2016 movies

Movie Review: KISS ROCKS VEGAS (USA 2016) ***

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kiss_rocks_vegas.jpgKISS ROCKS VEGAS (USA 2016) ***
Directed by Kevin DeHaven

Starring: KISS, Gene Simmons, Eric Singer

Review by Gilbert Seah

For those who love music, Cineplex Odeon has put together a series called “Music at the Movies” that runs in cinemas across Canada. This series features music documentaries, concert films and music movies where one can celebrate ones favourite artists with other fans. KISS ROCKS VEGAS a concert film s scheduled to run for one night only all over the world on 25 May 2016. The film is comprised of two parts. The first is a documentary section lasting around 20 minutes where the planned show is talked about. The second and main purpose is footage of KISS’s 9 day run of concerts at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 2014 that includes exclusive behind the scenes footage. One night only!

In November 2014, a helicopter landed at the infamous Hard Rock Hotel as KISS invaded Las Vegas for an historic nine-show run. As the Vegas residency involves KISS performing on stage in a smaller venue than they usually do in arenas, much planning and preparation had to be done. The film reveals KISS to be rational business people, talented, ambitious and always thinking ahead. Their costumes, make-up and guitar bashing on stage hides the true nature of the band. The film shows a different side of a rock band that is seldom seen. During an interview with lead guitarist Tommy Thayer, Thayer confesses that the greatest joy he has experienced is watching a 5-year old kid on the shoulder of his father enjoying their concert. To him, he says, that is what genuine tribute is.

As the camera takes the audience on stage into the theatre in Vegas, exclusive footage seen includes sky-high flames, gigantic screens, a platform across the audience and of course, candid reactions of the spectators (priceless) as the concert goes on.

The film engages both KISS fans and non-KISS fans alike. KISS performs a lot of their famous oldies such as ‘Parasite’ and ‘Do you love me”, which even non-KISS fans should be familiar with.

The film ends with the encore performance at the concert of one of KISS’s most famous songs “I wanna rock and roll all night.” They do a sing-a-long with the audience in Vegas. Be not surprised if the audience in the cinema break out into song as well.

KISS ROCKS VEGAS captures the unique experience of watching KISS live without having to be there with the noisy crowds.

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Movie Review: NEON BULL (Brazil/Uruguay/Netherlands 2015)

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neonbull.jpgNEON BULL (Brazil/Uruguay/Netherlands 2015) ***
Directed by Gabriel Mascaro

Starring: Juliano Cazarré, Maeve Jinkings, Josinaldo Alves

Review by Gilbert Seah

NEON BULL tells the story, set in a Brazilian rodeo setting, of Iremar (Juliano Cazarre) and his immediate family, all living at the edge of poverty. The family consists of his girlfriend an exotic dancer (Maeve Jinkings) and her daughter Caca (Aline Santana). Iremar works at a rodeo called the ‘Vaquejadas’ in the north east of Brazil. In the rodeo, two men on horseback bring down a bull by its tail (which is sanded for grip) within a time limit. There is no story but the film’s purpose is to show what life is like for them. The film works around Iremar’s immediate family and work while focusing on his desire to get out of the bull business as it is difficult hard-breaking work. Iremar’s passion, believe it or not is designing skimpy women’s clothes.

Mascaro uses dramatic set-ups to tell his story. The segment in which the little girl Caca asks Iremar, the mother’s befriend out of the blue for a hug shows the closeness between the two that is missing between her and her real mother. On the other hand, the mother slapping Caca in another scene demonstrates the mother just tolerating her most of the time. These often isolated segments do not help smooth the flow of the story telling, which feels choppy at times. The dramatic contents of the film, however, are strong.

Mascaro loves to focus his camera on images of bodies be it humans, even on co-worker Ze’s (Carlos Pessoa) pot-belly and his protruding belly button or on the almost perfect contours of the white bulls in the rodeo. It seems natural then, that his protagonist has the ambition to design fashion outfit as an alternative source of income.

The film’s cinematography by Diego Garcia is detailed enough to observe dust in the wind. His fond of use of shadows is apparent in the many night scenes. There is much to enjoy in the lighting department as well, as evident in a scene which is lit up by the needle of a sewing machine emphasizing Iremar’s dedication to his design work.

NEON BULL has the mixed feel of art and biopic. The slowness of pace and the often lingering of the camera with the explicit use of colours (the white bulls, the neon lights, the colours of posters) are the realistic dirty look of poverty of the subjects.

