Great for die-hard fans

DVD: X-Men: Apocalypse

Reviewed by: Samantha Keogh

Review made possible by: Times Media Films

This is the ninth instalment of the X-Men series and the sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past which is based on Marvel Comics’ X-Men characters.

If you are a die-hard fan of the franchise and have seen all the preceding films, this is a great watch for those rainy weekends.

However, if you are new to the X-Men, I would recommend watching at least some of the previous instalments before tackling this one.

X-Men: Apocalyse moves at a rapid pace which is sure to lose anyone not familiar with the characters and their back-stories within the first 10 minutes.

This latest offering centres around the awakening of the first, and seemingly most powerful, mutant – the immortal Apocalyse.

Awaking after thousands of years he recruits Magneto who, living under an assumed name in Poland, has just lost his wife and daughter and with them the will to see any good in the world.

Along with Magneto, a number of other mutants are recruited to help Apocalyse secure the greatest power the world has ever seen.

All they have to do is capture the world’s most powerful telepath and harness his powers by strapping Charles Xavier (Professor X) to a table inside an Egyptian pyramid and transferring consciousness into Charles.

Simple really assuming the X-Men don’t appear to scupper their plans.

With Apocalyse attempting to create a new world order, earth’s fate hangs in the balance, Charles’ band of students – past and present – must battle Apocalyse and his mutants to save both Charles and mankind.

What follows is a fun fight sequence with all the stunning special effects fans have come to expect from a franchise in which the characters all have supernatural powers with which to fight, from lasers coming from ears and arms to the ability to teleport to avoid the final blow.

This is a fun caper and definitely worth the watch if Marvel Comics feed your imagination.