SYNOPSIS: Following the critically acclaimed global smash hit X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer returns with X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. Since the dawn of civilization, he was worshipped as a god. Apocalypse, the first and most powerful mutant from Marvel's X-Men universe, amassed the powers of many other mutants, becoming immortal and invincible. Upon awakening after thousands of years, he is disillusioned with the world as he finds it and recruits a team of powerful mutants, including a disheartened Magneto (Michael Fassbender), to cleanse mankind and create a new world order, over which he will reign. As the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) with the help of Professor X (James McAvoy) must lead a team of young X-Men to stop their greatest nemesis and save mankind from complete destruction.

REVIEW:

Moira MacTaggert: Some believe that the first mutant was born thousands of years ago. He was some kind of god, and he's going to rise again.

So you thought that Civil War was epic? It is, for sure, but this one, well let's just say that epic is an understatement. Apparently this guy is bent on destruction, or as he might call it, rebuilding.

Apocalypse: Everything they've built will fall! And from the ashes of their world, we'll build a better one!

So yes movie goers, we have yet another X-Men movie . . . hell yeah! I can't get enough. I will admit that I was skeptical about it at first, I mean geez, another one? But hey, it continues to impress. We still get to have the director that started it all, Bryan Singer, back at it again. This is his fourth X-Men direction, 1 and 2, Days of Future Past, and this one. Needless to say he did good. I always thoroughly enjoy and appreciate when the cast of a series stays intact and we have that here (other than some younger versions of certain characters, but that's all I'll say about that). And speaking of cast, we get the usual Stan Lee cameo, but for the first time ever we get a little extra "Lee" in the scene. If you don't pick up on it, pay attention to the end credits. I will take this moment to point out a personal preference in regards to mutants. Obviously the bigger names are always the ones that people want to see, myself included, but I will add that Quicksilver wins the award for most entertaining mutant in the bunch. His scene in Days of Future Past, you know which one I'm talking about, is probably my favorite scene in the entire movie. Well he is at it again and this scene is longer and even more significant. It's just so well done and so much fun to watch.

As mentioned, the movie is epic and arguably the most dramatic of the collection. I will admit that a couple of scenes had me teary eyed. Wow, again, well done. Not only do we have the action, the various mutant powers on display, and mind-blowing special effects, we are also touched emotionally. The story surrounding this character, Apocalypse, makes it seem so incredibly hopeless that throughout the majority of the film my primary thought was how in the world are they going to defeat this guy? Even though you know the good guys win in the end somehow, in this case the doubt was strong with me. I could only imagine that it would take a complete team effort and that's what the X-Men are all about right? Another thought that crossed my mind during the film was the slight confusion regarding the skewed history thanks to the events of Days of Future Past. If nothing else, it keeps you on your toes. As touched upon earlier, we get an array of "new" characters, many of which are the young versions of characters we already know. That was pretty cool. Of the actual new characters, Apocalypse was just larger than life of course and masterfully played by Oscar Isaac. I don't think I've ever seen Oscar give a lousy performance. Now because we are dealing with such an invincible character, the climax to this movie is that much more climactic. X-Men fans, this is a must watch. I really believe that you won't be disappointed. After this story concludes, Professor Xavier's recurring statement is truer than ever.

Charles Xavier: I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to my school looking for trouble.