X-Men Apocalypse: 13 Reasons It's A Huge Disappointment

X-Men: Apocalypse has finally started rolling out internationally, and the results so far are...mixed to say the least.

While critics have already given their underwhelming two cents, audiences seem to be responding in similarly divisive fashion so far, with the movie's IMDB board being flooded with a mix of confusion, ill-placed praise and over-the-top whining.

Though Apocalypse is more mediocre and disappointing than bad, it's safe to say that the film falls down in many key areas that the previous films, especially X2 and Days of Future Past, absolutely didn't.

From the plot through to the villain and various depictions of beloved superheroes, it's a movie destined to irk the comic book fanboys and likely leave most other viewers fairly apathetic. Hopefully whatever comes next will feel a little more inspired.

Bear in mind that SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW...

While in a way it's refreshing that X-Men: Apocalypse isn't another needlessly convoluted comic book movie, the more simple, streamlined plot unfortunately ends up feeling incredibly generic and cliched.

For the most part this pertains to Apocalypse's plan: he's a big bad mutant who is woken up after being dormant for centuries, then gets some information about Earth by connecting to a TV and believes that humanity must be eliminated so he can build a better Earth. And of course, he wants to transfer himself into Charles Xavier's body to gain his telepathic powers.

It's all overly familiar and highly underwhelming, but that's not the lot: consider Magneto's introduction in the movie, where he's now living in Poland with a wife and daughter. Is there ever any doubt that his tranquil existence will be upended, and his family will die?

Writer Simon Kinberg has sadly come up with some of the most predictable and formulaic superhero plotting of recent times, but at least the internal logic still makes a lot more sense than Batman v Superman.