X-Men: Apocalypse made just for fans

Movie Title:     X-Men Apocalypse

Grade:  B+

Rating:  PG-13, 2 hours 16 minutes

In a Nutshell:    Another super hero movie filled with destruction, violence, and supernatural forces that just might destroy the world.  Ho hum.  

This installment in the X-Men franchise is set in the 1980’s, occurring right after the story in X-Men: Days of FuturePast.  If you’re not a fan of the characters or missed that last movie, you won’t feel very invested in this one.

If you are an X-Men fan, you’ll enjoy this more than the average viewer, and get a kick out of learning more back story about your favorite super heroes.  There is a moment early in the film when a student talks about a movie she is going to see, but admits that it’s a 3^rd sequel, which everyone knows is not as good.  X-Men: Apocalypse both pokes fun at itself and takes itself too seriously.

 Uplifting theme: 

• Loyalty, friendship, family
• Good vs. evil

Things I liked:

• Stan Lee!  I love that Marvel includes him in every movie.  They even gave him a cameo performance in the TV series “Agents of Shield”!
• It was kind of hilarious when the all-powerful mutant Apocalypse (played by Oscar Isaac) starts watching TV.  When Storm (Alexandra Shipp) asks him what he’s doing, he mumbles “Learning.”
• Some of my favorite scenes in this and the last X-Men movie involve Quicksilver (Evan Peters). I love it  when he runs around, rearranging everyone to places of safety.  His character and moments provide most of the comic relief in the film.  He’s awesome, even if he lives in his mother’s basement.  Ha ha
• So many things get destroyed, so it was nice to see one of the mutants rebuild the school with his powers.
• Director Bryan Singer makes a cameo appearance in his own film and describes the moment as “poetic” in an interview with Empire.  He plays a security guard and gets to hug Wolverine in the scene.
• Keep watching the screen after the credits roll for a sneak peek! Audiences are teased with the potential of seeing Mr. Sinister and other cyborg villains.
• Jennifer Lawrence's nephew is a huge X-Men fan, although he tells her she isn't a "real" X-Men.  In an interview with Jimmy Fallin, Jennifer revealed that her nephew played her son in the last Hunger Games film.  When she told him about this X-Men Apocalypse movie, he asked "Do I HAVE to be in this one too?"  ha ha

Things I didn’t like:

• There are several languages spoken, requiring subtitles, which will make it difficult for young ones and slow readers to know what’s going on.
• This will be very dark to see on a computer screen once it comes out on DVD.
• 99% of the movie seemed like it was in front of a green screen.
• The fight scenes were not nearly as good compared to those in Captain America: Civil War.
• Psylocke (Olivia Munn) mostly stood around as a decoration.
• Don’t get me wrong here, I LOVE Hugh Jackman and am always happy to see him in any movie, but I thought it was odd that all of the actors were younger versions of their characters, except for Wolverine.  The good news is that Hugh Jackman has agreed to one more super hero feature in Wolverine 3, scheduled to hit the big screen March 3^rd, 2017.

Funny lines:

• “The CIA would kill for this!”  - Moira (Rose Byrne)
• “Why do you care so much?  Did you see a speech or something on TV?” – Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence)
• “Hold on!  What did I miss?” – Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee)

Interesting lines:

•  “Not all of us can control our powers.” – Cyclops (Tye Sheridan)

“Then don’t.  this is war.” – Mystique

• “The 4 horsemen.  He got that from the Bible” – young handsome guy

“Or the Bible got it from him.” – Moira

• “This world needs to be saved.” – Apocalypse 
• “Just because there isn’t a war doesn’t mean there is peace.” – Mystique
• “You got your war plane. Let’s go to war.” – Mystique
• “You will never win.”  - Dr. Charles Xavier

“And why is that?” –  Apocalypse

“Because you are alone.  Am I am not.” – Professor X
* "A gift can often be a curse." - Professor X

Tips for parents:   

• 1 F-bomb and some other profanity.
• LONG sequences of violence and destruction.
• Some characters and sequences might be too scary for young ones.
• One of the characters is a Holocaust survivor, so there is some discussion about tolerance and hatred.
• Most of the violence is bloodless, but in the beginning there is a body that is sliced and gory, as well as bodies that are on fire. Pretty icky.