Apocalypse gives us the first X-Men movie to feature a classic lineup of the characters coming together in their teenage years to fight evil under the guidance on Prof. Xavier while not being overshadowed by Wolverine. Essentially it's a close as we've gotten to the X-Men film we've all wanted for years now. However given how many steps forward the superhero genre has taken over the years, and Brian Singer's reliance on standard tropes, Apocalypse ends up being an odd mixture of better late than never, and too little, too late. There's a lot to like about Apocalypse. We get the return of the great cast from First Class and DoFP like Fassbender and McAvoy, Sophie Turner's Jean Grey, Evan Peters continually enjoyable Quicksilver complete with more of those amazing super-speed action sequences, and it doesn't crap all over Cyclops. It's got some of the best portrayals of these X-Men characters we've seen onscreen so far. The interpretations still aren't perfect mind you. DoFP couldn't fix everything, so things like age and timeline discrepancies keep things from being just as every comic book fan wants to see it. Nothing short of a reboot of the series will fix that. However, this is still the best we've gotten so far in that department. Given that Apocalypse seemingly does so much right by making good on the promise DoFP set the series up for, what keeps it from achieving greatness? That answer is simply that it's too familiar. With the MCU dominating theatres, the DCEU up and running, and the X-Men's own lengthy presence on the silver screen we've seen a lot of villains want to destroy the world. And quite frankly, they were more interesting than Apocalypse. The movie just has a very bland villain. Plus we already know how the fight turns out, so Apocalypse just ends up coming off as some dude who isn't really a threat whose sole purpose is just to break stuff. Then there's how underdeveloped he is. The action itself falls short as well. This is a bunch of special effects driven destruction. The likes of which we've seen in a lot of superhero films lately. Not even the constant display and barrage of these character's powers carries the same level of excitement as before. The action still isn't boring to watch, but it's certainly going through the established motions. Then there's the fact that a lot of these special effects look cheap and dated, particularly in the first half of the movie. What hurts Apocalypse the most is simply superhero fatigue. Brain Singer and FOX do their best to give us the X-Men movie we should've received in the first place all those years ago. For the most part they succeed. The issue it's a little late to do that. The superhero genre has taken off and reached heights one could hardly believe. Going back to basics wounds them here. They got off to their post-DoFP timeline with a shaky start. Does any of this mean Apocalypse is an outright bad movie? No, it's just behind the times. A flaw that's easier to forgive when you consider this is a close as we've come to that perfect X-Men lineup. There's a sort of classic X-Men feel to it and it's just nice to see a lot of the original characters like Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Storm get some real screen-time and actually take part in the action without Hugh Jackman's Wolverine hogging the spotlight. So yeah, it's the most admirable attempt at giving us the perfect X-Men movie that's sadly flawed in key areas. For some this simply isn't going to be enough. For others like myself this will still be a respectable and enjoyable movie. One that still manages to entertain for (finally!) exploring other, original X-Men. The series things to make up for, but it certainly looks like they're trying. The future still has the potential to be bright for these characters.