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 | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part II | * Some SPOILERS *

The rebellion is here. Snow’s end is coming. The Capitol will fall. 

This is war.

The Story

Katniss has one goal: kill Snow.

Her goal is tainted with lies and deceit; friends turn into enemies and enemies turn into allies. No one is safe and there’s no way to know what’s real and not real. Katniss, Gale, Peeta and the rest of Panem need to determine who is for them and who is against them.

Picking up where Part I finished, we see Katniss recovering physically and mentally from Peeta’s grasp – or more accurately, The Capitol’s grasp. Following Suzanne Collins’s book closely, this final instalment to The Hunger Games franchise has you at the edge of your seat from start to finish.

There are no surprises for those who’ve read the book. Director, Francis Lawrence, accurately portrays every aspect of Collins’s devastatingly dark finale. I cannot wait to have a Hunger-Games-Marathon when the DVD / Blu-ray box set comes out next year.

The Cast

Jennifer Lawrence closes this trilogy with the same prowess that she harnessed in the first film. Josh Hutcherson grew into his character and gave us the Peeta that we all know and love from the books. Donald Sutherland continued to captivate you as his icy, yet truthful portrayal of tyranny came falling graciously.

Liam Hemsworth, along with Sam Claflin both get two thumbs up for their incredible performances – and keeping their American accents well in-tact. It was nice to see Gale’s more emotional side in this film and Claflin gave Finnick a beautiful (*SPOILER ALERT* for non-readers) send-off with his incredible fight sequence, fighting “Capitol Mutts” powered by special effects – not to mention being waterlogged and underground.

Julianne Moore and Willow Shields also get honourable mentions for their incredible commitment to bringing iconic characters to life. (*ANOTHER Spoiler Alert*) Shields gave an incredible salute to her character as she gave the camera one last look of innocence to spoil the one connection that Gale and Katniss truly had – a promise to keep her family safe. Moore gave everything she had in order to become the new voice of autocracy. She gave a beautiful performance in order for Katniss to destroy all spectacles.

As a whole, the cast (including: Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Elizabeth Banks, along with Paula Malcomson, Stanley Tucci, Jeffrey Wright and Jena Malone) all deserve ★★★★★ for their performances over the last four years. Their dedication to bringing this trilogy to life was incredible.

Overall, this ending is bittersweet for this film enthusiast. I have enjoyed watching every movie that they’ve produced for this franchise, but I am also glad that they were able to close the franchise with a proper goodbye. It’s not just a message about strength and having a voice, it’s also about learning from the past in order to prevent damage for the future – a message we all desperately need to hear.

sL Star Rating: ★★★★★
Next on sL: WRITING HIATUS

Hey Guys!

I'm heading off to the U.S.A. for the holidays, so I won't have anything for you until the New Year. But if you go to my YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/strictlyLeisure), I'm sure to have great adventures to share with you!

Merry Christmas and I'll see you in the New Year!

Love always,

sL xxx

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

FILM REVIEW | Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hucherson) are back for the wildest ride of their life – The Winner’s Tour. With revolution ripe from the 74^th Hunger Games, where Katniss and Peeta defied the Capitol by being the first winners to be from the same district (not to mention, defying the odds of having a single winner), President Snow (Donald Sutherland) is breathing down their necks to maintain his control over the twelve districts.

But with the reality of hope seeping through the districts, the 75^th Hunger Games Quarter Quell has sent even more uproar as past winners are being brought back into the arena, once gain risking their lives for the sake of entertainment.

The Story

For those of you who haven’t read the trilogy, this second instalment to the Hunger Games simply sees Katniss and Peeta attempting to keep their “star-crossed lovers” act alive for the duration of both the Winner’s Tour and the next leg of the Games. Gale (Liam Hemsworth) also returns, but this time as the wedge of reality and reason between the couple.

This time the Games are more dangerous; everyone that will enter the arena have entered it once before – and WON. Each contestant had their own means of winning the Games before, thus everyone is just as deadly as the other – no matter what district they’re from.

It’s a great adaptation of the book and follows the story nicely, allowing you to enjoy the progression of the story from the first film. What this film does well that the first film seemed to lack, was the creation of the unseen events of the book (since it was written from Katniss’s perspective) to the screen. In saying that, it could possibly be because the first film set the pattern for this film, thus, making it easier to appreciate the poetic license of adding the Gamemaker’s room and Plutrach Heavensbee’s (Phillip Seymore Hoffman) conversations with President snow.

The Cast

Reprising their roles, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, Woody Harrelson (Haymitch), Elizabeth Banks (Effie), along with Stanley Tucci (Caesar Flickerman) all stepped it up a notch in giving their characters a different dynamic for the pressing demands of the Quarter Quell. They all brought a darker side of their characters, which gave the new comers are great playing field when it came to supporting them.

Sam Clafin and Jena Malone were the two standouts for me as I was watching the film. Playing Finnick Odair – District 4’s seemingly self-absorbed, good-looking “darling of the Capitol” – and Johanna Mason – a feisty firecracker with not remorse from District 7 – both played a great contrast to Lawrence’s and Hutcherson’s “stubborn-girl and loving-boy” portrayals. Malone was the extreme version of Lawrence’s characters and Clafin was the flirt that Hutcherson’s character could never be – or would ever want to be.

Overall the film was a great adaptation of the book and it left you wanting more. It was exciting, moving and thrilling all at once. It’s one everyone will enjoy no matter what age you are. I recommend reading the series, but like I said, the film can stand alone if you’ve seen the first film. If you do watch it without seeing the first one, I’m sure you’ll pick the story up pretty easily, but you may not have the emotional attachments to the scenes and characters as those around you (:P).

sL Star Rating: ★★★★★

Next on sL: TBA