Following the events of Days of Future Past (the 1970s parts at least), mutants are now common knowledge throughout the globe. Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) is finally able to protect and teach the young mutants who come to his school without fear of attack – that is until the very first mutant, Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), is awoken from his millennia long nap and is incensed to find that the world now is not as he imagined it.

The opening to X-Men Apocalypse is possibly one of the best in the franchise; in ancient Egypt we see Apocalypse – here known as En Sabah Nur – at the height of his reign. After a tantalizingly brief but amazing action sequence, Apocalypse’s life is spared by his loyalist servant but he is left unconscious. There is no convoluted explanation of the character and his powers, just a “here is the new bad guy. Let’s go.” We then jump forward to 1983 and the movie rushes to introduce the new characters and to bring back all the characters that we already know and love.

Of the newcomers, the stand outs are easily Cyclops and Nightcrawler (Tye Sheridan and Kodi Smit-McPhee respectively) who are both witty and charming. This version of Cyclops seems to be more interesting with more about him than simply the jealous boyfriend with super powers played by James Marsden in X-Men 1 & 2. The stand out performance of the film though has to be Michael Fassbender as Magneto, who brings a level of emotion that is rarely seen in superhero films.

There are some performances that unfortunately don’t quite hit the mark. The other three of Apocalypse’s horsemen – Alexandra Shipp’s Storm, Ben Hardy’s Angel and Olivia Munn’s Psylocke – are barely given enough screen time to make any sort of impact. The biggest disappointment, though, is Apocalypse himself. Although Oscar Isaac does well with what he’s given, the amounts of prosthetics that have been slathered onto him make him look like something out of a steam-punk Wallace and Gromit.

There are times in the film where the plot uses the same tropes that we have seen in previous X-Men films. Professor X inevitably gets attacked/ depowered which makes the other X-Men step up and become heroes in their own right. The X-Mansion will also have some damage done to it but by the end of the film the damage is fixed and it’s like nothing ever happened. It would be nice if something new was done in the next film.

Action wise, X-Men Apocalypse is pretty fantastic, although the final fight scene was very obviously done in front of a green screen. The majority of the action is well choreographed and immersive, one of which has a very special cameo that’ll leave you smiling. The best sequence of the film by far is when Quicksilver arrives at the X-Mansion. A bigger and better version of his scene in Days of Future Past, the scene is hilarious and looks amazing – all set to a great soundtrack.

X-Men Apocalypse has received some mixed reviews (52% on Rotten Tomatoes), and it is hard to see why. Yes, it has some of its own problems but it is still a great movie. The film never gives your mind a chance to lose concentration and there is never a boring point. I can only guess that the reason the reviews have been so mixed must be because of how close the film was released to Marvel’s brilliant Captain America: Civil War.

Overall, X-Men Apocalypse expertly continues the story through the 80s and leaves us ready and waiting for the next instalment.

X:Men Apocalypse gets 7 bald professors out of 10.