X-Men movies have held a slot in the summer blockbuster lineup just about every other year since the beginning of the millennium. Unlike most overdone summer blockbusters subjected to sequel upon sequel, the X-Men movies are usually really good.
The series consists of such recent gems as “X-Men: First Class” and the most recent “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” Bryan Singer, who has directed half of the films in the series, this being his fourth of eight, has delivered nothing less than several exceptional films to an exceptional plethora of Marvel Comics big screen adaptations.
Of course, don’t be discouraged by the daunting reality of this being the third movie of the second trilogy of an eight movie series. “X-Men: Apocalypse” does a phenomenal job of introducing a colorful array of new characters and provides a quality jumping on point so it might as well be the first movie, rather than the eighth.
The X-Men movies, the past three in particular, which take place in the 20th century, incorporate heavy doses of historical fiction to feel more like an action packed, psychedelic, exhilarating history lesson rather than a gratuitous display of explosions and masculinity the movie going public has come to expect from star studded, early summer releases.
As a result the X-Men produce more edgy, thought-provoking films than their Avenger counterparts and quite frankly, deserve more respect. The problem is that “X-Men: Apocalypse” is a rather weak addition to an otherwise fantastic trilogy. There’s a bit of confusion as to what the point is since Singer unsuccessfully blends themes of individuality with unity and fails to conclude in some sort of “we are all different but together we are strong” message that really would have brought the movie together.
In addition, the acting of Jennifer Lawrence is uncharacteristically weak and seems to rub off on just about everyone else as scenes that are meant to come off as deeply emotional fall flat and dull.
Regardless of the many flaws, “X-Men: Apocalypse” is not the end of an era, as the name suggests, but a well -established continuum of an excellent trilogy and series, brewing great swells of optimism for the possibility of further X-Men movies.
I give “X-Men: Apocalypse” 3/4 stars
