X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

X-Men: Apocalypse 

Director: Bryan Singer

Writers: Simon Kinberg, Bryan Singer, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris.

Cast: James McAvoy (Charles Xavier), Michael Fassbender (Erik Lehnsherr), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Nicholas Hoult (Hank McCoy), Oscar Isaac (En Sabah Nur), Rose Byrne (Moria Mactaggert), Even Peters (Peter Maximoff), Josh Helman (Col. William Stryker), Sophie Turner (Jean Grey), Tye Sheridan (Scott Summers), Lucus Till (Alex Summers), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Kurt Wagner), Ben Hardy (Angel), Alexandra Shipp (Ororo Munroe), Lana Condor (Jubilee), Olivia Munn (Psylocke), Warren Scherer (Pestilence), Rochelle Okoye (Famine), Monique Ganderton (Death), and Fraser Aitcheson as War.

Opening Sequence: Finally a film that has Psylocke, or at least a bit more screen time, one of my favorite Mutant bad asses. Yup the part is played by Olivia Munn. Elizabeth 'Betsy' Braddock sister of her twin brother, Captain Britain. The information here is all in the comics, either way she is one of the most intriguing Marvel character in the comics. Her known abilities are telekinesis, precognition, telepathy, and her trade mark is to construct weapons into psychic energy, a cool looking knife, and the cool looking katana. Her story is not simple but a bit complex, because her mind was placed into a ninja called Kwannon; she is one of those unique characters that make Psylocke more rounded, and not having any of her past in the film is not only ridicules, but a huge mistake.  All Kwannon's knowledge and everything that was true to her became Psylock; They were one, she was able to fight and use martial arts, becoming an assassin.  For the record this character is true to me so Elizabeth is more unique and deadly in the comic then she was on film, and as a writer i have to get the record straight. Granted the film makers don't have the time or the energy to write a script right, in fact it takes so damn long to write a good film, to me this is all an excuse, because as a writer, director you have a responsibility to these iconic characters, it's a choice that is so important. The point here is simple, look at Captain America: Civil War, why does the Director get to change things, and think it's right on target. Anyway, below are spoilers, i have the movie out of sequence in the review, i wanted to mix things up a bit, but either way i brought some good points to the table, maybe you will agree or not, but at least this review is honest, to the point.

Warning!!! Spoilers!!! Spoilers!!! Please read at your own risk, Spoilers!!! Spoilers!!!

Review: The film starts off in ancient Egypt, where a ritual is about to begin, the ruler En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac) is carried, held in a Sarcophagi, a royal coffin. En Sabah Nur is protected by his Four Horsemen, Pestilence (Warren Scherer), Famine (Rochelle Okoye), Death (Monique Ganderton), and War (Fraser Aitcheson). They're entering the pyramid, En Sabah Nur will transfer his energy to a new fresh body, although some of the followers do not support the ruler, so within the right time, while he is carried, some of the anti-followers signal each other, they are scattered about, and posing as a follower. Suddenly a like a domino effect, the pyramid begins to fall from it's glory, debris, large pieces of the construct kills the main group that supporting the Pyramid. The En Sabah Nur will be killed by the falling pieces. The Horsemen fight the anti-followers, each deceiver dies at the hands of the Horsemen, in fact the ruler, En Sabah Nur is protected till the final stone smashes on the Sarcophagi. The transfer to the new host was a success, the last Horsemen protected En Sabah Nur and made sure the debris landed securely over his Sarcophagi without harming the ruler.
The opening scene established the main bad guy, even though he really didn't do much, it was action packed, pretty cool special effects, the beginning was done well, it reminded me of the movie back in the day, the Mummy. Yes i know, why the Mummy? because, to me it felt that way, the whole superpower thing was abolished, and for some reason i thought i was inside another film. The sequence just felt like another film, no worries, lets continue shall we.

