Xavier’s School For the gifted is going strong with training mutants how to control their gifts including Jean Grey and Scott Summers.   Meanwhile, Erik (Michael Fassbender) is living a quiet family life with a wife and daughter in Poland- leaving behind his life as Magneto only to have tragedy soon strike his life again.  Also Mystique/ Raven (Jennifer Lawrence rescues Kurt Wagner/ Nightcrawler from a caged fight against Angel in East Germany.  Soon all of their lives will be shaken apart when CIA Agent Moria MacTaggart accidentally helps trigger the awakening of En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac), the first mutant who has been buried alive since the days of ancient Egypt.   En Sabah Nur sees the modern world and judges the humans not fit to rule the world.  He gathers four powerful mutants: Magneto, Angel, Psylocke, and Storm to serve as his four horseman to help him bring about a new age for mutants to rule the world.  A new team of X-men is former to stop En Sabah Nur and his Horsemen of the Apocalypse in X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, the conclusion to his new X-MEN trilogy started with X-MEN: FIRST CLASS.

 

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE ties up the events of the previous two movies while forming the framework to the events that would lead to the first X-MEN film.  Quicksilver has one of the most fun scenes in the movie while I also like the use of the original comic book costumes in this movie and providing origin stories of sort for many characters like Storm, Jean Grey (Sophie Turner who sometimes reminds me of Sansa Stark instead of Jean Grey), and Scott Summers (who is more likeable this time around) while introducing a few new characters: Psylocke, Archangel, Jubilee, and Caliban.  The movie even takes a jab at X-MEN: THE LAST STAND in a scene where some of the mutants remark about RETURN OF THE JEDI and how the third movie isn’t the best of the series.   X-MEN: APOCALYPSE is truly an end of the world fight for survival movie which hints at the Dark Phoenix storyline (which Kinberg and Singer always wanted to do correctly since X-MEN: THE LAST STAND).  However, the storyline to this movie is lazy compared to the last two which makes this enjoyable sequel not quite as good as what came before it.  A few characters aren’t given a lot to do and the set up is better than the end execution of some parts of the story.   Diehard X-Men comic fans will have a problem with this movie despite some of its nods to the comics and I hope the next X-Men movie is better written than X-MEN: APOCALYPSE.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Audio commentary with director Bryan Singer and writer Simon Kinberg

 

12 deleted and extended scenes (with optional introductions by Bryan Singer) with many scenes that the director cut for pacing reasons, but the scenes with the younger mutants should have been left in including the full mall trip scene

 

Eight and half minute gag reel which has the cast having fun and screwing up their lines

 

Wrap Party video which is a behind-the-scenes reel of the cast having fun and the filming of the movie

 

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE UNEARTHER (63 minutes):

EN SABAH NUR: SETTING THE STAGE FOR APOCALYPSE- determining the plot for the latest X-MEN movie

CLAN OF AKKABA: APOCALYPSE AND HIS HORSEMEN- focus on the actor and characters who play Apocalypse and his four horseman (Magneto, Pyslocke, Storm, and Archangel)

ANSWERING THE CALL: ASSEMBLING THE X-MEN TEAM- the cast who play the new mutant characters (younger versions of Scott Summers, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, and Jubilee)

THE END OF TIMES: CREATING A NEW AGE OF APOCALYPSE- the production design of X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

UNLIMITED POWERS: VFX, STUNTS, & SET PIECES- a look at the visual effects sequences and stunt work (like the Quicksilver sequence for example)

WHAT’S NEXT- the cast and crew hint at where the X-MEN film series could go next

 

The theatrical teaser and both theatrical trailers are also included on the blu-ray

Two galleries for Concept Art and unit Photography

 

The movie in standard definition on DVD with the gag reel, galleries, and audio commentaries as extras

 

Also there is a code to download and/ or stream a digital HD copy of the film

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  X-MEN: APOCALYPSE is a disappointing conclusion to the prequel trilogy following two great X-MEN movies.  The deleted scenes hint at a movie that could have better and different if it focused more on the younger version of well known mutants introduced in this movie.  The extras are great for this release.  I just hope they can come up with a better X-MEN film to focus on the younger versions of Jean Grey, Scott Summers, Storm, and Nightcrawler more.

 

This review is ©10-16-2016 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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