X-Men: Apocalypse
Grade: B
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer
Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Rose Byrne, Kodi
Smit-McPhee, and Evan Peters, with Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers/Cyclops
Also Featuring: Lucas Till as Havok, Josh Helman as William
Stryker, Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe/Storm, Olivia Munn as Psylocke, and
Ben Hardy as Angel
Premise: An ancient, all-powerful mutant awakens from
hibernation and attempts to take over the world. Wise Professor Charles Xavier,
hardened fugitive Raven, and some of their choice students rush to stop him and
the oft-tortured Magneto from wiping out all humans.
Rated PG-13 for violence and some bloody images, language,
and some scary/emotional content
While X-Men:
Apocalypse is above average for a summer action movie, it registers as
roughly average for a superhero film in this day and age. The X-Men movies have always been a little
deeper and had a little more subtext than the traditional origin stories and
rights-retaining sequels from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Apocalypse seems especially average
after the top-of-the-line superhero offerings that have already come out this
year—the terrifically-unorthodox Deadpool
and the intensely-exciting Captain
America: Civil War. Indeed, I daresay this is the first X-Men movie (besides the infamous Wolverine Origins botch), that
ultimately feels like a formulaic, nothing-special superhero movie. Since this
installment is not an exciting reboot like 2011’s First Class or a franchise-altering consummation of all that came
before like 2014’s Days of Future Past,
it offers a straightforward plot that feels too predictable: a powerful evil
arises, the X-Men band together, Magneto causes trouble, the world finds itself
in all-humans-are-going-to-get-killed-by-mutants jeopardy, the old hands and
some new faces have to band together and find their strength, and….they save
the world. It has an intriguing opening prologue, a fine cast, and some fine
moments of exploration in its world of mutants, but ultimately lacks the
emotional depth or sense of real danger or intrigue that have classified the
finer superhero offerings of late.
Plot
**If you know the gist
of the X-Men, you won’t be lost, but there are constant references to both
2011’s First Class and 2014’s Days of Future Past. General knowledge of both
would be helpful**
It’s the mid 1980s, and ten years have passed since
Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and his longtime friend Raven (Jennifer
Lawrence) saved the president and the White House cabinet from vengeful mutant
Magneto (Michael Fassbender) at the climax of Days of Future Past, earning the mutant community some nods of
approval from the general populace. But some stigma still exists. When their
respective powers reveal themselves, troubled teenagers Jean Grey (Sophie
Turner, from TV’s Game of Thrones)
and Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) have little choice but to make their way to
Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters in upstate New York . Jean is telekinetic. Scott’s eyes
shoot powerful, destructive laser beams. Charles Xavier has a place for them
both. Meanwhile, his old friend Raven plucks another troubled young mutant—the
blue, tattooed, teleporting Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee)—from obscurity, and
old frenemy Erik Lensherr/Magneto lives a quiet, anonymous life as a factory
worker in Poland .
Meanwhile, another old ally of Xavier’s—CIA agent Moira
MacTaggert (Rose Byrne)—learns of a secret Egyptian cult that still worships an
ancient, powerful being who was said to exist long ago. Said cult has found his
remains hidden in a long-forgotten tomb. And when they chant ancient spells
over him, En Sabah Hur (Oscar Isaac) awakens. Worshipped as a god until he was
betrayed by some of his would-be followers and forced into hibernation in an
ancient Egyptian pyramid millennia ago, En Sabah Hur (soon to be called
Apocalypse) discovers that mankind has run amok and forgotten they used to
literally bow down to his powers. Ready to restore the ancient ways, he begins
gathering followers—troubled mutants whose powers he can utilize—including outcasts
like Storm (Alexandra Shipp) and Angel (Ben Hardy), little-noticed sidekicks
like Pslocke (Olivia Munn), and the ever-troubled, human-hating Magneto, who
stumbles back onto the world’s radar after a terrible accident. Charles Xavier,
of course, will have nothing to do with humans being obliterated, so he re-allies
himself with MacTaggert and Raven—and other old friends Hank McCoy/Beast
(Nicholas Hoult) and Peter ‘Quicksilver’ Maximoff (Evan Peters)—to stop
Apocalypse in his tracks.
What Works?
Bryan Singer directed the series’ two best movies, 2000’s X-Men and 2003’s X2: X-Men United, and Matthew Vaughan directed 2011’s successful,
ultra-likable reboot First Class.
Singer’s directing here, and while Apocalypse
is not nearly as good as that trio, it exceeded my expectations, given that
I’d heard some less-than-enthusiastic things about it going in. While the movie
starts to lose its way with a typically over-long action climax, it remains
true to the X-Men style by delivering some exciting, kick-butt action, some
affecting and relatable character development, a few fun/funny moments, and a
few choice character cameos. Not as well-rounded or gripping as Captain America: Civil War, but still a
fine film.
