X-Men: Apocalypse *** ½

Dir:  Bryan Singer

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Oscar Isaac, Rose Byrne, Evan Peters, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Olivia Munn, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Lucas Till, Ben Hardy, Alexandra Shipp.

With the critical drubbing received by the third movie (X-Men: The Last Stand) in the original mutant superheroes trilogy, the franchise rebooted itself with the excellent X-Men: First Class, with a fresher, younger cast and by going back to basics. First Class was set in the ‘60s and its follow-up, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, moved 10 years forward into the ‘70s (actually, it moved around in time quite a bit - time-travel being the essential driver of the plot - but most of the action took place in 1973). The sequel was a strong, entertaining entry in the series which also took the bold - if necessary - steps to fix many of the egregious missteps of The Last Stand, which while not quite as bad as many critics have made it out to be did do a disservice to many of the series’ beloved characters.

So now we come to X-Men: Apocalypse and this one too has moved forward 10 years in time. While First Class and Days Of Future Past were rooted in real-world events, for Apocalypse it is just the ‘80s (throwaway bits in the background like Ronald Reagan’s pictures in the background and a Ms. Pac Man game establish the time) so the movie carries less weight that way. It makes up for that, however, by some solid plotting (it has less obvious plot holes than many super-hero movies) and meaningful character bits as Professor X’s (James McAvoy) team battles the forces of the world’s first mutant, En Sabah Nur AKA Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), who has been joined by the likes of the series’ anti-hero Magneto (Michael Fassbender), a younger Storm (Alexandra Shipp) and newcomers Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Angel (Ben Hardy).  Apocalypse has woken from a 6000 year sleep and now wants to destroy the world and remake it in his image and it is up to Xavier and his X-Men to stop him.

While the protagonists/antagonists from the earlier two movies are all on hand, including Professor X, Magneto, Mystique (the always effective Jennifer Lawrence) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult), this one also gives us new iterations of Jean Grey (Sophie Turner of Game Of Thrones fame) and Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) - the perennial, star-crossed lovebirds of the comics series - and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee). There was a danger that the movie could have become overstuffed with so many characters but writer Simon Kinberg and director Bryan Singer easily maintain clarity with the action and events. Almost every character gets his or her moment to shine (and Evan Peters as Quicksilver has a fantastic scene-stealing sequence) and there’s even a crowd-pleasing cameo (you’ll know it when you see it).

Many movie franchises take a step back with the third entries in the series. X-Men: Apocalypse has avoided that particular pitfall and done it easily.

Cut to chase: Solid superhero excitement and fun.

 

The Angry Birds Movie ** ½

Dir:  Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly

Starring: (voices of) Jason Sudeikis, Maya Rudolph, Sean Penn, Peter Dinklage, Kate McKinnon, Bill Hader, Josh Gad.

On an isolated little island live these these flightless, garishly coloured birds.  They mostly get along except for anomalies like sarcastic, angry Red (Jason Sudeikis), hyperactive Chuck (Josh Gad), the volatile and (literally) combustible Bomb (Danny McBride) and the huge but mainly silent Terrence (Sean Penn) who all get together at anger management classes run by "free rage chicken", Matilda (Maya Rudolph). It is up to these outcasts to come to the rescue of their fellow avian citizens when strange green piggies land on their island professing friendship but hiding some dastardly intentions.

Based on the popular video game/app that was almost ubiquitous a couple of years ago, the animated movie packs in some funny gags and quips early on (and you’ve probably seen most of them if you’ve seen the trailer). However, the movie slows down with the arrival of the pigs, the humour becoming increasingly forced, the musical numbers too many, and the script contorting itself into strange shapes to accommodate elements of the game.

So despite Sudeikis and the grunting Penn being quite funny and the animation quite good, the movie will probably be best enjoyed by younger children still obsessed with their Angry Birds games and toys.

Cut to chase: Runs out of steam early but younger kids will probably like it.

 

* Not on your life ** Hardly worth the bother **  ½ Okay for a slow afternoon only *** Good enough for a look see ***½ Recommended viewing **** Don’t miss it **** ½ Almost perfect ***** Perfection