Although the mutant adventure hasn’t hit theaters yet, early critical reception has already marked it as one of the worst movies within the X-Men continuity.
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One night a few years ago, director Bryan Singer was at the Saddle Ranch Chop House in Los Angeles, half-drunk, having a good time when a dark cinematic vision popped into his head.
“X-Men: Apocalypse”, a 20th Century Fox release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “sequences of violence, action and destruction, brief strong language and some suggestive images”.
He is disgusted by the pitiful state of mankind and resolves to create a new world order with the help of his four devoted horsemen of the apocalypse: Angel (Ben Hardy), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Storm (Alexandra Shipp) and Magneto. Who knew? And speaking of superpowers, we chose to double down and ask the X-Men not what mutant power they would most want to have, but what would be the absolute worst mutant power to have?
One thing they all agreed on is that they will only agree to do another movie for the franchise if they are all hired. I also liked the writers’ decision to not give him any lines – it showed him as a wild animal, only just starting on the path to becoming the good, courageous Logan we know him as. I particularly loved the reprisal of the “Does it ever wake you in the middle of the night?” speech from the end of the first film – a simple yet effective way of bringing the series full circle. Jennifer Lawrence is back as Mystique, with her spray-on glittery blue skin and her shapeshifting skill sets. Ultimately, “she accepts the leadership position, she steps into the role that Xavier usually occupies, and leads the young X-Men into the final battle”. More than that though, the movie is stuffed full of some excellent performances by some seriously accomplished actors – and as such, it seemed worth asking you all who your favorite is. So while Professor Xavier and Magneto are again played by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, respectively (looking distractingly young given the passage of time), characters like Jean Grey (“Game of Thrones'” Sophie Turner) and Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) are high-school kids, meeting for the first time and wrestling with their developing powers. In fact, only once before has an X-Men title been nominated for an Oscar, and that was X-Men: Days of Future Past in the Best Visual Effects category.
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Compared to Batman Vs Superman for example, it’s streets ahead. “Our movie is all about our characters”, he said. But it’s not the focus.