The climax of the film is where everything comes together – filmmaking-wise. It is a sex scene, very graphically explicit, shot in the night with shadows and minimal lighting with selected musical scoring. The sex is very erotic and different, between Iremar and his cosmetics saleslady who happens to be pregnant. It is not a scene for everybody, riding from behind, but tastefully done, arguably.

If the visual and dramatic setups are tied in with a stronger film narrative, NEON BULL would emerge a more focused film and even one that could contain a message of survival and maybe the mistreatment of animals. Shot in Portuguese.

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Movie Review: THE WAITING ROOM (Canada 2015) **

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the_waiting_room.jpgTHE WAITING ROOM (Canada 2015) **
Directed by Igro Drljaca

Starring: Cintija Asperger, Jordan Barker, Tatjana Cornij

Review by Gilbert Seah

THE WAITING ROOM shot in Toronto in English, Bosnian and Croatian has garnered praise in its limited run in film festivals which could mean one thing – this is the kind of quirky Canadian feature that is not bad but no one wants to see.

The central character is a middle-age struggling actor, Jasmin (Jasmin Geljo) who has immigrated to Toronto from Bosnia. He lives with his second wife and young son but longs to move back to Bosnia where his father, who he talks to frequently on the computer is. He has various acting parts, one of which is in drag (the reason is up to the audience to figure) and another one sitting in a car driving around with the background of Bosnia. Jasmin finds the pieces of his former and present life meshing uncomfortably. When he is cast for a role set amidst the very Bosnian-Herzegovinian civil war he escaped decades earlier, the line between fiction and reality become blurred. Director Drljaca blurs the lines of fiction and re-creation, the tragic and the absurd in the film.

The cast of Canadian unknowns perform relatively well, lead actor Geljo included. Production values are also sound.

Director Drljaca’s (KRIVINA) over serious film looks sincere but the film’s narrative goes nowhere and the film jumps all over the place. The only humour, understated obviously, comes right at the end of the film, which fortunately is quite the delight! The question is whether one would like to sit through the entire film for the ending.

The film premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival is now getting a commercial release.

 

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Movie Review: KILL ZONE 2 (China/ Hong Kong 2015) ***

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killzone2.jpgKILL ZONE 2 (China/ Hong Kong 2015) ***
Directed by Pou-Soi Cheang

Starring: Tony Jaa, Jing Wu, Simon Yam

Review by Gilbert Seah

KILL ZONE 2, the sequel is largely different from the first film, this one being more ambitious and set in Thailand in addition to Hong Kong with both Thai and Chinese spoken. It also stars Thai action star Tony Jaa who is not in the first. Jaa is the star of the popular Thai ONG BAK action flicks who also landed a role in FURIOUS 7. Simon Yam and Wu Jing appear in both KILL ZONE films but play different characters.

There are several stories in this movie, all linked by coincidences. All are equally important judging from director Cheang’s treatment of each, giving each equal screen time. One involves a Thai prison guard Chai (Tony Jaa). His daughter has leukaemia and requires a marrow donor that only a person called Kit (Wu Jing) can give, due to matching blood type requirements. Coincidence has it that Kit is one of the prisoners in the Thai prison. There is more. Kit is an undercover cop working for his uncle, Wah (Simon Yam veteran of over a dozen Hong Kong films including IP MAN). The undercover operation turned bad and Kit is in jail. The suspect is crime boss Mr Hung (Louis Koo) who needs a blood transplant from his brother (Jun Kung), who turns out to be the cops’ suspect. A minor subplot involves the stern warden Ko (Zhang Jin) who wants Kit dead for the smooth operation of his prison. Mr Hung had saved the warden’s life before.

If you think the plot sounds difficult to follow, it is. It takes 45 minutes for the film to get its footing. At this mark, the audience is able to follow who is whom, who the bad and good guys are and which uncle or brother or daughter needs a blood or organ transplant and whether the syndicate deals with drugs or body parts.

The stories all come together at the film’s climax which of course ends in lots of martial-arts fights. A few elaborate action sequences include the ones at an airport and a prison break. These action sequences make the film.

KILL ZONE 2 share the same traits as most Hong Kong crime kung-fu action films like the IP Man films. Director Cheang accomplishes a rare feat of invoking some genuine emotions with the characters. The scene in which Inspector Wah and Mr. Hung talk it over outside a hospital displays seriousness in the acting department between the two Hong Kong stars.
The film is not without the typical corny dialogue. The worst of these is Chai comforting his daughter talking about how a seed germinates in the dark and the importance of having hope. The many coincidences are attributed to as Uncle Wah says God toying with them.

