X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) – Review

Written by J. Johnson

The days of future past takes a literal sense as X-Men’s prequel trilogy final movie has been unleashed in theaters for total domination; as the production company would hope for it to do. Given with more than half a dozen films and two timelines under its belt the X-Men franchise is finally ready to end the world in X-Men: Apocalypse. The literal sense of this film is Bryan Singer’s fourth installment in the series and sends the world of mutants and humans towards the earth-shattering devastation.

Multiple themes seem to play a huge role for what the film is all about and a play on real life situations. Like “What is the ultimate evil?” and “What is the ultimate power?” to cause many to question their own personal values in the socio-economic experiment of America. It was definitely highlighted in by the Cuban Missile Crisis in “First Class”, Richard M. Nixon and Vietnam in “Days of Future Past”, and now nuclear proliferation in “X-Men Apocalypse. Talk about making references to morality and relying on superheroes to save us in a time of need.

The opening of the film is set in ancient Egypt, where main antagonist Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), the first mutant possessing god-like powers is trapped beneath a pyramid. In 1983 (thousands of years later), he is reawakened. Even a thousand years doesn’t slow Apocalypse down as he’s set to find himself his four horsemen by selecting Storm (Alexandria Shipp), Angel (Ben Hardy), and the Psylocke (Olivia Munn). The original mutant sets his sights on his last horsemen in the form of Magneto (Michael Fassbender).

There should be no surprises that Apocalypse wants to destroy the world as his name simply gives you the general sense of the plan, but he intends to use his horsemen to do that dirty work as he reshapes the brand new world in his image. The way to succeed in this ultimate quest for power he must absorb Charles Xavier’s (James McAvoy) telepathic power. With Xavier kidnapped it’s up to Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and Quicksilver (Evan Peters), to save the world from total annihilation.

Like any film trying to be the best of all time, the focus of several different aspects begins to lose the edge. Afterward, the character development, story plot, and/or theme may fall at the waist side. All fault can be placed on the heavy subjects like discrimination, morality, and destiny being either fought for or against.

McAvoy, Fassbender, and Lawrence have remained staples to carry the reboot of the franchise, even with the lack of Fassbender’s character Magento truly being who he suppose to be and not an anti-hero-pseudo villain. Sheridan, Turner, and Smith-McPhee were excellent choices, keeping the creation of the new generation in tacked however the focus of their character development gives us less time to see something magical happen. However, despite the chance to shine as much like Munn and Hardy it does provide an excellent question to their potential in future films.

X-Men: Apocalypse does strike a consist tone in that you have some dark turns shedding a different light on the lighthearted Marvel Studios. It serves the franchise well, which allows the films more to explore in-depth themes of the comics. Far from being the worst of the X-Men franchise, the film does feature some of the series best action sequences and the performances are strong. Even with a title that’s supposed to be mean all things are coming to an end the jury is split to pin this up as a truly epic movie. As this universe is past and tells a lot of complex stories, Apocalypse is a fun summer film that will certainly guarantee more films to be enjoyed by fans alike.

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X-Men: Apocalypse is playing in theaters now!