Awful, it’s almost impressive how little this achieves compared to Days of Future Past. It’s way too preoccupied with exposition and setting up new characters instead of telling a good story. It strips away the cerebral edge of the best X-men films and attempts a more straightforward plot, yet it doesn’t feel like much has happened by the end of it. Magneto has an arc but it’s the same one we’ve seen time and time again (not to mention that the final turn that completes his arc is especially clunky this time around), while everyone else is fighting for screen time. Singer cuts corners at every turn to awkwardly introduce new characters as quickly as possible, but I still don't know what to make of Scott, Jean, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Storm, Angel or Jubilee. The villain, besides an interesting motivation, conveniently shows up wherever the plot needs him to. Oscar Isaac tries his best with the performance, but he can't elevate the comical design of the character and terrible lines given by the script. It just constantly fails to build things organically. The script's trying to keep things simple but it never feels harmonious. Two of its best scenes (eurythmics scene & Wolverine cameo) feel like they come from different films altogether. The sets, make-up and effects look schlocky, some of the acting is straight up bad (Jennifer Lawrence & Sophie Turner) and there’s almost no excitement or fun. The third act is the kind of boring CGI sludge this franchise had managed to mostly avoid until this point, it feels more like something from the DCEU or MCU playbook. All things considered, it’s really McAvoy and Fassbender that keep this thing watchable, and thankfully it sprinkles in a few good moments with those characters (e.g. forest scene). Everything else feels half-assed.
Review by JordyVIP 8BlockedParent2024-04-23T07:25:00Z
Awful, it’s almost impressive how little this achieves compared to Days of Future Past. It’s way too preoccupied with exposition and setting up new characters instead of telling a good story. It strips away the cerebral edge of the best X-men films and attempts a more straightforward plot, yet it doesn’t feel like much has happened by the end of it. Magneto has an arc but it’s the same one we’ve seen time and time again (not to mention that the final turn that completes his arc is especially clunky this time around), while everyone else is fighting for screen time. Singer cuts corners at every turn to awkwardly introduce new characters as quickly as possible, but I still don't know what to make of Scott, Jean, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Storm, Angel or Jubilee. The villain, besides an interesting motivation, conveniently shows up wherever the plot needs him to. Oscar Isaac tries his best with the performance, but he can't elevate the comical design of the character and terrible lines given by the script. It just constantly fails to build things organically. The script's trying to keep things simple but it never feels harmonious. Two of its best scenes (eurythmics scene & Wolverine cameo) feel like they come from different films altogether. The sets, make-up and effects look schlocky, some of the acting is straight up bad (Jennifer Lawrence & Sophie Turner) and there’s almost no excitement or fun. The third act is the kind of boring CGI sludge this franchise had managed to mostly avoid until this point, it feels more like something from the DCEU or MCU playbook. All things considered, it’s really McAvoy and Fassbender that keep this thing watchable, and thankfully it sprinkles in a few good moments with those characters (e.g. forest scene). Everything else feels half-assed.
3.5/10