Unlike 2014’s Days of
Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse does
not feature Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Anna Paquin, Shawn Ashmore, Ellen
Page, Halle Berry
And then there’s Lawrence, who was already a proven,
Oscar-nominated commodity (for 2010’s Winter’s
Bone) when she first joined the series in First Class, and has since become one of the most popular movie
stars in the world. Just 25, Lawrence
is already an old hand at starring roles, with even her prime X-Men roles third banana in her career
to her massively-successful Hunger Games
series and her Oscar nominated- and winning- work in black comedies and dramas.
Her performance here isn’t as openly emotional as either of her two chief male
costars’, and she doesn’t spend nearly as much time in the blue Mystique get-up
as she did before, but she has a very nice, sentimental/nostalgic moment when
she gives the new team young’uns pep talk, reflecting on her first major
mission (in First Class). It’s a nice
moment, not just because it recalls a better film in the series or because it’s
well-written, but because, given the massive success Lawrence has seen since in
the five years since that film—even though she’s barely older than the likes of
Sophie Turner and Tye Sheridan—it feels like a legitimately lived-in,
nostalgic, looking-back moment. Plus, given the large role granted to Turner as
the young Jean Grey, it feels like Lawrence
could be passing the torch to the series’ newest ingénue.
Speaking of Turner and the younger cast, they do fine work,
with Sheridan granted a plumb role as the young Cyclops, Peters back for
another go-round as the scene-stealing Quicksilver, and welcome returns from
Nicholas Hoult and Lucas Till. It particularly threw me to see Turner and hear
her speak in an “American” accent, as I’m quite used to her native tones from
her six seasons of work on Game of
Thrones.
What Doesn’t Work?
Two me, there were two main things that did not work: the
overdrawn action climax (which is precisely what makes this movie feel
formulaic and ruins a lot of narrative momentum) and Apocalypse himself. The
former is typical of many action movies—and, indeed, it was the
easy-to-anticipate over-drawn action climax of Days of Future Past that muddled my feelings on that film, which
started especially strong but didn’t need to go such a predictable, formulaic
action-movie route. I had a feeling that would happen with Apocalypse, and I wasn’t wrong. It’s especially troubling when the
lengthy climax revolves around Apocalypse being impervious to the good guys’ powers
until they all decide to just try harder
at the same time, and wa-la, it works. This cliché slog to the close ruins, as
mentioned, a very effective narrative arc for Magneto, which is a real shame
(Magneto’s fate by the end credits is also a disappointment that was likely
arranged just to ensure further X-Men
sequels).
Apocalypse himself is a disappointment, and not just because—though
he’s said to be the X-Men universe’s most powerful antagonist—you know going in
he’s likely a one-and-done character for the series. With a vaguely-defined
grab-bag of powers, a goofy accent, a yawn-inducing god complex, and
unconvincing makeup/costume, it’s a shame that charismatic Oscar Isaac was
saddled with this role. Coming off winning roles as the enigmatic mad scientist
in Ex Machina and the heroic
resistance pilot in Star Wars: The Force
Awakens, Isaac is unable to make Apocalypse anything more than a one-movie
bad guy who needs to be just threatening enough to ensure the movie has a
conflict.
Content
The X-Men movies
are always a little heavier than the average superhero film. It’s still a
PG-13, with only occasional cuss words, and little in the way of sexual
content, but the action can get pretty intense at times. There are a fair share
of heavy emotional moments in the film, not to mention plenty of humans (and a
few lesser mutants) getting off-ed in creative ways (in one sequence, a bunch
of heavily-armed soldiers are mauled by a familiar character in a brief cameo).
Bottom Line
X-Men: Apocalypse
is pretty good for a summer action movie, but relatively unimpressive for a
superhero movie in this day and age (it can’t hold a candle to this year’s
earlier hit superhero flicks, Deadpool
and Captain America: Civil War). The
trio of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence proves as
winning and effective as offer, some newly-cast actors in familiar roles acquit
themselves well (including Game of
Thrones’ Sophie Turner), and there are some cool action scenes and a few
funny moments. But Apocalypse proves an underwhelming villain, and Apocalypse ultimately feels like the most
formulaic, by-the-numbers X-Men movies so far. No, it’s not as bad as The Last Stand or Wolverine: Origins, but it feels the most like a movie that was
just made because the producers know they can squeeze money out of it. But,
hey, hopefully this is a blip on this year’s superhero movie radar screen, and
August’s Suicide Squad and November’s
Doctor Strange will be better.
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
Directed by Bryan Singer
Screenplay by Simon Kinberg
Rated PG-13
Length: 144 minutes
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