STACK June 2016 Issue 140

ALSO SCREENING

IN JUNE

Last time it was all about Nemo. Now the focus

is on forgetful fish Dory (Ellen DeGeneres),

who sets off to find her family in this hotly

anticipated sequel to the 2003 Disney/Pixar

favourite. Can

Dory

dethrone

Frozen

as the new

queen of animated features at the box office?

One thing is certain: every kid will now want a

Blue Tang for their fishtank.

June 16

FINDING DORY

Jodie Foster in the director's chair, George Clooney

and Julia Roberts, and a standing ovation at Cannes.

Do you really need another reason to check out this

cheeky hostage thriller on

June 2

MONEY MONSTER

The aliens return, but this time we're ready.

Or are we? No Will Smith, so it's up to Liam

Hemsworth to "kick E.T.'s ass" this time. Master

of disaster Roland Emmerich delivers CGI global

destruction on a massive scale on

June 23

INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE

Video game phenomenon

WoW

comes to the screen

under the direction of Duncan Jones (

Moon

), with

Vikings

' star Travis Fimmel kicking Orc butt. Will it

live up to its acronym? Find out on

June 16

WARCRAFT

pening with a short prologue that's better

than all two hours of

Gods of Egypt

, the

biggest X-Men movie to date introduces

the first mutant, whose seemingly unlimited

powers include the ability to transfer his mind into

a new body.

Then things grind to an abrupt halt as the film

spends far too much time introducing younger,

1980s incarnations of existing X-Men – although

Kodi Smit McPhee's Nightcrawler is a welcome

addition – and revisiting the Stryker/Wolverine

subplot.

The most interesting of these reintroductions

is Magneto's new life as a family man in Poland,

before a personal tragedy sees him reverting to

his wicked ways and predictably siding with the

enemy. Watching Magneto (Michael Fassbender)

and Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence)

continually switching sides in every film is getting

as boring as Prof X (James McAvoy) declaring he

sees the "good" in them.

But what about the bad guy?

Apocalypse

is at

its best whenever the godlike, eponymous mutant

(Oscar Isaac, under loads of latex) is on screen,

even if his motivation to destroy the world isn't

exactly clear.

The X-Men films have always stood apart from

their Marvel siblings by taking a less is more

approach. However, in its haste to cram as many

characters as possible into a narrative that doesn't

really need them (like Rose Byrne's CIA agent),

Apocalypse

succumbs to the kitchen sink brand

of filmmaking that's now de rigueur for superhero

epics, burying them and any nuances under all

the CGI rubble.

It also seriously undermines the mutants'

ongoing battle for tolerance and acceptance that

has always been at the heart of the franchise.

Given the scale of destruction unleashed (it's not

called

Apocalypse

for nothing), it won't be long

before the UN are regulating the X-Men like their

Avengers counterparts.

Moreover, after three consecutive adventures,

it's time for the First Class (and Bryan Singer) to

take a school holiday so that Patrick Stewart, Ian

McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Famke Janssen, et al,

can return for a more focused and satisfying film.

And maybe bring Deadpool along.

Scott Hocking

FURTHER VIEWING:

X-Men: Days of Future Past

X-cessive.

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

RELEASED:

Now Showing

DIRECTOR:

Bryan Singer

CAST:

James McAvoy, Michael

Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence

RATING:

visit

stack.net.au

CINEMA

REVIEWS

jbhifi.com.au

JUNE

2016

CINEMA