It is odd to see this commercial martial-arts film selected for a run at TIFF Bell Lightbox where art house films are mostly screened. Judging the other typical Hong Kong action flicks (from Golden Harvest and Shaw Brothers) of this variety, KILL ZONE 2 hits the mark.

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Movie Review: MONEY MONSTER (USA 2016) ****

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moneymonster.jpgMONEY MONSTER (USA 2016) ****
Directed by Jodie Foster

Starring: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O’Connell, Dominic West, Caitriona Balfe, Giancarlo Esposito

Review by Gilbert Seah

MONEY MONSTER is a star-studded sharp Hollywood satire/drama that is as current as the stock prices on the stock market charts. Financial TV personality Lee Gates (George Clooney), who offers up stock advice on his hit show “Money Monster”, is held hostage by a viewer, Kyle Budwell (Jack O’ Connell). Kyle had lost all of his money, following a bad tip from Lee during his show. Kyle wants answers. As the police surround the TV studio, Lee eventually sympathizes and takes Kyle’s side in discovering the truth about the company’s $800 million loss explained on TV as a glitch in the company’s financial algorithm.

MONEY MONSTER is a odd film in that its middle portion is better than the end. The story is predictable enough once naive Kyle takes Lee hostage. It does not take a genius to figure out that Lee will take Kyle’s side and that the villain of the piece is the CEO of the company (Dominic West) who eventually confesses to his embezzlement. But as they say, the devil is in the details. It is all the little observations and various incidents that make the movie totally watchable thus covering up the predictability complaint of the story.

Directed by Jodie Foster (THE PANIC ROOM), the film contains strong feminine roles. The most obvious is Julia Robert’s Patty Fenn, a more than able producer. She is Lee’s neglected girlfriend who proves she that she is able to control the hostage situation as well as their relationship. The other is that of Molly (Emily Meade), Kyle’s girlfriend. Molly’s speech to Kyle, on the air, on how much a loser he is, is the arguably funniest to be found in a film this year: As in recent ‘female’ films, the males (Lee, Kyle, the show producer, Walt) are all egocentric ‘idiots’. But by putting them up high on the pedestal and making it all funny, Foster gets away with it.

Performances are top notch. Clooney and Roberts work their chemistry but top marks go to Brit actor Jack O’ Connell (STARRED UP) , playing the straight role of the victim/antagonist. He demonstrates how to keep attention from waning even when the limelight shifts to another character. The other supporting roles are well performed by Dominic West as the financial villain, Walt Camby and Caitriona Balfe as Diane Lester, the whistle blower.

The incidents leading to the expected results are however genuinely inventive. The parody on found footage is take up another level with a network camera following the hostage and kidnapper down the elevator and into the street, still shooting. Lee raps on stage and offers stock tips also satirizes the financial world well. The script by Alan Di Fiore, Jim Kouf and Jamie Linden is smart enough to include clips of “The View” as everyone watches the takedown on television. Walt’s defence statement that all these would not have happened if events had worked out with the stock going up instead of down rings so true. When something illegal occurs and everyone benefits, no one says anything.

For a thriller, editing is crucial. The camera shots of the snipers crawling into position, the movement of the target, the shots of the crew behind and in front of the camera and the dance routine (to show just enough but not too much) are close to perfect.

MONEY MONSTER ultimately satisfies as it delivers what it is supposed to – a sharp and witty satire on the financial world that is both funny and smart at the same time. It features Hollywood’s top and upcoming stars at their best. Highly recommended – take this as as a movie tip!

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Movie Review: DARK HORSE (UK 2014) ***1/2

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darkhorse.jpgDARK HORSE (UK 2014) ***1/2
Directed by Louise Osmond

Review by Gilbert Seah

If one is to check imdb the internet film database, there has been no less than 4 films since 1992 that have the identical title of DARK HORSE. But this 2014 documentary by Louise Osmond is the only one that is actually about a horse – and a dark horse, not destined to win any race. DARK HORSE is the inspirational true story of a Welsh group of friends from a working men’s club who decide to take on the elite ‘sport of kings’ and breed themselves a racehorse. And one that went on to win Britain’s Grand National, enriching a lot of lives.

