'X-MEN: APOCALYPSE': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
The 9th film in the 'X-MEN' movie franchise; including two 'WOLVERINE' films, and a blockbuster'DEADPOOL' flick. This chapter finds the outcast Marvel superheroes taking on an ancient mutant, named Apocalypse, and his team of four 'Horsemen'. Apocalypse was just awoken from a very long sleep, and he now wants to take over the world; by destroying all the humans. It's up to the 'X-Men to stop him. The movie was directed by Bryan Singer (who also helmed 'X-MEN', 'X2' and 'X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST') and it was written by Singer, Simon Kinberg, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne and Evan Peters all reprise their roles (from earlier films); while Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Alexandra Shipp and Kodi Smit-McPhee all join the cast. It's received less than stellar reviews from critics, but it has performed well at the Box Office (thus far). I enjoyed it, but I also found it to be kind of disappointing.
En Sabah Nur (Isaac), also known as Apocalypse, was a powerful mutant in Ancient Egypt; who was betrayed by his people, and entombed alive. He awakens in 1983, and decides the world must be destroyed and rebuilt. The ancient mutant then recruits four new lieutenants, to help him; including Erik Lehnsherr, also known as Magneto (Fassbender). Erik recently lost his family in a tragic accident, so he's easily manipulated by Apocalypse. Mystique (Lawrence) discovers what happened to her old friend, Erik, and enlists the rest of the X-Men, to help her save him (and the world).
I'm a big X-Men fan; I grew up reading the comic books, and I absolutely love the other Bryan Singer helmed films. Sadly, he kind of missed the mark here. It's still a good movie, but there's just way too much going on. There are so many characters, and the movie would honestly be pretty hard to follow; if you're not previously familiar with the material at all. I still enjoyed it, but it is way too ambitious. Hopefully the filmmakers can learn to minimalize what's going on, in future installments
