'X-Men: Apocalypse' Which side will you choose?

Plot Summary:
After the re-emergence of the world's first mutant, world-destroyer Apocalypse, the X-Men must unite to defeat his extinction level plan.

The X-Men franchise has always been one of my favorite series out there. It is one of the few series Sony has been able to hold onto with pride and continue releasing film after film. I am such a fan that I've liked the movies more than any normal viewer ever did. That's right, I liked X-Men 3 as well. Why? I'm just a fan of creative liberties and making it their own thing - screwing the comic books if they need to - because that's the kind of writing I believe in. The previous film, Days of Future Past was my most-anticipated film of 2014 - and while I can't say the same for X-Men Apocalypse, I was still reeling to see it. How did it hold up? Truth be told, it was better than I ever imagined it to be.

There were things from the trailer that didn't look interesting to me. Primarily speaking, the first thoughts I had when viewing the trailers were - this is over-the-top flashy, the costume for Apocalypse was laughable, and it just looked convoluted - and while some of those things are still true after viewing, none of it was to the degree I imagined. First of all, it is flashy. There is a lot of visuals going on at once - more so than I think any of the previous films have ever done. I thought for a second Roland Emmerich must be directing this movie...it was quite impressive. Furthermore, the flashiness of the film didn't take away from the magic of the story - which was one of my main concerns. Most movies focus too much on special effects and that takes away from the story...this time there is a good balance.

The second point I mentioned above was the "look" of the villain, Apocalypse. To be frank, the look is stupid. It is, it looks like Ivan Ooze from the Power Rangers Movie. That being said, they make up for it with the character. You don't know the definition of "daunting" until you meet him. He is terrifying, he is powerful, and there isn't any clear cut way to defeat him, he is in many senses of the word, a God. In fact, if you're religious, he'll appear to be the Antichrist himself...it's insane. The X-Men have to work together, really work together to figure out how to defeat him (I haven't seen this smart of team work since The Avengers (2012). 

The third point I made was that it looked over-complicated and convoluted. Once again, it's only slightly convoluted. There is one scene in this film that was, in my opinion, completely unnecessary. However, that scene is also really cool at the same time. The only problem I have with it is that it seems random and out of the blue. It takes away from the Apocalypse story which is already rather lengthy. So all in all, the trailer took the three worst aspects of the film and exposed them - leaving all the best parts to be seen in theater...that's actually smart. It's slightly false advertisement, but in the best possible way.

We get a few answers to unresolved questions in what appears to be something coming full circle. You get to understand why Xavier loses his hair, how you go from being worst enemies back to the old friends you see in the original trilogy - but something about Mystique doesn't add up yet...which makes me think there will be a fourth prequel. This movie is actually more of a direct sequel to First Class, as it re-introduces the agent seen in the first film. It obviously talks a little bit about Days of Future Past, but it feels more like a direct sequel in my opinion.

Check it out!