Bryan Singer, the original director of X-Men & X2, and producer of Matthew Vaughn’s excellent X-men: First Class is back in the director’s seat. The film was written by Matthew Vaughn, Jane Goldman & Simon Kinberg, based off Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s Days of Future Past comic book storyline.
It’s a dystopian future where Mutants are placed in internment camps, or slaughtered like animals by the mutant hunting robot Sentinels. There isn’t any hope for the co-existance of Mutants & Humans in this world; it is a fight for survival or extinction. Here the X-Men & Brotherhood of Mutants have joined forces, but even with Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) & Magneto (Ian McKellen) together, these seasoned warriors can’t save the Mutants from the inevitable defeat. Luckily, Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) is able to project a person’s consciousness back in time, and so it’s Wolverine’s (Hugh Jackman) mission to ensure this future never happens, by sending him back to 1973, to prevent the event that triggers anti-mutant hysteria; Mystique’s (Jennifer Lawrence) murder of the Sentinel program’s creator: Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage).
The heart of the story is Charles Xavier & his path to regain his self-confidence. A decade has passed since the events of X-men: First Class, and it hasn’t been a pleasant time for Professor X. Erik “Magneto” Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) left him crippled, his childhood friend Raven “Mystique” abandoned him, and only Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) has stuck by him. It’s Wolverine’s time to return to favor & assist Charles Xavier through his struggles, to ensure Charles rescues Magneto from the Pentagon prison & stops Mystique. James McAvoy’s performance is excellent, his portrayal of a man whose lost everything is incredible, and he pulls you in on this wild ride—this one chance to change his future and prevent catastrophe for all mutant kind. Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique is equally entertaining. The character had always been dangerous under Singer’s direction, and she returns to top-notch form here, displaying incredible capabilities throughout the film. In this story she has adopted the path of vengeance Magneto was on in First Class, and Lawrence does a fine job of bringing Mystique’s rage and anguish to life on screen. Not to be left out, Michael Fassbender’s Magneto is more dangerous than ever. This is Magneto in his prime, he’s angry, vengeful, and so convinced of his beliefs that it’s difficult to sympathize with him—still; no villain is greater than a truly just man. His eye for an eye approach is shown to be quite understandable, and allows the audience to be just as caring about his view as we are about Xavier’s. It’s also nice to see that, while Wolverine is important to the film, this is not another “Wolverine and the X-men” movie. This is Charles Xavier’s fight, Wolverine’s just there to inspire him to make his stand.
Bryan Singer weaves an amazing spectacle, the special effects in this film are astounding, and we get to see some of the most top-notch mutant power displays ever shown in the X-men series, and we finally get to see the X-men doing what they were always meant to do, working as a team. Blink’s (Fan Bingbing) teleportation portals create stunning combat possibilities when combined with the unbridled power of Colossus (Daniel Cudmore) and the pin point marksmanship of Bishop, while Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Sunspot (Adan Canto) & Storm (Halle Berry) create elemental fury on beautiful new levels. Magneto’s use of magnetism is merciless. However no one gets a better scene demonstrating their powers than Quicksilver (Evan Peters), accompanied by the smooth Jim Croce song “Time in a bottle.” This film makes excellent use of its fiction to create eye-popping visuals displays, stellar combat scenes, and explosive moments, without actually relying on literal explosions.
Singer has given his best X-Men movie to date! There’s amazing visuals an excellent story, and performances so great that I am truly invested in the story, and left highly anxious to see what he has in store for us in X-Men: Apocalypse