"KNOWING" (2009) ReviewOver five years ago, Nicholas Cage starred in a science-fiction disaster film with a plot that took me by surprise, when I saw it. Directed by Alex Proyas and written by Ryne Douglas Pearson and Juliet Snowden, the movie proved to be a surprise box office hit, despite mixed reviews. "KNOWING" told the story about M.I.T. professor John Koestler, whose son Caleb stumbles across a piece of paper from a time capsule that had been dug up at his son's elementary school fifty years ago. In it are some chilling predictions of disasters - some that have already occurred and others that are about to occur in the near future. This discovery leads Koestler to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold, as he sets out to prevent the ultimate catastrophe.I must admit that I had not been that eager to see "KNOWING", when it first came out in 2009. Cage’s previous movie, "BANGKOK DANGEROUS", had been such a piece of crap. And if I must be brutally honest, his movie choices have been mixed for quite some time. But after learning that the movie had managed to reach the number one spot on the U.S. box office, I decided to give it a shot. Fortunately, "KNOWING" turned out to be somewhat of an improvement from "BANGKOK DANGEROUS". Pearson’s intriguing story, along with the screenplay co-written with Snowden, Alex Proyas’ direction and Cage’s performance helped a bit. I was especially impressed by one sequence that featured a commercial plane crash that occurred not far from where Cage’s character was stuck in a traffic jam, in the middle of a highway. I liked how Proyas and cinematographer Simon Duggan hinted the horrors of the crash’s aftermath through the use of rain, fire, smoke and soot-covered bodies, instead of giving the audience more graphic images. It was probably the best moment in the film.In the end, what started as a mystery surrounding a series of natural and man-made disasters turned into one of those "end of the world" stories. It seemed a group of aliens have been using the codes found on the list of disasters to warn children all over that the world was about to end, due to a massive solar flare that will have a global affect. This turn in the plot seemed to have a negative affect on the movie, transforming it from an intriguing mystery into a rather depressing and frantic tale. Rose Byrne, who portrayed the daughter of the young student who first left the mysterious piece of paper in the time capsule, did not help matters when her performance spiraled into a hammy rendition of a frantic mother trying to save her daughter and herself from being caught up in the oncoming apocalypse. Even worse, the story's narrative ended up reminding me of the plot for 2008's "THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL". And I found that rather unoriginal on the screenwriters' parts. Most of "KNOWING" proved to be . . . okay. The movie's three stars - Nicholas Cage, Rose Byrne and Chandler Canterbury - gave solid performances. So did the supporting cast that included Ben Mendelsohn and Liam Hemsworth. And yes, the movie spiraled into a theatrical "end of the world" story. But despite the movie’s over-the-top ending and switch from an intriguing mystery to a badly handled disaster film, I found "KNOWING" rather tolerable. I would not mind watching it again . . . on cable television.
"STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES" (2002) Review
The fandom surrounding the 2002 movie, "STAR WARS: EPISODE II - ATTACK OF THE CLONES" has always struck me as somewhat a fickle affair. When the movie first hit the theaters over eleven years ago, many critics and film fans had declared the movie a major improvement over its predecessor, 1999's "STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE". Some even went out of their way to declare it as the second best STAR WARS movie ever made. Another three to five years passed before the critics and fans' judgement went through a complete reversal. Now, the movie is considered one of the worst, if not the worst film in the franchise.
Well, I am not going to examine what led to this reversal of opinion regarding "ATTACK OF THE CLONES". Instead, I am going to reveal my own opinion of the movie. Before I do, here is the plot. Set ten (10) years after "THE PHANTOM MENACE", "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" begins with the Republic on the brink of a civil war, thanks to a former Jedi Master named Count Dooku. Disgruntled by the growing corruption of the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Order's complacency, Dooku has formed a group of disgruntled planetary systems called the Separatists. the Galactic Senate is debating a plan to create an army for the Republic to assist the Jedi against the Separatist threat. Senator Padmé Amidala, the former queen of Naboo, returns to Coruscant to vote on a Senate proposal to create an army for the Republic. However, upon her arrival, she barely escapes an assassination attempt.
