. Jennifer Lawrence delivers a good performance as Mystique, but sometimes her character’s writing falls flat.

I was surprised by how pleasantly the movie warmed up towards the second half. The buildup of the plot is ultimately interesting, with some of the character development later on in the movie actually working. Tye Sheridan and Sophie Turner were my favorites of the newcomers to the saga. Sheridan delivers with his heart, and Cyclops ends up working as a teenage mutant character. Turner also gives it her all, bringing lots of depth and spirit to her character. This version of Jean Grey works very well because within her character’s soul, she, too, is just a lost teen who is learning to embrace her true self. Michael Fassbender is once again a fantastic Magneto, and even though his character lacks the focused development he needed in this movie, there is a scene in this movie where the character’s rage works perfectly, even though everything else about that scene does not. We all know who steals the show here once again. Yes, Evan Peters is back as Quicksilver, and he simply rocks! If you loved his memorable scene from Days of Future Past, get ready for another show-stopping sequence from him that nearly tops his previous one. He has lots of hilarious moments and is even given some relevance. A special someone also has a short appearance in the movie, and not just Stan Lee. The final battle is insanely huge and sometimes awesome, as there are some things that work and others that don’t. However, a lot of the action is quite entertaining, so you will most likely enjoy this movie if you are a fan of action movies. The ending is able to conclude the trilogy well, but does not make up for the movie’s many flaws.

X-Men: Apocalypse may not let down all action and superhero fans, but i was left quite disappointed. Although the second half of the movie is a lot better than the first, the movie still feels very unfocused and often unimpressive, but still delivers with some of its characters and its few action sequences.

Official poster shows The X-Men Team with Professor X sitting on his famous wheelchair, together with the Horsemen and the film's titular enemy Apocalypse behind them with a big close-up over his head and face, with nuclear missiles flying into the air, and the film's title, credits, billing and release date below them and the film's slogan "Only The Strong Will Survive" above.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

My rating: ratings5

In the near future, the sentinels have taken over earth in search for mutants, and have destroyed most of the planet. The only survivors are mutants that include Storm (Halle Berry), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), and Magneto (Ian McKellen), as well as their leader, Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart). They decide to send Wolverine back half a century to stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), who’s plan to assassinate Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), the sentinels’ creator, took a dark turn when she was captured and her DNA was used to upgrade the sentinels. Wolverine wakes up in his 1973 body, and he teams up with a young Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), and a young Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to stop Mystique from killing Trask.

This movie is very well done. Everybody does a great job acting, especially Evan Peters, who steals every scene he’s in, and Jennifer Lawrence, who does an amazing job playing Mystique. The movie is so well written, and so clever, that it’s probably the best X-Men movie yet, and maybe even one of the best comic book movies I’ve ever seen! All of the action scenes kept me on the edge of my seat, and I never knew what would happen, because it is filled with lots of twists!  The movie never stops entertaining, and is not too short or too long. The movie is very original, and has great visual effects. Everything in the movie makes a lot of sense, and you don’t go out of the theater wondering anything weird about the movie except, “What’s next for the X-Men movies?” (which isn’t actually a weird thing). The ending of the movie gives you nothing about the rest of the movies, which has made me even more anticipated for the next X-Men movie, which will come out in about 2 years. X-Men, by far, is my favorite superhero franchise other than the Marvel Cinematic Universe, except for the fact that X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine were both huge disappointments. X-Men: Days of Future Past was my most anticipated movie of the entire year, and it might also be the best one. Here’s my conclusion: Please, watch this movie. It’s very original, smart, well-acted, visually amazing, and makes a lot of sense. It is, by far, the best X-Men movie, and maybe one of my favorite superhero movies ever.

X-Men Days of Future Past poster.jpg