X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Genre

Action | Sci-Fi

Director

Bryan Singer

Country

USA

Cast

James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till, Evan Peters, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Josh Helman, Ben Hardy, Lana Condor, Hugh Jackman, Stan Lee

Storyline

Upon awakening after thousands of years, Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) 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.

Opinion

Even though "X-Men: The Last Stand" screwed up the original trilogy, I didn't think, not even for a moment, that the ending chapter of the prequels trilogy could have been a disappointment. I mean, Bryan Singer is still directing and every single X-Men flick he has done so far turned out more than just fine. After Wednesday night I don't know what to believe in anymore.

"X-Men: Apocalypse" is a poor X-Men installment that fails to live up to its name, and once again proves that the third is always quite considerably the worst film of a trilogy.

The writing is a real mess and the biggest problem of the film. The story feels flat and too many times focuses on the wrong thing. Ravel, for example, gets tons of screen time and most of the time her story isn't very interesting or meaningful. The dialogue is quite awful for the whole running time, and sometimes it gets very cheesy and dull. The character development is basically non-existent, and some of the younger mutants are treated like garbage almost like they were thrown in the story because they were short on mutants - why are Storm and Psylocke even here? Just to cast two good looking women? Same goes with Wolverine and Moira MacTaggert, I guess they wanted two big names in the film.

And the villain. Oh my god the villain. What have they done to Apocalypse? Not only he is one of the most powerful mutants, but he also has an interesting and complex story and I was very intrigued to see him on screen. And you know what they did to him? They turned him into just another bad guy that wants to rule the world. He is dull, not that menacing and he is "dismissed" quickly in a confused and not very engaging final battle.

However the film wasn't a complete waste of time and money. Magneto, which once again I repeat is my favourite mutant and villain, is treated a little bit better than the others. He gets some quality screen time and Michael Fassbender's performance is rock solid, but Singer eventually screws up.

One of the things I was excited about was Quicksilver. I am not a huge fan of him, but I love, absolutely love the way Evan Peters portrayed him in the past. I'm super happy to say that he was amazing. He easily stole the show with his slow-motion scene, a scene that was so amazing that topped that slow-motion sequence of him in "X-Men: Days of Future Past". And he brings some humour which is exactly what the film needed.

Sure, the special effects are great and so is the action, and I have to say that Oscar Isaac did a pretty good job as Apocalypse considering the poor script he had to work with, but this is not enough, especially if the film is a sequel to two great films.

Deadpool (2016)

Genre

Action | Comedy | Romance | Sci-Fi

Director

Tim Miller

Country

USA | Canada

Cast

Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapičić, Leslie Uggams, Jed Rees, Karan Soni, Stan Lee

Storyline

Subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, mercenary Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) adopts the alter ego Deadpool and hunts down the man (Ed Skrein) who nearly destroyed his life.

Opinion

Remember that "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" version Ryan Reynolds played in 2009? Bloody awful, wasn't it? We can finally forget about that pathetic attempt now, thank you Marvel!

Dirty, hilarious, romantic, very rude and violent, "Deadpool" is an excellent piece of entertainment as well as a total game changer for superhero movies.

First things first, thank god Fox has the rights. Just imagine how normal and probably boring this film would have been if Disney made it? Before this, I didn't see the need for an R rated Marvel film, but I was proved wrong. Sure, there's profanity everywhere, gratuitous nudity - I gotta admit it was kinda awkward when my mother asked me about the Stan Lee's cameo -, sex, a masturbation scene and Deadpool giving a handjob to a unicorn in the credits, but it wouldn't have worked the same without all of this.

The plot is simple: revenge. But the minimalist plot works perfectly here, because Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick - the great minds behind "Zombieland" - created a wonderful screenplay, full of humour, humorous moments and acrobatic, slapstick, and violent action scenes. 

The humour. To be honest I wasn't expecting the kind of juvenile humour this film has to offer for 108 minutes, but it works surprisingly well. Not every line or joke is great, but they don't really need to when you have a character like Deadpool. What else can I say about a film that had me laughing in the opening credits? And teases (not only) the audience in the post-credits scene? Just brilliant. 

The action is just beautiful. Every sequence is creative and infused with Deadpool's humour, the rallenty also works well, the fights choreography is great, and even though some CGI has been used, I'm sure lot of the credits goes to the impressive stunt work.