10 years later, our heroes and villains are in the 80s, kinda of a cool era if you ask me.  After the awakened En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac) he recruits Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Angel (Ben Hardy), and Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Meanwhile Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) in East Berlin is investigating an underground fight club, Mutants are being held and used as the main attraction. All this happens before the big bad guy comes around but it really doesn't matter because Raven manages to help Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) escape, but Angel (Ben Hardy) isn't so lucky.
I like Raven on her own, because it establishes her strength as a character. Raven has always been somewhat a loner throughout all the movies, so having the younger Raven do her thing is pretty awesome. One other thing i really liked about her scenes is that she over heard Magneto had went on a rage of some kind and had killed some people in Poland. She went to visit a underground mutant called Caliban (Tomas Lemarquis), Psylocke was his bodyguard, enforcer. So that scene was done well, i just wish it was more. Let's jump right into the master of magnetism, shall we. Poland a mutant in hiding from the people who will kill him, or at least try.  I really liked that Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) got married under an alias, with a daughter, he really wanted a new life. The realism was done well, especially when the authorities were warned by a co-worker, which he had saved the life of, one of them was amazed of what he had done, but he turned around and got the law involved. His kid gets emotional and takes control of the birds, because the point here the law had taken his daughter as insurance so he will not use the power to control the situation. After all Erik was a known criminal. But he also saved the world, so this particular scene was good because it was a man with with problems, but all he wanted was his daughter to be safe. Everything was good, but when he walked over to them, his daughter got a bit emotional and controlled the birds, the police got nervous, and one of them had killed his daughter by mistake. This scene was so good, i just wish the film continued on that same tone.
    
After Apocalypse finds everyone, his whole plan is to destroy the weak, and establish a new world where the powerful will be the rulers. Not really a great, solid plan because he had the four Horsemen which only two of them came along on their own accord, i think it was Psylocke and Magneto, which is a good thing because they're powerful enough to handle things on their own. Not sure about Angel and Storm, they were manipulated by Apocalypse. I mentioned this because Psylocke went along with everything until she was able to get close enough to Apocalypse to do her thing. Remember she is also a very powerful psychic, which is why i really didn't understand why the studio did not use her more.  So as the story goes all the bad guys go to one location, while Magneto does his thing, and the others do theirs, did i fail to mention that Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) gets captured. The whole capture thing is cool, but very predictable, it was expected because Charles could see all the mutants using Cerebro.  By the time the students help the professor, it's to late, Apocalypse takes what he wants, and then the school for gifted youngsters blows up, it's so big that it takes out the property. Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan), and Jubilee (Lana Condor), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) had gone to the mall, not a real issue here, but at least these guys had fun. The next sequence is done well, if it were not for Peter and his super speed, he had saved everyone, accept Havok (Lucas Till). A major character and he ends up dead because of an explosion, really. Out of many characters they picked the coolest of mutants. I disagreed with that plot point, but who i'am i right. Why not Jubilee (Lana Condor), a useless character, although she was awesome in the comics, the studio just put her in, it was stupid, and a bad idea for a story. Use the characters right, and then maybe someones death will be emotional, like Erik's daughter, but like i said the tone of the film started to fade as the film progressed.

What i did like about the film, it has problems, but what film doesn't. Peter Maximoff,  Erik Lehnsherr, Jean Grey, Raven, some of the Charles Xavier scenes were done well. All these scenes are not only my favorites, but the only good scenes in the film. The intro to Peter Maximoff, was great especially when he saved the day, loved it. The whole Magneto father thing was good, why didn't the film continue the tone, it would've been a better film; Especially after what had happened in his side story.  Jean Grey was also done well, her scenes were important, and enough to establish the film, plus she was strong enough to take out the opposition, because the reality of it was horrible, none of the mutants that went up against Apocalypse could've killed him and his Horsemen. The power level of the baddies were very high, an unbalanced group.
Raven scenes were good, she has always been a strong character, so having her lead in a way was done with taste. X-Men movies has always had a strong lead, and Raven was that lead here in this film. Her motives made things happen, because without her the story would've died. Charles Xavier will always be the caboose, he moves right along, he really made this film good, his presence alone put the pieces together. Without Raven, and Charles this film would've been pointless. Even Magneto , because in the end the whole family thing didn't mean anything because the studio yet again did not capitalize on Peter being Erik's son. Why even mentioned it. The scene where Peter is attacked, should've been the connection, but he choose not to tell his dad. Stupid, stupid, stupid. The film had high marks from the start, but fell hard towards the end.

