X Men Apocalypse - Movie Review

It's been an overload of superhero movies in the past few months, beginning with Batman Vs Superman, then Captain America Civil War and now this. Can Bryan Singer bring this franchise to great higher heights? Or as Jean Grey remarked in an inside joke - that the third instalment is always the worse?

First, I think that this will make a very decent demo disc when it comes out on a Blu Ray. And yes, it was filmed on 6k.. but the VFX was 2k and so YMMV:
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The surrounds and the subwoofers were working overtime here, and there are so many good fight scene to make the action aficionado happy. 

There are also plenty of new characters, in this second reboot of the franchise, reset after Wolverine did his time altering effort, thereby allowing some new cast members, which I suspect the producers planted to carry this franchise forward into the new few movies.

How about the plot? Well as a standalone movie, there's quite a bit to catch up, since you are pretty much thrown into the thick of the action, and despite a lengthy show, there does not seem to be much depth in the characters, as there are quite a few new faces being thrown in. 

Even familiar characters are now played by new actors with some exceptions, so one does take a while to get used to them.

Carried over from the last few instalments are Fessbender, McAvoy, and Evans, and as Quicksilver, Evans enjoys a fun ride. The ever reliable Jennifer Lawrence takes on a Hunger Games-seque heroine stance here, playing less of a chameleon / Black Widow type shady character, but instead leads the troops as a senior member of the X Men.

Hugh Jackman even manages a non-credited cameo, although he did look less buff than in the last show.

The beast looks less awesome, but the other standout character is the villain, who is imposing and quite menacing. Kurt Wagner is a cute teenage comic relief, but does not light up the screen like his predecessor. 

One reason I felt I couldn't get into it as much was the angst quotient of this movie. If the intensity of raised furrows and number of growls is an indication of good acting, then this movie will be in the running for the angst Oscars..

But one solid scene was the Quicksilver / Eurythymics one! What a blast - literally!

The chick count is high, and Olivia Munn does for X Men what Maria Hill ala Colbie Smulders does for Captain America and manages to heat up the screen each time she comes on.

However, there were two other superhero ensemble movies that came barely weeks before. And I suppose this movie is going to be judged against them. It certainly outperforms Batman vs Superman, which is not too difficult, but what about Civil War?

Well I feel that it falls significantly short of that one, which is my gold standard for how one can get an ensemble cast to work together, give each of the important people sufficient screen time for character development, share good screen chemistry and yet still have a blast of a time with a healthy dose of action. I suppose there are more 'return actors' in that show and their chemistry together shows.

But the new X Men are positively weaker, save for senior ones like McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and Fessbender, who carry the movie forward. 

It's another new start and we hope to see more good things, but the last instalment still beats this one hands down.

3/5, and its still good enough for action fans and bass heads to own once the disc comes out.