There's also a super '80s soundtrack. I haven't loved a soundtrack so much since "Guardians of the Galaxy".

Ryan Reynold plays Deadpool again after 7 years, but this guy is completely different from the other one. He fits the role of Deadpool wonderfully; he is hilarious and charismatic, and nails the role. He also has a great chemistry with Morena Baccarin who plays Vanessa, Deadpool love interest. Gotta give him the credits for the making of this film as well, because he started fighting for this film back in 2004 when "Blade: Trinity" was released. Ed Skrein gives quite a fantastic comedic performance as that British villain aka Francis aka Ajax. The supporting cast also does a good job.

In summary, don't bring your kids to see this. And I'd like to apologize for saying this is a superhero film, because it's not. 

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Director

Bryan Singer

Country

USA | UK

Cast

Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Nicholas Hoult, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore, Omar Sy, Evan Peters, Josh Helman, Daniel Cudmore, Fan Bingbing, Adan Canto, Booboo Stewart, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Lucas Till, Evan Jonigkeit

Plot

As the Sentinels, fightings robots for killing mutants, are created, it soon leads to chaos, killing both mutants and humans. Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is so sent back to the past to prevent a tragic event from ever occurring to prevent both mutant and human extinction.

Opinion

I was excited about this film, but I had a bad feeling because X-Men: First Class was fantastic, and doing great - or better - wasn't going to be an easy task, so I saw this with low expectation, but what a surprise! After more than 10 years, Bryan Singer is back in control and directs unarguably the best X-Men film yet.

Sequel to both First Class and X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days of Future Past is truly an impressive and spectacular film, and one of the greatest superhero films of all time.

The film finds its strength in the storyline, as 2 hours fly. The action is great especially when it comes to Quicksilver and Blink - the slow motion scene while freeing Magneto is spectacular. Also the film has surprisingly found the sense of humour that has been missing from the recent films of the series. 

Up to this moment, the franchise has been inclined to make of Wolverine the main character. Finally things have changed, and other characters gain importance, starting from Mystique. 

Also, Bryan Singer manages to fill a long series of discrepancies among the previous films.

The acting, once again, is first class. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are incredible as Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, and the chemistry between them is more enjoyable than ever. Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman and Ellen Page are all great. However, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique and Evan Peters as Quicksilver steal the show. 

Quotes

Professor X: The future: a dark, desolate world. A world of war, suffering, loss on both sides. Mutants, and the humans who dared to help them, fighting an enemy we cannot defeat. Are we destined down this path, destined to destroy ourselves like so many species before us? Or can we evolve fast enough to change ourselves... change our fate? Is the future truly set?

Magneto: All those years wasted fighting each other, Charles... to have a precious few of them back.

The Wolverine (2013)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Director

James Mangold

Country

USA | UK

Cast

Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Brian Tee, Will Yun Lee, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen

Plot

In modern day Japan, vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality.

Opinion

Finally someone - director James Mangold and writers Scott Frank and Mark Bomback - decided to take the Wolverine series seriously.

The Wolverine is an interesting, thrilling and brilliant standalone film, way better than its predecessor. The story is well-written, and more complex and thoughtful than it was before: while in X-Men Origins: Wolverine the story explained his past, this film is an excellent character study and well-represented Logan's personal struggles.

The film has a big samurai made of adamantium, and that's really awesome as it sounds. The spectacular action is mostly filled with intense fight scenes. The cinematography is a little above average. The villains - yes, there are more than one - are fine, each with their own compelling motivation.

Hugh Jackman still does an incredibly good job with his Wolverine, and the chemistry he has with Tao Okamoto, who plays Mariko, makes the love story more realistic.

Quotes

Logan: What do you want?

Magneto: There are dark forces, Logan. Human forces building a weapon that could bring about the end of our kind. What do I want? I want your help.

Logan: Why would I trust you?

Magneto: You wouldn't.

Charles Xavier: Hello, Logan.

Logan: How is this possible?

Charles Xavier: As I told you a long time ago, you are not the only one with gifts.

Logan: Don't hurt my friends! 

