X-Men: Apocalypse

     The third (and possibly final) installment in the the revamped X-Men prequel series, this was possibly the strangest and, dare I say, weakest of all of the films. I hate saying that, but it's truly hard to top Days of Future Past. While I'm not saying the film was bad at all, it was wonderful in many elements, but the storyline itself tended to drag a little and the main villain, Apocalypse, was very confusing and hard to understand. If you can't understand your villain and what he's actually trying to do, they you have a weak script.

     That out of the way, the rest of the casting was wonderful! We finally get to meet our primary X-Men from the first trilogy (Scott, Jean and Storm) as young and gifted, but very unsure and awkward students as well as mourn the loss of a former first recruit. And like with anything X-Men, Charles and Erik continue to fight on the tightrope of good and evil. 

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 The X-Men

Charles/Professor X, Jean, Scott/Cyclopes, Peter/Quicksilver, Kurt/Nightcrawler

     1983, ten years after Days of Future Past, due to Mystique's unexpected act of humanity in Washington D.C., society has begun to have a more tolerant attitude toward mutants. However, that doesn't mean they are considered equals. Many still hide in fear or they must survive by using their abilities to make money for others. Raven or Mystique starts to track down defenseless mutants and care for them or take them to Charles' school, a place she normally tries to avoid.

     Meanwhile, Charles Xavier's School for The Gifted is starting to thrive as more young mutant children walk through his doors in hopes of learning how to live as ordinary humans. Several of these students include newcomer Scott Summers (younger brother of Alex Summers/Havoc) who, like his brother, can fire optic blasts only they are from his eyes. Shy and reclusive Jean Grey who has telepathic ability as well as telekinesis and Austrian Kurt Wagner, a odd blue half creature/half human who can mentally transport. 

Apocalypse and The Four Horsemen

Apocalypse, Erik/Magneto, Orora/Storm, Angel, Psylocke 

     On the other side of the world, in a buried pyramid in Egypt, a great evil has woken. En Sabah Nur or Apocalypse, is considered to be the first and greatest of all mutants. He possesses multitude of abilities including turning matter into dust, augmenting the powers of other mutants as well as heightening mutant abilites. When Apocalypse returns to the land of the living, he has one agenda. Gather four of the most powerful of mutants, advance their strengths and use them to take over the world, thus creating the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse.

     One of these mutants includes Erik Lensherr/Magneto who has lived the last ten years in a quiet Polish village with his wife and daughter. Yet, no matter how hard he tries, Erik's can never live an ordinary human life. After his family is killed, Apocalypse finds him and teaches him to reignite his abilities. Erik then returns as Magneto, his old prejudices in place and ready to kill anyone who stands in his way of revenge.

     Soon the forces of good and evil come to a final battle for the either the destruction of mankind or its salvation. All of these mutants, from Charles on down are faced to challenge themselves and their powers and try to understand their primary purpose for being created as they are. 

     While it may not have been may favorite storywise, Apocalypse was wonderful with its characters! James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender once again nailed their roles as the opposing leaders of Charles and Erik. Charles himself has an incredible scene where he takes on Apcalypse with his mind that is nothing short of epic! The new cast members playing the next generation X-Men recruits were fantastic and really brought about the unique nuances in their characters. And X-Men certainly wouldn't be X-Men if a certain grouchy clawed character made his cameo appearance.

    

     A good ending to a good story. I'm not sure exactly where the X-Men universe is heading now, but I can say that its prequel trilogy has been superb, well written and well acted. X-Men continues to be a consistent favorite among comic book fans and probably because the stories themselves are so fluid and can be told multiple ways. We love the X-Men because I believe that deep inside most of us is the desire to use our gifts and talents to better the world around ourselves, to want to bring about change and always have a strong sense of justice. What X-Men truly teaches us is that our abilities can either gifts for good or weapons for evil and every person spends their whole life trying to decide which.