Outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the only successful continually running Marvel Comics inspired franchise has been Fox's X-Men film series, which began in 2000 and gradually evolved into it's own cinematic universe and indeed the only other successful one outside of the MCU. Though there have been a few installments that were less than stellar, the ones that Bryan Singer was involved in as a Director and or Producer have been the most successful. In fact, including Deadpool, there are now nine films in the series and counting and I hope one day Disney and Fox will collaborate in such a way that both universes can connect and co-exist without a reboot.
In the meantime we have X-Men: Apocalypse, which will open in theaters in the United States on May 27, 2016 and I have seen it and I have to state without giving away spoilers, if any of the trailers made anyone have doubts about this installment, it should not because while not a perfect film, it is still a darn good one, which serves as a closure to the trilogy that began in 2011 with X-Men: First Class and hit it's height in 2014 with X-Men: Days Of Future Past and now beautifully concludes the trilogy, which enabled certain installments to be retconned out of existence while bringing greater depth and variety with fantastic spin offs like Deadpool.
Oscar Isaacs does a terrific job emoting his villainous character through the layers of makeup while Game Of Thrones Star Sophie Turner delivers a nice turn as Jean Grey. Since the last trailer already revealed it, I can say that Hugh Jackman's part as Wolverine fits in beautifully within the context of the story and adds layers of richness to the overall mythology of the series while not turning the film into a Wolverine centric storyline.
Michael Fassbender is truly intense as Magneto and Evan Peters continues to shine as Quicksilver and becomes an important part of the team. James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Holt all bring spot on performances as their respective returning characters and Rose Byrne reprises her role capably from X-Men First Class. Olivia Munn's turn as Psylocke may seem a bit underdeveloped, but for a film with so much going on at once, I state that it is not because she lacks intensity. She looks great and she seems like the character I have seen artistic interpretations of in various media. I hope they bring her back and develop her character more in the future.
While the film has little to no blood, it does have tons of destruction that appears more devastating than anything shown in any of the MCU movies to date and the first two DCEU movies too. It is hard not to believe that the collateral damage was not worse than anything seen in Man Of Steel so if you are sensitive to that sort of thing or have any concerns then I suggest you investigate things further before buying a ticket.
Overall, do not expect a film like Captain America: Civil War, but do not sell Fox short based on the trailers because X-Men: Apocalypse is a fun addition to one's Memorial Day Weekend plans and as a whole, while not quite as good as the previous installment, it still has a lot to offer and is way better than the trailers would have one believe. Thank you.
(C) Copyright 2016 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