The Jedi Order, with the agreement of Chancellor Palpatine and the Senate, assigns Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his padawan (apprentice) of ten years, Anakin Skywalker, to guard Padmé. A contracted assassin named Zam Wessell makes another attempt on Padmé, but is foiled by Obi-Wan and Anakin. They chase her to a Coruscant nightclub, where they capture her. During their interrogation of Wessell, she is killed by her employer with a poisonous dart. The Jedi Council orders Obi-Wan to investigate the assassination attempt and learn the identity of Wessell's employer. The Council also assigns Anakin as Padmé's personal escort, and accompany her back to her home planet of Naboo. Obi-Wan's investigation leads to a cloning facility on the planet of Kamino, where an army of clones are being manufactured for the Republic and Zam Wessell's employer, a bounty hunter named Jango Fett. Not long after their arrival on Naboo, Anakin and Padmé become romantically involved, while aware of the former's status as a member of the Jedi Order.
I could discuss the aspects of "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" that seem to repel a good number of fans. But that would take a separate article and I am not in the mood to tackle it. There were some aspects that I personally found questionable. One of those aspects was the handling of the character Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. When Kamino Prime Minister Lama Su had informed Obi-Wan that a Sifo-Dyas had ordered a clone army for the Republic, I assumed that Count Dooku had impersonated his former colleague, following the latter's death. It seemed so simple to me. Yet, a novel called "Labyrinth of Evil" revealed that the Jedi Master had been tricked into ordering the army by Chancellor Palpatine before being murdered by Dooku. Now, I realize that I am actually criticizing the plot of a novel, instead of "ATTACK OF THE CLONES", but every time I watch this movie, I find myself wishing that Dooku had ordered the clone army, while impersonating Sifo-Dyas. But I do have a few genuine complaints. Physically, Daniel Logan made an impressive young Boba Fett. However, it was pretty easy for me to see that the kid was no actor. Oh well. I also wish that Lucas and screenwriter Jonathan Hales had proved a longer scene to establish the antipathy that seemed to be pretty obvious between Anakin Skywalker and his stepbrother, Owen Lars. Instead, their scenes together merely featured some low-key dialogue and plenty of attitude from both Hayden Christensen and Joel Edgerton. Oh well. And if I must be honest, Count Dooku's lightsaber duel against Obi-Wan and Anakin on Geonosis proved to be rather lackluster and short.
Many fans have complained about the love confession scene between Anakin and Padmé at the latter's Naboo lakeside villa. Although, I have a problem with the scene, as well; my complaint is different. Many believed that the scene made Anakin look like a sexual stalker. Frankly, I have no idea how they came to that conclusion. It seemed obvious to me that Lucas had based the Anakin/Padmé romance on something called courtly love. However, it was also obvious to me that Christensen seemed incapable of dealing with the flowery language featured in courtly love. I am not stating that he is a bad actor. There were many scenes in "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" that made it clear to me that he is a first-rate actor. But . . . the movie was shot when he was 19 years old. It is obvious that he was too young to handle such flowery dialogue. He was not the first. I still have memories of Keira Knightley and James McAvoy's questionable attempts at the fast dialogue style from movies of the 1930s and 40 featured in the 2007 movie, "ATONEMENT". Like Christensen before them, they were too young to successfully deal with an unfamiliar dialogue style.
Despite the above flaws, "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" remains one of my top two favorite STAR WARS movies of all time. Why? One, I love the story. Many fans do not. I do. It has an epic scale that some of the other movies in the franchise, save for "STAR WARS: EPISODE V - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK", seemed to lack. And I feel that Lucas and Hales did an excellent job of allowing the story to flow from a simple political assassination attempt to the outbreak of a major galactic civil war. During this 142 minute film, the movie also featured some outstanding action, romance between two young and inexperienced people, a mystery that developed into a potential political scandal, family tragedy that proved to have a major consequence in the next film and war. The best aspect of "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" - at least for me - were the complex issues that added to the eventual downfalls of the major characters.
Naturally, Lucas provided some outstanding action sequences in the movie. I mean . . . they really were. I would be hard pressed to select my favorite action scene from the following list:
*Coruscant chase scene
*Obi-Wan vs. Jango Fett fight scene on Kamino
*Obi-Wan tracks the Fetts to Geonosis
*Anakin's search for the kidnapped Shmi Skywalker on Tatooine
*Anakin and Padmé's arrival on Geonosis
*The Geonosis arena fight sequence
*The outbreak of the Clones War
Earlier, I had complained about Obi-Wan and Anakin's lackluster duel against Count Dooku. But . . . Dooku's duel against Jedi Master Yoda more than made up for the first duel. I thought it was an outstanding action sequence that beautifully blended the moves of both CGI Yoda figure and actor Christopher Lee's action double. More importantly, this duel between a Jedi Master and his former padawan beautifully foreshadowed the conflict between another master/padawan team in the following movie.
