X-Men: Apocalypse

Like with City of Glass, this review (along with Alice Through the Looking Glass - to come still) has been a long time coming.

In fact, it's been so long I probably can't even write a proper review because I can only remember snippets of each film.

Having said that, I remember the overall feeling I felt after them.

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This one I felt was a good film. I, at least, enjoyed it as much as any of the other films in the X-Men franchise.

The plot was standard with there being a bad guy trying to take over the world and the X-Men needing to stop him as usual. Although hardcore comic book fans have complained that it was rubbish compared to it's origins, simply not doing it justice.

I enjoyed the introduction of the well-known characters (Cyclops, Jean and Storm) in their younger days. I particularly think Sophie Turner did a wonderful job as Jean. It was refreshing to see her play somebody who wasn't a helpless high-lord's daughter for once (although not so helpless in the most recent series of GoT, I must admit).

I wasn't entirely convinced by Apocalypse's character. I thought he would be scarier or more dominating or something. He just seemed a bit merh to be honest.

I did love the Egyptian theme though, there's something fascinating about it all and the locations/set was pretty magnificent.

As for the four horsemen accompanying Apocalypse, I thought they, too, fell a little flat (except Magneto of course). I just wasn't convinced they were the all powerful group. It was too obvious that the X-Men would win because, well, they always do.

Two things I really really enjoyed though:

1. The way they showed Jean's capabilities even this early on was pretty interesting. Even in the early X-Men you don't really believe how powerful she is.

2. The scene with Erik and his family. It's awful, absolutely heartbreaking, but probably the most perfectly shot scene in the entire film.

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Rating: ★★★★☆



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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

It's been a long time coming - but I have finally seen the final Hunger Games. Hurrah!

Spoilers ahead (if you haven't seen it yet!)

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Personally, from start to finish, I was trying to work out what was coming next in each scene because of having read the trilogy last year. I can't decide whether this was annoying or not, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it nevertheless.

It surpassed all of my expectations, nailing every scene - the loss's, the war, the down moments for characters to reflect or grow. It was brilliant. I think Jennifer Lawrence is a wonderful actress, she really gets stuck into each and every role she plays, portraying a whole array of emotions perfectly. There wouldn't be anyone else to play Katniss Everdeen so well.

Johanna and Finnick continued to amuse throughout, relieving some of the building tension. I also thought Peeta's constant struggle against himself was extraordinary. I really felt for him. I wasn't so convinced by the harsh goodbye between Katniss and Gale though - if he'd been her best friend throughout, could you be so cold in the goodbye?

I think parts of the film were definitely predictable, even for those who hadn't read it (scene below for sure), although I still think it was great. The scene below was so tense, you knew she wasn't going to kill Snow, but a part of me almost thought she would. I also had hoped (a lot) that the director wouldn't want to kill off Finnick, but my hopes were dashed as soon as I saw the scene unfold. Heartbreaking - it's always the characters that have just achieved their "happy ending" that get killed. Boo.

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The most emotional scene - for me - was when she returns home and sees Prim's cat in the kitchen. I felt torn - grief for Katniss's loss, but also worry for the poor cat getting struck repeatedly by all those flying objects Katniss was throwing! I'm so glad she picked it up and made a fuss of it, it was such a beautiful scene.

My possible only issue with the film was the ending. As with the novel, I don't think the final scene was necessarily needed. It was only okay. It was nice though to see Peeta and Katniss's life after, but kind of an anti-climax after all of the action.

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Rating:
★★★★★


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