X-Men: First Class (2011)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Director

Matthew Vaughn

Country

USA | UK

Cast

James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Rose Byrne, Jennifer Lawrence, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Oliver Platt, Jason Flemyng, Lucas Till, Edi Gathegi, Kevin Bacon, Caleb Landry, Zoë Kravitz, Álex González, Glenn Morshower, Matt Craven, Rade Šerbedžija, Ray Wise, Michael Ironside, James Remar, Annabelle Wallis, Don Creesh, Brendan Fehr, Aleksander Krupa, Laurence Belcher, Bill Milner, Morgan Lily, Hugh Jackman, Stan Lee

Plot

Before Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were arch-enemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants, to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known: World War III.

Opinion

Although normally prequels suck, I was really excited about this one because it stars Michael Fassbender - one of my favourite actors - playing Magneto - my favourite mutant. But here it is, the resurrection of a dead franchise.

X-Men: First Class is classy and thrilling filled with great action and strong emotions, in other words, absolutely first class - sorry for the pun.

The collaboration between Bryan Singer and Matthew Vaughn was the perfect blend: Vaughn's great direction and Singer's compelling story manage to clear the X-Men's name.

The film not only takes us back to the roots of the beginning of the friendship between Charles and Erik, but introduces other mutants and develops the old one - Beast is great.

The acting is top class. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are superb, and every scene with them together is absolutely fantastic - credits go to their friendship too. Kevin Bacon, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult are a stunning supporting cast. Great performances also from Rose Byrne and January Jones.

Quotes

Charles Xavier: Erik, you said yourself we're the better men. This is the time to prove it. There are thousands of men on those ships. Good, honest, innocent men! They're just following orders.
Erik Lehnsherr: I've been at the mercy of men just following orders. Never again.

Rating

9.0/10

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Director

Gavin Hood

Country

USA | UK

Cast

Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Will.i.am, Lynn Collins, Kevin Durand, Dominic Monaghan, Taylor Kitsch, Daniel Henney, Ryan Reynolds, Scott Adkins, Tim Pocock, Max Cullen, Julia Blake, Tahyna Tozzi, Aaron Jeffery, Peter O'Brien, Asher Keddie, Daniel Negreanu, Troye Sivan, Michael James Olsen

Plot

Two mutant brothers, Logan (Hugh Jackman) and Victor (Liev Schreiber), born 200 years ago, are fighters and killers, living from war to war through U.S. history. In modern times, Colonel Stryker (Danny Huston) recruits them and other mutants as commandos. After a while, Logan quits, becomes a lumberjack and falls in love with a local teacher (Lynn Collins). When Logan refuses to rejoin Stryker's crew, the Colonel sends Victor to kill the girl, and now Logan wants revenge.

Opinion

Wolverine has never been my favourite character, and he'll never be, but he was the best written and the best acted on the X-Men saga, so I was pretty excited about it.

Said that, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not bad, but it isn't even as good as it could have been, or as I was expecting it to be.

While the film is action packed, and the fights - involving Wolverine, Sabretooth and Deadpool - are great, the writing is very disappointing. I wonder how David Benioff and Skip Woods came up with the idea of a brotherhood between Wolverine and Sabretooth, or why Logan is halfway between the good guy and the beast. Also Gambit's character isn't developed at all, he just shows up for a while. And Logan's love story is pointless.

The acting is all great. Hugh Jackman keeps doing an excellent job with his Wolverine. Liev Schreiber does an incredible job portraying Sabretooth, delivering a true animalistic performance.

Quotes

Remy LeBeau/Gambit: See, the only difference between a winner and a loser is character. Every man has a price to charge, and a price to pay. Yeah, I've paid mine in spades.

Rating

6.5/10

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Director

Brett Ratner

Country

Canada | United States | United Kingdom

Cast

Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Vinnie Jones, Patrick Stewart, Ellen Page, Ben Foster, Dania Ramirez, Daniel Cudmore, Michael Murphy, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Josef Sommer, Eric Dane, Bill Duke, Meiling Melançon, Omahyra Mota, Ken Leung, Cameron Bright, Stan Lee

Plot

Several months have passed since the X-Men stopped William Stryker (Brian Cox), but that victory came at a price: they have lost Jean Grey (Famke Janssen). As humans finds a cure to treat mutations, lines are drawn amongst the X-Men, led by Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), and the Brotherhood, a band of powerful mutants organized under Magneto (Ian McKellen).