However, "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" was not simply an action film with little narrative. It had its share of excellent dramatic moments. Among my favorites are Anakin and Obi-Wan's rather tense quarrel over the Jedi mandate regarding Padmé's protection; Chancellor Palpatine's pep talk to Anakin before the latter's departure from Coruscant; Anakin and Padmé's conversation about love and the Jedi mandate; Obi-Wan's conversations with diner owner Dexter "Dex" Jettster, Count Dooku and especially his tense encounter with Jango Fett; Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu's conversation about the Clone Army; and finally Anakin and Padmé's poignant declaration of love. But if I had to choose the best dramatic scene, it would Anakin's final conversation with his dying mother, Shmi Skywalker. Not only was the scene filled with pathos, drama and tragedy; both Christensen and actress Pernilla August gave superb performances in it. Many fans have complained about the Anakin/Padmé romance in the film. I suspect a good number of them have a problem with Padmé falling in love with a future Sith Lord, especially after he had tearfully confessed to slaughtering the Tusken Raiders responsible for his mother's death. Perhaps they wanted a modern-style love story, similar to the one featured in the first trilogy. Or they had a problem with the love confession scene. Although I had a problem with the latter, I definitely did not have problem with the romance overall. One, I never believed it should be an exact replica of the main romance featured in the Original Trilogy. And two, it featured other scenes building up to the romance that I found more than satisfying - especially Anakin and Padmé's Naboo picnic and their declaration of love, while entering the Geonosis arena.
When talking about the acting in any STAR WARS movie, one has to consider the franchise's occasional, yet notorious forays into cheesy dialogue. And if I must be frank, I have yet to encounter one actor able to rise above the cheesiness. But despite the cheesy dialogue, the saga has provided some first-class performances. They were certainly on display in "ATTACK OF THE CLONES". Ewan McGregor became the saga's new leading actor following the promotion of his character, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Jedi Knight. And he did an excellent job as the straight-laced knight who continued to be wary of his padawan of ten years. McGregor also handled his action scenes with the same amount of grace he handled his performance. Instead of a stoic monarch, Natalie Portman's Padmé Amidala has become a Senator for her home planet of Naboo. This has allowed Portman to portray her character with more force and vibrancy, much to my relief. And Padmé's romance in this film allowed Portman to inject a good deal of passion into her performance. Hayden Christensen took over the role of Jedi padawan Anakin Skywalker with a great deal of criticism. Much of the criticism against him came from two scenes - Anakin's confession of love for Padmé and a comment regarding a dislike of Tatooine's sandy terrain. I do not understand the criticism about the sand line, since I have no problems with it. I have already expressed my complaints about the love confession scene. But I still felt that Christensen did an excellent job in portraying a 19 year-old Anakin, who lacked any real experience in romance and at the same time, harbored frustration and a good deal of angst regarding his Jedi master's tight leash upon him. And at the same time, the actor did an excellent job in conveying the more intimidating (and scary) side of his character.
"ATTACK OF THE CLONES" featured other first-rate or solid performances. Ayesha Dharker gave a solid performance laced with amusement as Padmé's successor as Naboo's ruler, Queen Jamillia. Ahmed Best returned as Gungan Jar Jar Binks, now Naboo's political representative for the Galactic Senate in a downsized role. Rose Byrne had a brief appearance as one of Padmé's handmaidens, Dormé. Frankly, I found Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse's roles as Owen and Beru Lars equally brief. However, both Edgerton and Christensen still managed to convey some hostility between the two stepbrothers with very little dialogue. Jimmy Smits' performance as Prince/Senator Bail Organa of Alderaan, future stepfather of Princess Leia Organa, was brief, yet solid.