Director Osmond plays it safe for her documentary. The doc traces the beginning to end of the life of Dream Alliance (the horse’s name) with various highlights of him winning many races. There is also an obstacle portion near the end when Dream Alliance runs into trouble with a serious accident. “It is the end”, everyone thinks but miraculously, thanks to stem cell surgery, the horse emerges recovered and ready to race again. Will he continue to win?

The film is made up mostly of interviews by the owners of Dream Alliance oddly called the syndicate, made up of a good number of common Welsh folk. The rest is made up of archive footage of races. One wonders about the footage of the surgery of the horse undergoing stem cell surgery as it seems that it is something just put together like a re-enactment. But one can forgive Osmond for trying.

Osmond proves to be an expert at pushing all the right buttons. She primes the audiences at the very start of the film to get their hearts pumping. The narrative voiceover goes: the greatest race in the world; we were there; can be something, given the chance. She goes on to show, comically how it all got started, in a pub. It is hard not to root for common decent folk like this tight Welsh mining community coming up with a tenner a week to breed a race horse. It is wonderful to see a pub full of beer drinkers watching the television, cheering for their favourite horse at a race.

Osmond’s sense of humour works though odd at times. The funniest is her revelation of a subjects’s teeth (the subject shown at various points in the film with only two front teeth) at the end of the film.

DARK HORSE has been wowing audiences wherever it has been played. It has won the British Independent Film Award for Best Documentary and the Audience Award at Sundance for World Cinema Documentary. Everyone loves an underdog story, or in this case an underhorse story and the best thing about all this is that the story is a true life fairy tale come true.

 

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Movie Review: A BIGGER SPLASH. Starring: Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes

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abiggersplash.jpgA BIGGER SPLASH (Italy/France 2015) ***
Directed by Luca Guadagnino

Starring: Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson

Review by Gilbert Seah

Luca Guadagnino’s new film after his acclaimed hit I AM LOVE is based on the 1969 Jacques Deray sex/murder flick LA PISCINE (THE SWIMMING POOL). The title A BIGGER SPLASH could mean that this film is a more modern take of the then subtle thriller, this one louder and with more sex, nudity and verbal intercourse. To be fair, both films are quite good. A BIGGER SPLASH should be examined on its own, despite the initial bad reviews it received after the Venice Film Festival premiere last year.

The story is updated and the famous Alain Delon role is now undertaken by newly popular hunk, the Belgian Mattias Schoenaerts who plays a character called Paul de Smedt. (Delon played a character called Jean-Paul.) Oddly the other three characters, Paul’s lover, Marianne (Tilda Swinton), his best friend, Harry (Ralph Fiennes) and his daughter, Penelope (Dakota Johnson) all retain their same names.

When the film opens, there is a shot of nude figure by the swimming pool. Rock legend Marianne Lane is recuperating from a throat operation on the volcanic island of Pantelleria with her partner Paul when iconoclast record producer and old flame Harry unexpectedly arrives with his daughter Penelope in tow. One can tell immediately that sex is going to be exchanged between different partners. And it happens as predicted.

The four characters (in the menage a quatre), are not particularly likeable personalities. Marianne can be considered a queen bitch, full of herself and served sexually by meek Paul which the audience will likely have no patience with, especially when he is subtly seduced by Penelope. Penelope is a spoilt rich kid. Harry is the most dislikable of the 4, being loud, offensive and abusive when he wants. On the other hand, these four are performed by 4 of filmdom’s top stars. Oscar Winner Tilda Swinton – I would see her in anything and she is always good in any film. She makes gargling sexy in the bedroom scene. Schoenaerts is now hot property after RUST AND BONE and DISORDER, proving himself apt in roles of brooding, sexy men. Fiennes and Johnson are also excellent to watch – especially them inhabiting horrid personalities.

Intriguing as the story is, the film could be shortened from its lengthy 2 hours. Two characters Mireille (Aurore Clement) and Sylvie (Lily McMenamy), Harry’s friends who show up invited by Harry could have been eliminated from the film without much effect. There is also a sudden shock in the plot at the film’s end when the chief Carabiniere announces the death of 7 Tunisian immigrants. One can only guess the purpose of this revelation as it is never made clear. It is likely that Guadagnino wishes to state that the problems of the rich, white elite are not the only problems faced by the police. The dead 7 make A BIGGER SPLASH. The snakes writhing by the pool probably is a metaphor for something else in the story.

