By TANIA PHILLIPS
X-Men: Apocalypse (MA15+)
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Olivia Munn, Evan Peters, Kodi Smit-McPhee
THE latest movie in the X-Men franchise – X-Men: Apocalypse is more of the same – boring for some, fun for others.
Watching this with a huge X-Men teen-fan might not have been the fun outing first expected. “I’m bored,” started just 20 minutes in as Miss 13 stopped taking it in and started lampooning everything on screen – probably not what the cast and crew were hoping for from dyed in the wool fans.
And yet it’s not really that bad. Yes it’s more of the same, but there is enough good character development to keep most of us interested and enough action and effect to entertain.
After taking us back to the ’60s and ’70s for his first two outings First Class and Future Days, producer Bryan Singer has moved the action forward to the ’80s in the third of his “young X-Men” trilogy – cue ’80s music, Michael Jackson jackets and Soviet Union references. He probably could have referenced a little more of the decade but he errs on the less is more and lets the X-Men themselves take centre stage.
But while the X-Men team is in the ’80s (and we finally see Storm, Scott and Jean make appearances), for his villain Singer goes further back in time – way back to the great Egyptian empires explaining that there have been mutants forever – since the dawn of civilisation.
Since that time this bad guy was worshipped as a god – Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel’s X-Men universe.
He has amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible and now he’s back and taking on a group of mutant minions (the four horsemen of Apocalypse).
Current everywhere man Oscar Isaac plays the bad guy complete with blue-grey make-up and steely gaze and he’s menacing enough.
The presence of Isaac Star Wars’ Poe Dameron probably makes a joke about trilogies based on a group of teens coming out of Return of Jedi and saying the “third one is always the worst” slightly more amusing – I almost laughed at that one.
Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy are both in fine form and both get a chance to put in plenty of emotive performances. Fassbender actually impresses in his early scenes. Rose Byrne is back as the CIA agent that the Professor is crushing on, making for some quite human scenes for McAvoy too.
However once again Evan Peters’ Quicksilver is the scene stealer. Singer looks back to the second movie, the highly successful “Future Past” and recreates probably the best scene of that movie – sort of. This is another slowed down scene with Quicksilver this time moving to the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”.
– Tania Phillips