The more impressive performances from Samuel L. Jackson, who was given a lot more to do in "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" - especially in the last third of the movie. And if there is one thing about Jackson, once a director gives him an inch, he will take it and give it his all. He certainly did in the Geonosis sequence. Christopher Lee made his first appearance in the STAR WARS as former Jedi Master Count Dooku. He was elegant, commanding and very memorable in the role. I could probably say the same about Temuera Morrison, who was marvelous as the bounty hunter, Jango Fett. This was especially in the Obi-Wan/Jango confrontation scene on Kamino. Both Kenny Baker and Anthony Daniels returned to portray droids R2-D2 and C3PO. Baker did a good job, as usual. But Daniels was really hilarious as finicky Threepio, who found himself in the middle of a battle with crazy results. And I will never forget his line - "Die Jedi dog! Die!" Pernilla August returned to portray Shmi Skywalker and probably gave one of the best performance in both the Prequel Trilogy and the saga overall. I found her portrayal beautiful and poignant. Both she and Christensen brought tears to my eyes. When I first saw "ATTACK OF THE CLONES", I was surprised to see Jack Thompson in the role of Cliegg Lars, Shmi's husband and Anakin's stepfather. I must say that he gave a wonderfully gruff, yet poignant performance. And finally, there was Ian McDiarmid. Oh God! He was just wonderful. It is a pity that his role only made brief appearances in the film. I really enjoyed the actor's take on his character's subtle manipulations of others.
Watching "ATTACK OF THE CLONES", it occurred to me that it was one of the most beautiful looking films in the franchise. Between David Tattersall's photography, Ben Burtt's editing, Gavin Bocquet's production designs and the art designs created by a team led by Peter Russell, my mind was blown on many occasions by the film's visual effects. I was especially impressed by the work featured in the Naboo scenes (filmed in Italy), the Coruscant sequences and especially those scenes set on the water-logged planet, Kamino. And yet, there is one scene that I always found memorable, whenever I watched the movie:
But one cannot discuss a Prequel Trilogy movie without bringing up the name of costume designer Trisha Biggar. Her work in "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" - especially the costumes worn by Natalie Portman - blew the costumes she made for "THE PHANTOM MENACE" out of the water. For example:
The Hollywood movie industry should be ashamed of itself for its failure to honor this woman for her beautiful work.
What else can I say about "ATTACK OF THE CLONES"? It is not perfect. I have never seen a STAR WARS movie that I would describe as perfect. But my recent viewing of this film has reminded me of how much I love it. Even after fourteen years or so. To this day, I have George Lucas to thank, along with the talented cast and crew that contributed to this film. To this day, I view "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" as one of the two best films in the franchise.
"X-MEN: APOCALYPSE" (2016) Review
Two years following the success of 2014's "X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST", Marvel Entertainment released a new "X-MEN" film set ten years after the previous one. The movie proved to be the fourth one directed by Bryan Singer.
"X-MEN: APOCALYPSE" began in ancient Egypt, where the world's first mutant, a powerful individual named En Sabah Nur, ruled by by transferring his mind into new bodies. Unfortunately, a group of former worshipprs betrayed En Sabah Nur aka "Apocalypse" by entombing him alive. They also killed his four lieutenants, the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse", who tried to protect him. The movie jumped to 1983 Egypt where C.I.A. Agent Moira MacTaggert (last seen in 2011's "X-MEN: FIRST CLASS") has been investigating a cult in Egypt that worships En Sabah Nur. Her accidental exposure his tomb to sunlight awakened the ancient mutant and produced a shock wave around the globe. Following his awakening, En Sabah Nur set out to recruit four mutants as his new "Four Horsemen":
*Ororo Munroe aka "Storm" - an orphan and pickpocket from the streets of Cairo, who is able to control the weather
*Warren Worthington III aka "Angel" - a mutant with feathered wings on his back, who has resorted to participating in underground fight clubs in Berlin
*Psylocke - an enforcer for the black marketeer mutant Caliban, who is not only telepathic and telekinetic, but can also produce a purple-colored psychic energy
*Erik Lehnsherr aka "Magneto" - a Holocaust survivor and former friend of Charles Xavier, who has the ability to manipulate metal and control magnetic fields, and who is recently grieving over the accidental deaths of his wife and daughter by the Polish police
Apocalypse's shock wave also caused Jean Grey, an adolescent student and mutant at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to have a nightmare and momentarily lose control of her powers. When Charles Xavier attempted to investigate the power source he discovered that Moira was involved. Although her previous memories of them together were erased, Xavier meets with her to discuss the legend of En Sabah Nur. But when they become aware of the ancient mutant's plans to bring about the apocalypse; Xavier and Moira recruit fellow mutants like Raven aka "Mystique", Hank McCoy aka "Beast", Alex Summers aka "Havok", and Peter Maximoff aka "Quicksilver" to stop Apocalypse's plans. Xavier students like Jean Grey, Scott Summers aka "Cyclops" (Alex's nephew) and Kurt Wagner aka "Nightcrawler" also join the campaign to stop En Sabah Nur.