Music and sound are appropriately used. The clanging sound invoking menace is one example. In another scene, Harry teases his listeners (and the audience) to identify “What is it? the drumming sound from a record he plays that turns out to be the banging of trash cans. The end credits Rolling Stones song “Emotional Rescue” is also suitably chosen.

The action slowly but surely unfolds in two hours of subtle sexual pleasure. Nudity, both male and female are abundant. Writer/director Guadagnino never makes it clear at the end what really happened between Penelope and Paul. It really does not matter in the long run, which makes all the guessing so neat.

A BIGGER SPLASH marks the return of the sexy moody thriller genre that was so popular in the 70’s and 80’s. Hope the film will make a return (I will refrain from using the obvious pun) to of more films in this genre.

 

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Movie Review: DHEEPAN (France 2015) ***

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dheepan.jpgDHEEPAN (France 2015) ***

Directed by Jacques Audiard

Starring: Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Kalieaswari Srinivasan, Claudine Vinasithamby

Review by Gilbert Seah

Audiard’s (UN PROPHET, RUST AND BONE) latest work, direct from Cannes and a Palme d’Or Winner, is likely the first and only French film shot largely in Tamil. In this one, as in other Audiard’s films, features a desperate protagonist trying to adapt, often successfully in a new environment after much duress and determination.

DHEEPAN is the name of the protagonist, an ex-Tamil Tiger from Sri Lanka (Antonythasan Jesuthasan) who with a woman, Yalini (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) and child (Claudine Vinasithamby) use false passports and pretend to be a family so that they can immigrate and stay in France where fraternite, legalite and egalite apparently rule. Obviously this is not the case. The three find it just as hard to assimilate, less survive in their new surroundings. They have to learn a new language a well.

The housing project they are assigned to is a front for drug trafficking. Dheepan is given the job as caretaker while his ‘wife’ a job of caregiver for a Mr. Habib (Faouzi Bensaïdi).

Dheepan works as the caretaker for ‘Block B’ and the woman as a caregiver for an old Frenchman while the girl attends school. Like Audiard’s best work UN PROPHET, he shows that prison need not occur behind closed walls.

The film contains other interesting characters besides Dheepan and his family. One is the mysterious Mr. Habib, the elder gent that the wife is hired to cook and look after The other is the Brahim (Vincent Rottiers) who develops sympathy for the wife, Yalini. Unfortunately, Brahim is done away with soon after in the film.

The film’s best segment is the one where the couple have a private talk. Dheepan confesses that he had understood an entire French conversation but finds nothing funny in the joke. The ‘wife’ tells him it is not the joke but that it is Dheepan who has no sense of humour, even in Tamil.

Lead actor Jesuthasan is himself a former child soldier with the rebel group Tamil Tigers (now an accomplished author who have written books Gorilla and Traitor) but his lack of training in acting shows. He is ill equipped to handle the dramatic scenes and ends up pouting or brooding most of the time.

Srinivasan who plays the wife fares better, eliciting both humour and sympathy in her role. But a bigger part in the film should have been written for Rottiers, who is the best actor in the film.

The film’s message appears to be that family is what one makes of it – not what is dished out in terms of blood relatives. Also, home is also what one makes of it. These come out loud and clear through the plot.

The last 15 minutes of the film goes against the grain and mood of what Audiard established so well during the rest of the film. The film opts for a cop-out happy ending after a ridiculous action film-styled shootout in which Dheepan utilizes his ex-Tamil Tigers fighting skills.

 

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DISNEY’S “ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS” PRESS CONFERENCE AND PHOTO CALL

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Director James Bobin, producers Tim Burton, Suzanne Todd, stars Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska and Sacha Baron Cohen from Disney’s “Alice Through The Looking Glass” joined press for tea and a photo call today at the Corinthia Hotel in London.
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Cast: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska, Rhys Ifans with Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen

Voice Cast: Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall

Director: James Bobin                            

Producers: Joe Roth, Suzanne Todd and Jennifer Todd, Tim Burton

Executive Producer: John G. Scotti             

Screenplay by: Linda Woolverton

Based on characters created by: Lewis Carroll

OFFICIAL BOILERPLATE:

In Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” an all-new spectacular adventure featuring the unforgettable characters from Lewis Carroll’s beloved stories, Alice returns to the whimsical world of Underland and travels back in time to save the Mad Hatter. Directed by James Bobin, who brings his own unique vision to the spectacular world Tim Burton created on screen in 2010 with “Alice in Wonderland,” the film is written by Linda Woolverton based on characters created by Lewis Carroll and produced by Joe Roth, Suzanne Todd and Jennifer Todd and Tim Burton with John G. Scotti serving as executive producer. “Alice Through the Looking Glass” reunites the all-star cast from the worldwide blockbuster phenomenon, including: Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Mia Wasikowska and Helena Bonham Carter along with the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen and Timothy Spall. We are also introduced to several new characters: Zanik Hightopp (Rhys Ifans), the Mad Hatter’s father and Time himself (Sacha Baron Cohen), a peculiar creature who is part human, part clock. 

