Film Review | X-Men Apocalypse

Just when we thought peace would reign, remnants of the ancient world awakens to destroy humanity's modern foundations. En Sabah Nur's slumber is finished, the Apocalypse has begun.

The Story

Continuing their quest to undo mistakes from the early 00's, X-Men: Apocalypse follows the growth and progression of Professor Xavier's "School for the Gifted".

Although the original X-Men Trilogy tapped into the full potential of favoured Marvel characters, this instalment follows the flashback plot of X-Men: First Class.

We see Jene Grey (Sophie Turner), Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) and Ororo Munroe - "Storm" (Alexandra Shipp) not only discover their powers, but find mentors who teach them how to unleash their abilities.

Original First Class and Days of Future Past characters are given meatier background stories in this instalment. This allows their stories and character development to blossom in ways that are both familiar and refreshing for long-time X-Men readers and viewers.

Apocalypse offers viewers a psychological journey into morality and spirituality. It pushes mental boundaries without offence, allowing you to think deeply and question the foundations of your own choices and abilities - even as a human.

The Cast

As always, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult did a magnificent job in reprising their roles. I cannot wait to see what they do next - that is if they do reprise their roles for another installment.

Evan Peters, Rose Byrne and Lucas Till receive special mentions for their reprisals too! It was nice to see Byrne and Till back in action, I missed them after the first film! Peters is still as funny as ever, but it was good to see a slight seriousness when it comes to the curiosities about Quicksilver's father.

Now, for the noobs...

Sophie Turner is a great Jene Grey. Not only does she capture the essence of the character that Famke Janssen created sixteen years ago, but she also brings a new air of mystery to the abilities that Jene Grey posses.

Tye Sheridan distractingly looks like Charlie Puth in this film, but this is permissible considering he does a great job bringing a more vulnerable side to Cyclops. Unlike James Marden's super serious take on the role, the teenaged Scott Summers is understandably struggling with being an adolescent and a mutant all at once - what an evolution in puberty! Sheridan was funny, serious and emotional, everything you need from a character who's been set up as a the typical Rebel Without A Cause who later becomes a real team player.

Alexandra Shipp's version of Storm is quite unique in the sense that she starts on the wrong side of the fight. We see a more naive version of Storm that is completely different to Halle Berry's stern, cool, calm and collected portrayal. Shipp beautifully portrayed a young girl finding her way in a harsh world. 

Kodi Smit-McPhee gets top marks, not only for holding a German accent, but for adding to the comic relief in this film. It's not easy to play a character "poofs" on demand, and he made it look easy! Smit-McPher is a brilliant younger version to Alan Cumming's original portrayal.

Ben Hardy's characterisation of Angel is vastly different to Ben Foster's original character. Although reviving the role doesn't make much sense in the timeline, he did a great job making the character his own.

Olivia Munn brings Psylocke to life nicely. Unlike the rest of the newbies, Munn has a lot of leeway in terms of breathing life into the character. Since Psylocke is a fairly new addition, there's not much to say, but Munn did a great job in making her an enigma - one that needs to be watched for future reference.

Oscar Isaac plays an excellent contrast to McAvoy and support to Fassbender in his role as Apocalypse. Although, you can't help but draw similarities between his character and James Spader's portrayal of Ultron (Avengers: Age of Ultron). He is as menacing as he is intriguing.

Overall...the film is one for all ages. It deals with family, friendship and morality in a way that you'd never imagine.

sL Star Rating: ★★★★★

Next on sL: Me Before You

Film Review | X-Men: Days of Future Past

Mutants aren’t the only ones close to extinction. If there’s any trace of mutation in you’re DNA you’re just as hopeless as anyone who can read minds or shape-shift. Welcome to the future, where the human population is at an all time low and machines threaten to demolish anyone that is different at any cost. In a time where nothing is certain, it’ll take more than just the X-Men to secure life on a dying planet.

The Story

Picking up from where X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: First Class ended, we have a collision of past and present in the latest installment of the X-Men franchise. In this latest release, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is sent back to 1973 to erase the current future in order to restore humanity’s faith in mutants. This blast-into-the-past sees both the original cast – Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Barry, Ellen Page, and Shawn Ashmore – and the current cast – James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Holt – into one gigantic A-List compilation.

This film not only continues the plot that the original comics take, but also undoes the inconsistent and story progression found in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the unforeseen deaths of characters in X-Men: The Last Stand. As though to remedy past mistakes, X-Men: Days of Future Past literally re-boots and removes everything they were slammed for in the previous films, and pick-up the remaining pieces as though all is right with the world again.

The main story in this film is to wipe out the concept of mutant-inhalation from history altogether. What this film really does is bring back characters that we love very much and make sure that they’re stories don’t get to screwed over in the future. Thus, the plot for this film seems to mirror the inner-workings off-camera, just as much as successfully progress the overall plotline of future films.

Who says art doesn’t imitate life?

The Cast

Hugh Jackman has been loyal to Wolverine over that last fourteen years and I have to say, with the help of incredible writing, we have definitely seen multiple sides to Wolverine. This particular film shows the caring and emotionally contained Wolverine. Being the only one from the future, Jackman portrays a more mature character in this film – he’s like the dad disciplining the children who have misbehaved while his back was turned.

James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart play two different points of view of Charles Xavier. McAvoy plays the uncharacteristically unhopeful Charles who sees the destruction of humanity in the future as none of his business, where as Stewart plays Professor X as the wise professor who sees hope no matter what. The opposing portrayals bring forth another dynamic to the Charles Xavier; in this film, we see a weaker side of Charles that later gives birth to the strength inside of the beloved Professor.

Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen, much like McAvoy and Stewart, portray different sides to Magneto. Fassbender embodies the same callous Erik that we see in First Class and throughout the X-Men Trilogy. By contrast, McKellen plays a worn-out and beaten Erik who, much like Stewart’s portrayal, is wiser and apologetic for his callousness. The two juxtaposed depictions of Magneto sees the inevitable division between the two friends, regardless of the past, present or future.

Jennifer Lawrence and Peter Dinklage both play the “bad guys” in this film. Lawrence reprises her role as Raven (a.k.a. Mystique) and delves into the “mutant and proud” mantra that she takes with her at the end of First Class in order to kill and destroy Dinklage’s character, Dr. Bolivar Trask. The two villains in this film help develop the plot as Trask is attempting to bring down the mutants once and for all, while Mystique is attempting to stop that plan from proceeding, with no knowledge of the dire consequences for the future. The dualistic nature of villainy in this film really begs viewers to question who is ‘good’ and who is ‘bad’.

In saying that, with all the characters that are prominent in this film, the question of good and evil is always being asked.

***

Overall the film was a blast to watch. There are times where you are absolutely drawn in solely by the action, and other times you’re pulled by the emotion. There are also times, like most of these Marvel films, you’re laughing until everything hurts. But the majority of this film is emotional, you have to remember that the balance of the future sees that everything is done right in the past in order to save the future – that’s a heavy burden for anyone to carry, fortunately, there’s a team who’s got that covered.

sL Star Rating: ★★★★★

Next on sL: Maleficent

Maleficent