Let me be frank. "X-MEN: APOCALYPSE" was not well received by the critics and many filmgoers. I am not going to explain why they felt this way about the movie. Needless to say, I do not agree with this pervading view. I am not saying that "X-MEN: APOCALYPSE" was a great film. It was not. I believe the movie had some problems.
One of those problems is that some of the cast members were obviously too young for their roles. This certainly seemed to be the case for James McAvoy Michael Fassbender and Rose Byrne, who portrayed Charles Xavier, Magneto and Moira McTaggart. All three are in their mid-to-late 30s and portrayed characters who were in their early 50s (late 40s for Moira, I suspect) . . . with no make-up to convey their characters' aging. Both Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult portrayed Mystique and Hank McCoy, who were slightly younger than Xavier and Magneto. But "X-MEN: FIRST CLASS" gave a good excuse for their slow aging . . . Mystique's blood. Another cast member who portrayed a character much older than himself (without makeup) is Lucas Till, who is at least 25 or 26 years old, reprising his role as the late 30s to early 40s Alex Summers. And finally, we have Josh Helman, who is barely 30 years old, who reprised his role as William Stryker, who must have been around the same age as Xavier and Magneto. Does Singer have something against aging in his "X-MEN"films? And if he wanted to maintain the same cast, could he have at least consider using aging makeup for at least five members of the cast?
Two, what was the point in including both Stryker and Wolverine in this movie? Why? They were not essential to the plot. Was it really necessary for Singer to convey that Stryker had ended up giving Wolverine adamantium after all? Despite the time change in "DAYS OF FUTURE PAST"? What was the point? Could we at least have one "X-MEN" film in which Hugh Jackman does not appear? I also see that Singer, along with screenwriter Simon Kinberg, decided to include Stryker in this tale as a plot device to delay Hank, Raven, Peter, and Moira from reaching Cairo. Pointless. It was the most pointless moment in this movie. Finally, I had a problem with the "Four Horsemen". Aside from Magneto, the other three were barely used. What was the point in showing how they were recruited by En Sabah Nur, when Oscar Isaac and Michael Fassbender seemed to be the only ones in scenes featuring the ancient mutant and his "Horsemen", who had the most lines. It is bad enough that once again, Singer indulged in his penchant for ignoring minority characters like Storm and Psylocke. Then he includes Angel into this movie - who was shown to be younger than Storm, Scott and Jean in 2006's "X-MEN: THE LAST STAND" - and barely give the latter any lines.
And yet . . . I still liked "X-MEN: APOCALYPSE". In fact, I liked it more than I did "X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST". The 2016 movie had its problems, but it never seemed racked with so many plot holes like the 2014 movie did. Without the cloud of time travel hovering over the movie, the writing for "APOCALPYSE" struck me as a little clearer and a lot more straightforward. I can applause Singer for attempting to tackle something complicated as time travel. I simply believe that he, Kinberg and the other screenwriters did not handle it very well. On the other hand, the more straightforward narrative for "X-MEN: APOCALYPSE" seemed to suit both Singer and Kinberg.
I did not care for the minor arc regarding William Stryker and Wolverine. And yes, En Sabah Nur's plot to retake the world seemed a bit unoriginal. But Singer and Kinberg handled this story a lot better than they did the time travel plot for the 2014 movie. And to be honest, I rather liked it. I did not love it, but I liked it. I also liked the fact that En Sabah Nur's plot had a surprising twist (well, one that I did not see coming) that did not involved his "Four Horsemen".
I may not have a high opinion of "DAYS OF FUTURE PAST". But the movie did provide some interesting consequences that played out in "APOCALYPSE". One, both movies allowed Xavier and Mystique to become close again, following their estrangement in "X-MEN: FIRST-CLASS". In one of the movie's more interesting scenes, Mystique discovers that she has become something of a legend to some of the younger mutants, including Xavier's students. The movie also allowed Jean Grey the opportunity to learn to utilize her "Dark Phoenix" powers with more control . . . and without Xavier trying to suppress her. Do not get me wrong. I am one of those fans who actually enjoyed "X-MEN: THE LAST STAND". But it was nice to see Xavier dealing with Jean's powers with a healthier attitude. And although I was not impressed by how Singer and Kinberg pushed Storm into the background - especially during the film's second half, it was nice to get a peek into her life as a young Cairo pickpocket before she ended up as one of Apocalypse's minions and later, a student at Xavier's school.
