I was introduced to the X-Men by my dad in the 80s so when that first movie was released in 2000 I was all over it. If it was not for the X-Men series you could argue that we would not have the MCU and superhero movies would not be what they are today. But enough of the history lesson, let’s take a look at the ninth movie in the franchise, X-Men Apocalypse.
How to Stream or Download X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) can be streamed or it can be downloaded from iTunes. To start, simply click on the button below the review. And if you like X-Men you should also download and check out Logan (2017) – a movie about Wolverine.
The Film Review
Spoilers Ahead
X-Men Apocalypse is set in the 80s. After the events of Days of Future past things in the world are a little bit different. En Sabah Nur (Apocalypse) who is said to be the first mutant ruled ancient Egypt with an iron fist and felt that humanity is no good and has gone astray.
Apocalypse is imprisoned and he lays dormant for years and years until he is awakened. Once he is awakened he starts recruiting mutants to help him with his cause. Storm, Angel, and Psylocke are all part of his team.
All three of these characters have been in the X-Men movie franchise before (although you would be hard pressed to tell me that was Psylocke in X-Men 3) so seeing new actors take the roles on was interesting. I thought that Alexandra Shipp was really cool as Storm and she certainly has some big boots to fill as Hale Berry was excellent for years.
The story is that Apocalypse wants to destroy humanity and rebuild it and of course the X-Men are having none of it. You have Charles Xavier, Beast, Mystique Cyclops, Quicksilver, Jean Grey and Nightcrawler leading the charge and I think that this is a solid lineup of X-Men and they are also joined by Moira MacTaggert.
Michael Fassbender once again plays Magneto and he is awesome. At first, he joins forces with Apocalypse and we also get the sub story of him being Quicksilvers dad although this never actually goes anywhere which is a little bit disappointing.
Oscar Isaac who plays Apocalypse does a good job but at the risk of sounding super nerdy. This is not the way I imagined Apocalypse would be in a live action movie. It is hard to explain there is just something a little bit off with Apocalypse, but to be fair that could be because of the way I had him built up in my mind.
Wolverine does make an appearance, but it is super weird. Do not get me wrong it is cool to see Weapon X cutting loose and kicking some serious butt. However, seeing him have a connecting with Jean Grey who in this movie looks about 20 plus years younger than him was rather odd. Still, any time Hugh Jackman gets to play Wolverine is good in my book.
As you would expect the X-Men and the mutants that they were fighting join forces for the greater good to stop Apocalypse and his crazy plot. The ending sequence is actually really cool and I feel pretty underrated in terms of big set pieces from the X-Men franchise and it sets up what is to come in the upcoming X-Men Dark Phoenix movie.
This review may sound like I do not like this movie, but I do. The problem is that it had such a hard act to follow. Days of Future Past by many is regarded as the best X-Men live action movie and this one despite having Apocalypse as the main villain just never feels as epic. Still with that being said X-Men Apocalypse is a fun time and well worth a watch if you want to watch something that has some kick butt action scenes.