Opinion

Bring back Bryan Singer, because X-Men: The Last Stand takes a huge step back. It is still a good action film with lots of explosions and great special effects, and it does deliver some thrill, but it has many issues. The dull story seems to be written just to end the trilogy; there is no characters development, and I wonder what's the matter with them: Rogue takes the cure, nullifying her powers for love; Jean/Phoenix goes from sacrificing her own life for the sake of the group, to joining the dark side; Professor X just vanishes. And what happened to Nightcrawler? He had good potential.

The acting from Ian McKellen is marvellous and he brings something Shakespearean to his character; the rest of the cast is visibly unmotivated.

Quotes

Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto: Charles Xavier did more for mutants than you will ever know. My single greatest regret is that he had to die for our dream to live.

X2 (2003)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Director

Bryan Singer

Country

Canada | United States

Cast

Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Bruce Davison, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Kelly Hu, Anna Paquin

Plot

Several months have passed since The X-Men defeated Magneto (Ian McKellen) and imprisoned him in a plastic chamber. As scientist named William Stryker (Brian Cox) discovers Professor X's (Partick Stewart) secret school and Cerebro, Magneto's partner, Mystique (Rebecca Romijn-Samos), is planning to break her leader out of prison. But when Professor X's school is attacked by Stryker's forces, Logan (Hugh Jackman), Rogue (Anna Paquin), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore) and a few are lucky to escape. Those who remain meet in Boston, where they form an uneasy alliance with Magneto to stop Stryker and rescue Professor X.

Opinion

X2 is a brilliant and very ambitious film that improves on its predecessor in every way. Director Bryan Singer seems more comfortable, and he keeps working on the difficulty to distinguish good from evil. In fact, the human villain confuses us, and we don't know which part we should take: Professor X or Magneto's.

This film adds more characters, more special effects and a bit more much action. The opening scene with Nightcrawler is fantastic, and so is the fight between Wolverine and Lady Deathstrike. The characters are developed and they all get the right amount of screen time. The makeup is great as we can see from Mystique and Nightcrawler. 

The acting from Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen is marvellous. Hugh Jackman still does a great job with his Wolverine. 

Quotes

Professor X: Mutants. Since the discovery of their existence they have been regarded with fear, suspicion, often hatred. Across the planet, debate rages. Are mutants the next link in the evolutionary chain or simply a new species of humanity fighting for their share of the world? Either way it is a historical fact: Sharing the world has never been humanity's defining attribute. 

Wolverine: You picked the wrong house, bub.

Rating

8.6/10

X-Men (2000)

Genre

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Director

Bryan Singer

Country

United States

Cast

Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Famke Janssen, James Marsden, Bruce Davison, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Ray Park, Tyler Mane, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, David Hayter, Stan Lee, Tom DeSanto, George Buza

Plot

In a world where both Mutants and Humans fear each other, Rogue (Anna Paquin) runs away from home and hitches a ride with another mutant, Wolverine (Hugh Jackman). Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), who owns a school for young mutants, sends Storm (Halle Berry) and Cyclops (James Marsden) to bring them back before it is too late. Magneto (Ian McKellen), who believes a war is approaching, has an evil plan in mind, and needs young Rogue to help him.

Opinion

After Blade, came the time for Marvel's mutants to hit the big screen. X-Men is an excellent film, and that kind of film everyone can enjoy. If you are a fan of the comic book series, then you will enjoy seeing the characters becoming 'real'. If you are not a fan, it will surely entertain you.

Director Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects) continues working on ambiguity, and on the difficulty to distinguish good from evil.

The performances are great. Patrick Stewart is outstanding as Professor Charles Xavier. Hugh Jackman did - and still does - a fantastic Wolverine. Ian McKellen is fantastic as the 'evil' Magneto.

Quotes

Magneto: Does it ever wake you in the middle of the night? The feeling that one day they will pass that foolish law or one just like it, and come for you? And your children?

Professor Charles Xavier: It does, indeed.

Magneto: What do you do, when you wake up to that?

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

Magneto: Why do you come here, Charles?

Professor Charles Xavier: Why do you ask questions to which you already know the answer?

Magneto: Ah, yes. Your continuing search for hope.You know this plastic prison of theirs won't hold me forever. The war is still coming, Charles. And I intend to fight it, by any means necessary.

Professor Charles Xavier: And I will always be there, old friend.

Rating

8.4/10