Thursday, June 2, 2016

X-Men: Apocalypse

Last night I was on aunt detail and Sean wanted to see X-Men: Apocalypse (I didn't coerce him, I promise).  The story is set a decade after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past  (which means that the pop culture of the 80s is now on display including big hair and an action sequence to "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by the Eurythmics) and this time the action revolves around the proliferation of nuclear weapons (like the Bay of Pigs invasion in X-Men: First Class and the Paris Peace talks in X-Men: Days of Future Past).  Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) is now running a school for mutants, Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) is trying, unsuccessfully, to live a normal life with his wife and daughter, and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) is a one-woman vigilante rescuing mutants who are oppressed.  CIA Agent Moira McTaggart (Rose Byrne) is investigating the awakening of an ancient Egyptian mutant (a terrific Oscar Isaac) who believes that the world has become corrupt without his presence.  This mutant, known as Apocalypse, recruits Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Angel (Ben Hardy), and Magneto, after a devastating incident with his family, as his Four Horsemen in order to destroy humanity and begin again with mutants.  Apocalypse kidnaps Xavier (because he wants his ability to connect with all mutants) so the younger generation of mutants, including Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), with the help of Mystique, Beast (Nicholas Hoult), and Quicksilver (Evan Peters), must confront Apocalypse in an epic battle.  Granted, the story is convoluted and there are a lot of characters to follow, but I actually really enjoyed this movie.  The action sequences are a lot of fun, especially when Quicksilver rescues the students from an explosion at the school, and I think the filmmakers do a good job of highlighting all of the characters and their motivations.  To be fair, I did watch this movie with an 11-year-old boy who thought all of the action sequences were amazing and kept up a running commentary in my ear about about who was who so I might not be the best person to consult about its merits!  However, I think that fans of the franchise will enjoy this installment (with or without an 11-year-old boy).

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