Psylocke, Storm, Apocalypse, and Magneto being part of the Horseman kinda pissed me off. I understand the bad dude had manipulated them in some way, so Magneto had to go with the bag guys, i get that. Why? not have Peter Maximoff tell Erik that he is his son, it would've made for a better scene, i guess the special effects with all the fighting was more important than the story. Storm was the weakest link, i mean it was done so bad, she was so weak minded, and went right with the big guy. Why? in the comics Storm is not afraid of anything, especially a mutant who thinks he is a god. Because later she will become the leader of the X-Men, and that means something. Last up i did not like Apocalypse, sorry but Oscar Isaac is still etched in my mind as the pilot in Star Wars, in fact not saying he was a bad actor in the X-Men, but he was in Star Wars and with that, he could never be a bad guy in my eyes. The film version of Apocalypse was kinda weak. The look, feel was all wrong, maybe because he looked like Ivan Ooze from Power Rangers, i really don't know but Apocalypse would of killed thousands at the beginning, instead he goes looking for a new crew.

All in all the film was entertaining, but it was missing a lot of pieces, and to me those were to important to overlook.  Psylocke was all wrong in background, the intros to some characters were to long, it was horrible the way things went down. I could see the cool beginning, from the Raven mutant fight club scene, to the explosion of the X-House, i mean it was amazing the scenes i mentioned. The ending with all the team fight scenes i would've done very different. The film was all over the place, the mutants i wanted to see more, were in the backdrop. Nightcrawler was cool, he was used fine, but Psylocke was a moron, in fact she was a drone, she barley spoke, i would've loved her to have some kind of emotion. the problem with the FOX side of superheroes is that they dummy characters down. Why not have a handful of mutants, make the story flow, and fill in the gaps with more smart story, instead of senseless fight scenes that was pointless to the plot. Here is an example: Apocalypse has his Horsemen, gives them power which was vast, so much power, to me it was stupid. How about raising the true Horsemen from the dead since your a mutant that thought like a god. The first mutant was thinking like a god but yet he had limits, the Horsemen revived wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility, because he had trusted them. They had gone to great lengths to make sure he had survived, and yet the studio goes a different route. Wow, that would've been cool, i guess the studio hates things that makes sense.  Now you have an actual X-Men team going up against the true enemy. Angel, NightCrawler, Raven, Beast, Jean Grey, Scott,  Psylocke, tell her story a bit not the whole Scott Summers story, which i hated.  Storm, and Magneto could've been the back up characters, keep Magneto's alias in Poland, with his family, without the death of his daughter. He watches the news sees the whole Apocalypse mess, and he gets a call from Charles. Meanwhile The Moria Mactaggert (Rose Byrne) in the beginning was looking around, following a set follower in Cario, which was cool, meanwhile have Storm watch the whole ordeal, follow Moria down the tunnels, and your connections are established. Moria finds Apocalypse, the place is about to collapse, but yet Storm saves the day, helps her out. Give a bit of a background, without destroying the characters integrity. Captain America: Civil War did it, why couldn't the X-men. The film was entertaining, yes but as the film progressed it fell so hard. I want to like this film but, yet it had so many bad points that it annoyed me. The film had some great moments, and let me explain, those moments were done well, but i wish the tone could've stayed the same. Look at the X-men: First Class films, they were great, and to me that's important nut the story was tight, it did not stray from the mark. Even the X-Men: Day's Future Past was done well, it was a great film and it kept the characters a bay, it didn't go all over the place. Would i go back to the movies to see X-Men: Apocalypse, no and because of the issues i mentioned. I will recommend to see Captain America: Civil War which has a lot more than this film does. The Russo brothers did more with their film, i just wish the brothers would've given tips to how to make a real superhero film to Bryan Singer because this film to me didn't hit it's mark, and maybe it's the studio but if you really love a story and the characters, why change it.