MINOR SPOILERS BELOW
I was not as over the moon for X-Men: Days of Future Past as other people seemed to be. I didn't think it was bad, and it was cool to see the original cast for one last hurrah, but it wasn't particularly spectacular. That film didn't even live up to the potential of its predecessor, X-Men: First Class, which was an amazing reboot of the franchise which could have gone in some interesting directions. But Days of Future Past seemed to squander that potential for something more familiar and less ambitious. And I'm sorry to say X-Men: Apocalypse continues the series in that direction.
To describe Apocalypse in one word, I would have to choose cluttered. There are so many different subplots going on in this film, it sometimes feels like an entire season of a television series crammed into two & a half hours. The catalyst of everything is En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac), a supremely powerful mutant from Ancient Egypt who has reawakened in the 1980s (Apocalypse carries on the period piece tradition started by First Class) and has decided to destroy civilization and rebuild it with himself as a god-king. To do this, he travels around the world and recruits several other powerful mutants to act as his henchmen. This includes Magneto (Michael Fassbender), who has been living in secret and raising a family in Communist Poland since the previous film. But life likes shitting on Magneto, so his family dies and En Sabah Nur convinces him to turn evil again. All this world traveling catches the attention of both Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and forces them to reconcile their relationship after the hardship of the previous films. If that plot synopsis sound complicated, the movie only makes it slightly more coherent.
Oscar Isaac as En Sabah Nur, the titular Apocalypse. He's a dramatic fellow. |
This overabundance wouldn't be as much of a problem if the plot threads Bryan Singer and the filmmakers decided to focus on actually mattered in the long run, but most of them don't. Particularly egregious is one subplot near the end of the second act where some of the X-Men are kidnapped by the government. It comes out of nowhere, connects to nothing else in the film, and exists only for a gratuitous Wolverine cameo and to set up the post-credits stinger. But the plot thread I have the most problem with is Magneto's for being needlessly grim. Seriously, the filmmakers give him a loving wife and daughter but they only exist to be killed off and motivate him to return to evil. That is messed up and sexist. The whole film has instances of this, where something is presented as important in the moment and then vanishes with barely a mention. Instead the filmmakers focus on readjusting continuity pieces and going over old character dynamics.
The New X-Men, from left to right: Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) & Cyclops (Tye Sheridan). |
Ultimately, X-Men: Apocalypse really only works on the level of a blockbuster superhero flick. Not terrible, but there just isn't enough effort in the production to rise above good enough. Which is the problem with the X-Men movies in general. All the pieces are there that with a little polish and attention, these films could really shine amongst their genre. But the filmmakers seem to be content with being good enough. Which is disappointing. I enjoyed Apocalypse but it never escaped me that that it could have been so much better.
Final Score: 3/5
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