Movie Review: X-Men: Apocalypse

The sixth in all the X-Men movies, it's one of those you either love it or hate it kind of film. In my case I loved it (I hated X-3 and Wolverine Origins, and generally the first X-Men movies, so no, I don't like all of them). First of all, it must be said that it was refreshing that the film's major conflict was no longer Mutants VS Humans but Mutants VS Mutants. (Thank You!) that plot has been milked dry for the past five movies already! So it was nice to see a Mutant VS Mutant conflict for a change, one where the bigot humans are nothing but collateral damage and play things in the hands of gods.

We get to see the team come together (teachers and students) to save the day and it is glorious.

10 years after "Days of Future Past" Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) finally have his school for gifted youngsters up and running (with the help of Hank-Nicholas Hoult). Magneto (Micheal Fassbenber) has chosen the quiet family life. Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is working solo, rescuing mutants.

After the awakening of an all powerful ancient being, events and motions are put in place, which will put mutant against mutant in an all out battle which will determine the fate of the world.

Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron from Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens) awakens from a deep slumber and sets of in search for his "Four Horseman of the Apocalypse" -ironically, spending more time in the recruitment process rather than actually getting to use them.  

Sophie Turner is a young Jean Grey. I loved her in the movie, wish they made her hair more red though. 

On the other side of the spectrum, Moira Mac Taggert (Rose Byrne) who we last saw in First Class joins in the fray, when her investigation leads to the awakening of Apocalypse, Charles is reunited with his old flame. (He erased her memories at the end of First Class) and it was fun to see him go '50 First Dates' on her. 

Meanwhile a young Scott Summers (Tye Sherridan) is just discovering his powers, upon his admission to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, he meets a young Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) and let's say that a generation of X-Men fans just got giddy. In a way, it was geeks who got giddy. 

Apocalypse awakens in an age of Superpowers and the threat of war and is disgusted by what the human race has become. He takes it upon himself to destroy everything in order to rebuild. He recruits a heartbroken Magneto, after showing him the full extent of his powers and has discovered the potential of Xavier's telepathic abilities.  It's a race against time for the team to stop Apocalypse but how can they defeat the all powerful being? 

Fan favorite Quicksilver (Evan Peters) with his good taste in music, joins the fray upon learning that Magneto is his father. He brings laughs whenever he appears. So does the culture hungry Kurt Wagner (Kodi Smit-Mc Phee) AKA Nightcrawler who looks awesome in his Micheal Jackson thriller jacket.  

Olivia Munn as a straight out of the comic books to the big screen Psyclocke, I would have loved to see more of her in the film but of course she only played a small part. 

    

Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Quicksilver (Evan Peters). 

While the climax, takes a long time coming, it seems getting the teams together is where the bulk of the film goes but once they all meet for the big fight in the end, it becomes a battle of the minds as well as a battle of fists and power. 

I think what people are missing from X-Men Apocalypse is that they're looking at the film on it's own, when it actually serves more as a piece of a puzzle in the whole X-Men Cinematic Universe (so to speak). More specifically the First Class trilogy. I loved how all the movies were tied in with Apocalypse (First Class and Days of Future Past). I think it was a good way to wrap up the films. 

It effectively highlights the different conflicts between characters and wraps up loose ends from the other films. People might have been looking for the big ass mutant finger scenes, but like it's other manifestations, X-Men has also always been a battle of the mind, as well as of fists and power and we see that it Apocalypse. 

The rise in action may have taken a bit too long but as a kid who grew up watching the 90's animation series, as well as being surrounded by family and friends who reads the comic books, it was a treat to see some of our favorite mutants in garb that is very reminiscent of the original characters'. 

8.5 out of 10.

X-Men Apocalypse is now showing in cinemas from 20th Century Fox.

Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse. 

More Psylocke please? 

Movie News: MOST VISUALLY AMBITIOUS IN FRANCHISE "X-MEN: APOCALYPSE"

Set a decade after the events of “X-Men: Days of Future Past,”  the latest “X-Men: Apocalypse” that will open on May 18 in Philippine cinemas finds the mutants in 1983 living their own lives. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) has his school for gifted youngsters up and running, and has some promising new students he’s guiding as they figure out their lives. Erik “Magneto” Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) is living a quiet family life in Poland, while Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) is eschewing her mutant side, worried that humanity still doesn’t completely accept them. Their world is thrown into chaos when an incredibly powerful, ancient mutant named Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) awakens and decides that the world has taken a turn for the worse and decides to destroy civilization and create it again in his own image.

                Taking the cinematic experience to the highest level this time, “X-Men: Apocalypse” will also be available in 3D and IMAX screens where director Bryan Singer brings the X-men in an epic showdown with their most powerful unstoppable enemy. 

                Given Apocalypse’s vision of global destruction, it’s no surprise that this is the most visually ambitious of X-Men pictures. “We’re not only traveling the world, we’re talking about the potential end of the world, and perhaps the end of the universe,” says director of photography Newton Thomas Sigel, who previously collaborated with Singer on DOFP, X2, and X-MEN, among other films.  Adds Oscar Isaac, who plays the seminal figure: “The stage is set for an epic mutant versus mega-mutant war.  The battle between the X-Men and Apocalypse is insane!”

                Apocalypse’s 5,000-year slumber began when civilization was at its peak; his sleep ends when it’s arguably at its nadir.  Having grown up in eighties, producer Simon Kinberg understood how it was marked by excess, as seen in the hair styles, fashion, and automobiles.   “In 1983, Apocalypse rises from the perfection of ancient Egyptian culture into an over-populated, polluted, nuclear-threatened culture,” he says. “So his motivation is understandable, though his methods and goals are extreme.” 

                Oscar Isaac, who took on the role of Apocalypse following his star turn as the heroic pilot Poe Dameron in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and the avant-garde artificial intelligence creator in “Deus Ex Machina” calls the character nothing less than “the creative/destructive force of this earth.  When things seem like they’re no longer evolving—like they did in the 1980s—he destroys those civilizations.” 

                The character’s makeup effects included a forehead piece, a nose and cheek piece, a jaw and chin piece, a headpiece, a neck piece and even a helmet. “The only body part that wasn’t covered was Isaac’s eyeballs,” jokes specialty makeup designer Brian Sipe.  “With a head dress and neck piece, as well as a twenty piece costume, the entire process was “like a giant jigsaw puzzle,” he adds.  One of the prominent features in the Apocalypse design is the metallic-looking “dreads.” The challenge was making the suit “look heroic on a normal man’s body while allowing the actor to maintain mobility and conform,” says Sipe.  They also had to keep Isaac cool in hot and humid Montreal summer weather. “We used a system called Cool Shirt,” Sipe continues. “It’s a cooling system similar to what race car drivers use; Oscar was plugged into ice water whenever he wasn’t filming to maintain a comfortable temperature.”

So I grew up watching the 90's X-Men animated series and Apocalypse has always been a scary bad guy in my eyes and when early photos of him surfaced online of looking too much like Power Rangers' Ivan Ooze, I was really dissapointed. Good thing that the producers worked on giving him more of that menacing look, which should rightly be there plus a more bluish color too. I think that people are forgetting that Oscar Isaac is underneath all that make up and prosthetics or at least not talking about as much. I guess we'll have to wait and see how his performance goes when the movie comes out. 

Can the Republic's number one pilot also pull off 'the first mutant' (one that's bent on destroying humanity as we know it) ? 

I'll take this opportunity to post that Olivia Munn's Psychloke is also following her original design and that Storm's 80's mohawk will be seen on screen. 

                Prepare for a war like no other when “X-Men: Apocalypse” opens May 18 in cinemas from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.