That should've been on the movie... dumb

It feels like I saw this film years ago.

It's because you're old.

And that scene SHOULD have been in the movie. I loved the film because I'm a blind fanboy, but I feel it would have been a lot better had it focused more on the next generation of X-Men. I love JLaw, but just like her I'm so over her Mystique.

I loved the mall scene and it would have been a nice addition to the character development, but the running time was already 144 minutes. I'm glad that there are still directors of superhero movies willing to demonstrate restraint, not feeling they have to throw in everything to the detriment of the overall viewing experience. They're paid to make the tough choices.

I'm not a big fan of X-Men movies and Apocalypse did nothing to change the trend. It just solidified my opinion of this being an utterly average franchise. This is also most basic and least ambitious X-Men movie story wise.

In its core it has plots that would come straight from "Cliche movie plots 101" course if there ever was one. There's a guy collecting his team and we get a short introduction to every member he collects. We have a former villain who's trying to do good. He has a wife and a daughter - oooops, yeah of course they're gonna end up dead and he's gonna go back to his old villain self again. Those are the two main plot elements and frankly the only necessary ones (as they actually move the plot forward). Others (especially Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique and short Wolverine cameo) are highly disposable plots thrown in just to put some new mutants/characters or keep old ones in the movie. So no wonder the movie feels too long, unfocused and boring.

Apocalypse as the main villain is anything but scary or dangerous looking. The opening scene and his "rebirth" are pretty lazily done scenes that didn't help in setting him up one least bit. I thought his best aspect was the fact that he played a bit on the card of him being the first mutant - the one who is responsible for all of them (I'm guessing passing the gene or whatever - it's not as if it matters as when push comes to shove X-Men might again delete the universe it has been building so no use in investing long term understanding all of it). That father of them all could've been a pretty masterful way to introduce him and to make it a central theme of why mutants (especially those who feel like they don't belong) are joining him. But as it stands Apocalypse was just a glorified hairstylist/make-up artist and doing a make-over to a mutant is enough to make them come over to his side.

Also can we talk visual effects? How did those happen? X-Men never had the best effects for their time but damn are some of the effects here so bad for 2016. Some of them are even worse/more cartoony than Gods of Egypt.

** / ***** (D)

I really like all of the X-Men films that I've seen. Even The Last Stand. I understand it butchers the Dark Phoenix Saga, but as I don't give a shit about the comics, I don't care. This is probably the worst of the X-Men films I've seen (I have not seen either Wolverine). The main issue is that it lacks any sort of focus. There are about a million characters, and none o them are given enough to do. Most of the characters are returning, so luckily we have their development from he previous films. but the new characters are all forgettable. Sophie Turner's American accent is so bad, in contrast to Rose Byrne's which is quite good. Apocalypse isn't as bad as he's made out to be, but he's not great. But I did like the movie for the most part. It had a good amount of charm and good action sequences and effects. I really like the X-Men universe and the characters. I'd say I'd still take this over most MCU films.

B

This is definitely a drop off in quality from First Class and DOFP. It has pacing issues and the end has the most generic looking CGI from all X-Men movies. I felt this was still better than The Last Stand and on par with the second-tier Wolverine movies. Apocalypse as a villain is not menacing enough even though he has great powers.