Despite this being more The Last Stand than First Class, it offers up just enough X-hilaration – so it’s not the end of the world.
Again, it’s left to Evan Peters’ Quicksilver to be the star of the show – like he was in Days of Future Past – with a stand-out scene that wouldn’t look out of place in any of the greatest superhero movies, and is nearly worth the admission price alone just for that set piece.
Sadly, the lack of charisma of Oscar Isaacs (which he had in an abundance in the likes of Ex Machina and Star Wars: The Force Awakens) hampered God-like villain Apocalypse, a severe dearth of humour, and a storyline that is too ‘busy’ for its own good – with too many characters like Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique and Nicholas Hoult’s Beast sidelined for long periods – makes this the weakest entry in this current trilogy.
But it’s still, for the most part, entertaining fare, and doesn’t have the ‘car crash’ ending of the last three-parter with the aforementioned The Last Stand.
The seemingly epic storyline (on paper at least) is based around the awakening of super-mutant Apocalypse – who’s amassed the powers of many great mutants – after laying dormant for thousands of years entombed in Egypt.
Disillusioned with the world he finds, he quickly recruits a team of powerful mutants, including Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Angel (Ben Hardy) and a disgruntled Magneto (Michael Fassbender) – hurting after a harrowing and noteworthy opening side-story – to help him cleanse mankind and create an epic new world.
So with the fate of Earth hanging in the balance, it’s left to James McAvoy’s Professor X, Mystique, Beast, Quicksilver, Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and co. to unite in an attempt to stop their greatest-ever nemesis from his extinction level plan.
Along the way there’s a couple of interesting (but all too rushed) side stories – Cyclops/Jean Grey, Quicksilver/Magento, and another Wolverine cameo – that are shoe-horned to seemingly set up further franchise instalments, including the in-development The New Mutants, which will probably involve some of the younger cast here.
Despite director Bryan Singer – who did more polished jobs on both X2 and Days of Future Past – letting the plot become a bit ‘hap hazard’ with so much to squeeze into the run time, there’s still enough to enjoy here to make it a serviceable cinematic experience.
But by the next day it will be gone from your head faster than Quicksilver.
Gavin Miller
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Cast: James Mcavoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Oscar Isaac, Rose Byrne, Evan Peters, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Lucas Till, Alexandra Shipp, Kodi Smith-Mcphee, Olivia Munn, Ben Hardy, Josh Helman, Lana Condor, Ally Sheedy & Hugh Jackman
Running Time: 2 Hrs 24 Mins
Director: Bryan Singer
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