Today’s quick review: X-Men: Apocalypse. James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence star once again in the latest installment of the X-Men franchise, set ten years after the events of Days of Future Past. The intervening decade has seen major changes in the lives of the main cast: Professor X is once again the head of a thriving school for mutants, Magneto is leading a quiet civilian life in Poland with his newfound family, and Mystique is an unwilling role model for countless mutants across the globe. The three are drawn together once more by the awakening of Apocalypse, the world’s first and most powerful mutant and once the immortal ruler of Ancient Egypt. Upon seeing a modern world where the strong protect the weak, Apocalypse gathers his followers and prepares to cleanse the world of the weak, so that only the strongest survive.
In terms of overall quality, X-Men: Apocalypse is on par with the rest of the First Class trilogy. The core trio of Charles, Eric, and Raven is as strong as ever, and the newcomers give the universe a feeling of growth and progression. Where Days of Future Past had a complex plot centered around a few characters, Apocalypse goes simpler and broader. The plot has relatively few stages, a reasonable decision given the number of characters to cover and the straightforward nature of the threat. The early part of the movie is spent switching between various charactres until they begin to cross paths, at which point the story progresses rapidly into its endgame. The expanded cast and well-established returning characters move the focus from deep character development to character interaction and world-building, yielding a world that seems ripe with potential.
Apocalypse embraces its comic book roots more than past X-Men movies have. While perfectly compatible with its predecessors, Apocalypse ups the ante with characters, costumes, and powers that should make any X-Men fan happy. Storm sports a mohawk, Angel has steel wings, and a lot of the metal vibe of classic X-Men comics carries through. The result is an exciting movie with plenty of action, a vibrant cast, a promising world, and arguably the best entrance a character has made in the history of film. Go see it if you enjoyed First Class or Days of Future Past. 7.5 out of 10 on IMDB.