10 Things Hotly Anticipated Films Need To Get Right In 2016

7. X-Men Apocalypse Needs To Exercise Restraint

Directed by Matthew Vaughn, X-Men: First Class is a fantastic prequel, presenting part of the origin story of the character's seen in Bryan Singer's X-Men trilogy. First Class is funny, exciting, cheesy and sentimental, all in good measure. Frankly, it's much better than any superhero prequel has any right to be. One of First Class's main victories is its new cast of characters. Actors like Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult do a fantastic job of embodying classic characters while also making them fresh and new. Suddenly these were the more interesting versions of the characters, and fans were excited to see what would happen to them next. Then Bryan Singer returned. 2014's X-Men: Days Of Future Past is a good film €“ maybe even great €“ but it muddied the waters of the prequel trilogy's fresh, new start. At the end of the day, was it really necessary to bring back Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart for some convoluted time travel plot? The central story would have worked fine had it just involved the prequel cast. It's clear that the return of Singer brought with it a certain level of indulgence, primarily in the form of retconning X-Men: The Last Stand. X-Men: Apocalypse, then, needs to exercise a level of restraint. Unfortunately, with Singer returning to direct again, it's likely the film €“ much like The Last Stand, actually €“ is going to go absurdly high-concept. Singer seems to believe that greater stakes (that is, threatening the entire planet) means greater drama, but what First Class got right was focusing its stakes on the characters (specifically, the relationship between Professor X and Magneto). The film is set to see Oscar Isaac's character Apocalypse attempt to wipe out mankind. With so much CGI-laden destruction inevitable, the film really needs to hold onto the strength of its characters if it's going to be any good.