                 

Alice Kingsleigh (Wasikowska) has spent the past few years following in her father’s footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London, she comes across a magical looking glass and returns to the fantastical realm of Underland and her friends the White Rabbit (Sheen), Absolem (Rickman), the Cheshire Cat (Fry) and the Mad Hatter (Depp), who is not himself. The Hatter has lost his Muchness, so Mirana (Hathaway) sendsAlice on a quest to borrow the Chronosphere, a metallic globe inside the chamber of the Grand Clock which powers all time. Returning to the past, she comes across friends – and enemies – at different points in their lives, and embarks on a perilous race to save the Hatter before time runs out. Presented in Digital 3D™, Real D 3D and IMAX® 3D, Disney’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass” opens in theatres on May 27, 2016.

Movie Review: X-MEN: APOCALYPSE (USA 2016) ****

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Deadlines to Submit your Screenplay, Novel, Story, or Poem to the festival: http://www.wildsound.ca

xmenapol.jpgX-MEN: APOCALYPSE (USA 2016) ****
Directed by Bryan Singer

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, Oscar Isaac, Evan Peters, Sophie Turner, Nicholas Hoult,

Review by Gilbert Seah

From the first 15 minutes of X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, it appears that director Bryan Singer, the director of the new X-MEN movie (and the director of all the others except for X-MEN: FIRST CLASS) is going all out to outdo all the other X-MEN films in terms of yes, everything. The film begins with the first mutant born in ancient times (3600 B.C.) in Egypt. He is none other than En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac), and if that name is too difficult to remember, he is also called Apocalypse. He is entombed. Singer has the volume up full blast, the special effects at full throttle, 3D included, so there are tons of rocks, sharp objects and metal thrown out of the screen. If you think Singer will give audiences a break, forget it! The film is nonstop action, effects, noise and explosions all the way – the way an action super hero film should be. But he also builds in the storyline (script by Simon Kinberg), so that it is not just meaningless action.

The story involves Apocalypse resurrected in 1983. There is some humour and irony in him being disgusted by the human race ruled by weaklings. So, he decides to take over the world and rid the world of weaklings. This actually sounds not too bad an idea. So Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is conned into joining him. If Apocalypse gains the power of Professor X (James McAvoy) he can rule the world. So, it is up to Professor X aka Charles Xavier and the good X-Men to save the day. It is also good to see so many super heroes (or mutants) in a single movie – enough to satisfy any action fan. And it seems that it must be a requirement to look good to be in this film. Every male and female are drop dead gorgeous.

The action sequences especially the climax in which all the X-MEN have to join powers to destroy Apocalypse, are super well executed, much better than all the recent super hero films. The film also works because all the actors seem to take their roles seriously. But the oddest is Jennifer Lawrence as the blue Raven. She looks as if she does not want to be in the film, as she is making so much money being famous right now. She gives Professor X the kind of look: “You want to recruit me again to save the world? I have better things to do.”

Unlike DEADPOOL, BATMAN V SUPERMAN and CAPTAIN AMERICA, Singer’s film has action segments that are imaginative and cinematically stunning. The best of these has Quicksilver (Evan Peters) save his fellow X-Men amidst slow motion or stopped background to the song “Sweet Dreams”. The final fight scene in which a big silver X falls from the sky would definitely draw cheers from a packed house of elated fans. The one with Professor X’s wheelchair pulled backwards with his head tilted to the side is yet another inspirational storyboarded sequence.

The film also contains great scenes of the world being destroyed. The dialogue also contains lots of quotable lines like: You are no longer students, you are X-Men”, “I have never felt so much power in my life, “ etc.

APOCALYPSE costs a whopping $234 million to make. Singer makes sure it shows. And the results are worth it. This is the best Super Hero Action Movie so far this year. Let’s hope it pays off at the box-office.

 

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