This 13th and officially final installment of the
"X-Men" film series is an unsatisfying conclusion to the once-mighty
franchise, a dreary, derivative and gratuitous horror thriller, based on a set
of Marvel Comics, directed and co-written by Josh Boone. Five teenagers
(Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams and Henry Zaga)
identified as possessing extraordinary abilities live in an isolated clinic run
by a mysterious doctor (Alice Braga). They begin to wonder if the facility is
more prison than hospital when odd manifestations occur, including (for no
apparent reason) a bloodthirsty Catholic clergyman wielding a branding iron.
Little about the film makes any narrative sense. Instead, it only succeeds in being
shocking and overblown.
Watch out for: Frequent
violence and terror, anti-Catholic religious imagery and bias, same-sex
kissing, sexual innuendo, occasional profane and crude language.
Rated: O, morally offensive;
MPAA: PG-13
© Arlington Catholic Herald 2020