I certainly had no problem with the movie's productions. I thought Grant Major did an exceptional job in not only re-creating ancient Egypt for the movie's prologue and for the rest of it, the early 1980s. This is not surprising, considering Major's work with director Peter Jackson on movies such as "THE LORD OF THE RINGS" trilogy. Newton Thomas Sigel's cinematography contributed to the movie's epic and sweeping look. Louise Mingenbach's costumes, along with Geoffroy Gosselin and Anne Kuljian's set decorations struck me as a solid reflection of the movie's early 1980s setting. But the two aspects of the movie's visual style that really impressed me were Michael Louis Hill and John Ottman's editing, especially in scenes that involved En Sabah Nur's entombing in the movie's beginning and the X-Men's showdown with the ancient mutant. I was especially impressed with the movie's special effects, especially in the very two scenes that I had just pointed out.
The acting featured in "X-MEN: APOCALYPSE" also struck me as impressive. Well, to be honest, there were only a few performances that really caught my notice. However, I certainly had no problem with the other performances. Of the four actors who portrayed En Sabah Nur's "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse", only one left no impression upon me - namely Ben Hardy, who portrayed Angel. The character barely had any lines and if I am mistaken, I could have sworn that Angel's character was from a younger generation (that of Rogue and Iceman's) - at least in the current movie franchise. I can also say the same about actress Lana Candor, who portrayed Jubilee. Not only did the actress barely had any lines, she was also portrayed as an Xavier student from Rogue and Iceman's generation in a previous movie.
Although Alexandra Shipp, who portrayed Storm, and Olivia Munn, who portrayed Psylocke; were shifted to the background after their characters were introduced; both managed to impress me in the end. Shipp's portrayal of the adolescent Storm struck me as rather lively and energetic. And Munn was effectively intimidating as the mutant enforcer, who becomes one of En Sabah Nur's minions. The movie also featured solid performances from Rose Byrne, who returned as C.I.A. Agent Moira McTaggert; Sophie Turner and Tye Sheridan as the adolescent Jean Grey and Scott Summers aka "Cyclops"; Kodi Smit-McPhee as the younger Kurt Wagner aka "Nightcrawler"; Lucas Till as Alex Summers aka Havok; Nicholas Hoult as Dr. Hank McCoy aka "Beast"; Josh Helman as William Stryker; and Evan Peters as the always amusing Peter Maximoff aka "Quicksilver". If you are careful, you might also spot Hugh Jackman, Zeljko Ivanek, Ally Sheedy and of course, Stan Lee.
Only four performances in this movie really impressed me. One of them turned out to be James McAvoy's portrayal of Charles Xavier aka "Professor X". At first, McAvoy's performance seemed solid . . . almost perfunctory. But once it became apparent that Professor Xavier's fate was connected with with En Sabah Nur's scheme, McAvoy skillfully portrayed the telepathic mutant with a great deal of emotion and pathos. Michael Fassbender proved to be equally fascinating as the emotionally battered Erik Lensherr. He did a great job in conveying Magneto's reactions to the deaths of a family and peaceful life, and to being emotionally manipulated by En Sabah Nur. Jennifer Lawrence continued to impress me with her excellent portrayal of the complex Raven aka "Mystique". I found it fascinating to watch the 20-something actress portray a character who had become battle hardened and mature after spending two decades fighting on behalf of fellow mutants. Many critics have complained about Oscar Isaac's portrayal of the movie's main villain, En Sabah Nur aka "Apocalypse". Apparently, they could not get past the actor's make-up or mask. Well, I could. And I thought Isaac did a pretty damn good job in portraying a villain who was not only something of an egomaniac, but also a world-class manipulator. And he did so with great skill and subtlety.
I am not saying that "X-MEN: APOCALYPSE" was one of the best movies from the summer of 2016. Nor am I saying that it was one of the best in the "X-MEN" movie franchise. But I certainly do not believe that it was one of the worst. As far as I am concerned, the worst in the movie franchise was released four-and-a-half months earlier. But I thought it was something of an improvement over the convoluted plot that seemed to mar "X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST", thanks to Bryan Singer's direction, Simon Kinberg's screenplay and an excellent cast led by James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender.
