by Matt Sernaker, Managing Editor

When an ancient evil returns to dominate the world, the only hope for survival rests with the X-Men! Our favorite mutant heroes are back in action for X-Men: Apocalypse, the latest installment in the X-Men franchise brought to us by Director Bryan Singer (X-Men). Following the events of Days of Future Past, the timeline has been altered and the world has become aware of the existence of mutants. After the ancient mutant known as Apocalypse is unleashed from a millennia long slumber, he deems humanity unworthy and plans to cleanse the Earth. With a little help from some new students and some old friends, the X-Men must face their darkest hour.

Minor Spoilers Ahead

It has been ten years since the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Mystique’s rescue of the President from the clutches of Magneto has made her into an icon for mutant rights. With humanity’s acceptance of the existence of mutant-kind, Xavier’s School for the Gifted is finally thriving. Charles’ dream of co-existence seems to finally be within reach until En Sabah Nur, the ancient mutant known as Apocalypse returns. In order to return the world to balance, Apocalypse recruits Four Horsemen to his aid: Angel, Psylocke, Storm, and Magneto. Once Apocalypse learns of the nature of Professor Xavier’s abilities, he sets in motion a plan to reshape the world so that Mutants can take over. A new team consisting of young Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, and returning heroes Beast, Quicksilver, the reformed Mystique, and C.I.A. operative Moira MacTaggart must step up to face this impressive foe.

X-Men: Apocalypse features returning players James McAvoy (Professor X), Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique), Michael Fassbender (Magneto), Rose Byrne (Moira MacTaggert), Lucas Till (Havok), and Nicholas Hoult (Beast), who continue their roles that originated in First Class. The veteran actors are joined by Evan Peters (X-Men: Days of Future Past) as Quicksilver, Tye Sheridan (Mud) as  Cyclops, Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) as Jean Grey, Kodi Smit-McPhee (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) as Nightcrawler, Ben Hardy (EastEnders) as Angel, Olivia Munn (The Newsroom) as Psylocke, Alexandra Shipp (Ray Donovan) as Storm, and Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) as the titular Apocalypse.

The returning trio of Xavier, Magneto, and Mystique continue to be front and center in the latest adventure, which is the first film to not be locked into the world created in the original X-Men film from 2000. With the newly altered timeline in place, the biggest change to canon is the heroism of the previously villainous Mystique, with her character being forced into place as the new field leader of the X-Men. The MVP of the film once again is Evan Peters, reprising his role from Days of Future Past. Quicksilver adds fantastic humor to the film, and keeps things from becoming too predictable. Shipp, Mc-Phee, and Sheridan also are fantastic additions to the cast, and demonstrate more emotion and development than their predecessors did as Storm,  Nightcrawler, and Cyclops in the original X-Men films. In terms of villains, Oscar Issac was utterly fantastic as the larger than life villain Apocalypse. The decision to utilize a flesh and blood actor for the role and not rely solely on CGI to make the character was a solid choice, and helped establish the stakes at hand. Olivia Munn as Psylocke was one of the best casting decisions that the creative team made for this release, and she truly made sure that her character was as accurate as possible to the source material.

While most of the characters managed to pull their weight, there were three pieces that were very disappointing: Sophie Turner as Jean Grey was my least favorite of the new class, as she felt very stiff and unmotivated throughout the story. Ben Hardy as Angel (one of the original five X-Men from the comics) was given zero character development, and relegated to a C-level character. While Angel was a disappointment in terms of development, he was still bad-ass in the action sequences that he was relegated to as the transformed Archangel. I was hoping for a redemption arc to have him join the team, but unfortunately that never came to pass. The largest disappointment of the film was Jubilation Lee (played by Lana Condor), who was present for three small scenes, and didn’t contribute a single thing to the movie…or even use her powers. The creative team made a big deal about how she was in the film (and how her powers would work), but she didn’t actually do anything other than take a trip to the mall. Her character could have been the Blink equivalent to this film, but was entirely ignored.

X-Men: Apocalypse is definitely the most comic-book influenced of the X-Men film franchise to date, but it remains rather inconsistent in tone. Bryan Singer has always struggled at balancing the comic influence and a real-world approach to these characters, and unfortunately it is noticeable in this story. The ending of Days of Future Past felt like a new launching point for the characters, but this film felt like it was hell-bent on rehashing previous story elements with a twist. On the plus side, all of the cast members don modified versions of the classic costumes at some point in the movie (some longer than others), and audiences will be excited to see several comic moments finally make it to the big screens. Apocalypse is one of the most epic villains that the mutants have ever faced, and this film does well in the depiction of him as a global threat. Thanks to the trailers, audiences are also aware that Wolverine is in the film. While Hugh Jackman does make a cameo, it is definitely a different version of Logan than we have previously seen on the big screen.