X-Men: Apocalypse

In 1983, a decade has passed since mutants made their presence known to the world. Telepathic Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) runs a school that teaches mutants how to accept and control their gifts. His students include nightmare-prone fellow telepath Jean Gray (Sophie Turner) and conflicted Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan). Meanwhile, Xavier’s friend and occasional nemesis, Erik “Magneto” Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender has settled into a quiet family life in Poland that threatens to unravel when his secret is exposed while Xavier’s quasi-sister, the shapeshifting Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) travels the world rescuing oppressed mutants, such as Kurt “Nightcrawler” Wagner (Kodi Smit-McPhee). All of their paths converge after CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) accidently awakens En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac), the world’s extremely powerful first mutant who had been entombed in ancient Egypt. Rallying Erik, young weather-controlling thief Ororo “Storm” Munroe (Alexandra Shipp) and others to his side, En Sabah Nur seeks to rid the world of weakness so that the strong may rebuild it. Xavier and allies stand in his way, but can a team of empowered mutants oppose a virtual god?

Had it been released around the time it was set, X-Men: Apocalypse would have been a blockbuster hit, a thrilling, effects-laden epic. But amid the 21^st century superhero boom, it falls well short of greatness, a victim of the heightened expectations we’ve come to attach to comic book cinema. Though far from being the nadir of the X-Men franchise, Apocalypse is the weakest entry in years, delivering solid entertainment but falling well short of the standard set by its predecessor (2014’s excellent Days of Future Past).

The choice to go with En Sabah Nur (Apocalypse) as the lead antagonist is both a blessing and a curse. Having Magneto as the main threat has been done to death, and given Apocalypse’s near-limitless powers, making him the villain ratchets up the stakes considerably. At the same time, this grandiose, pug-faced blue monster in a robot suit is not an easy character to translate to a live-action screen, at least not without looking totally ridiculous. Isaac tries, tempering his ham-tastic speeches (“Everything they’ve built will fall! And from the ashes of their world, we’ll build a better one!”) with a Palpatine-like silver-tongued mock-sincerity. But both the character design and vocal effects create a cartoonish quality that at times undercuts the menace, and his unabashedly Darwinist aims make for an overly simplistic conflict and plot (to the point where recurring bad guy William Stryker makes an appearance seemingly only to throw up a roadblock and pad the running time).

The other characters are a similarly mixed bag in terms of both writing and acting. On the positive end, Sheridan and Turner due Scott and Jean justice, and their vulnerable younger selves form a nice contrast to the older, more established X-Men we encounter in the earlier films. Lawrence continues to give Mystique more of a personality than she has had in any other incarnation while just as in the previous film, Evan Peters threatens to steal the show as super speedy slacker Peter “Quicksilver” Maximoff (Magneto’s son). On the other hand, both McAvoy and Fassbender seem to offer less range than in previous films. While McAvoy’s move beyond the bitterness Xavier showed in the last outing represents character growth, his benevolence is very one-note. Meanwhile, Magneto has experienced so much tragedy that Fassbender can probably do the requisite anguished screaming in his sleep by now. He’s up to the task, but he also seems a touch bored. Newcomers Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Angel (Ben Hardy) fare the worst though as they are given little to no characterization and are reduced to Apocalypse’s muscle.

Despite these shortcomings, director/writer/producer Bryan Singer remains a competent stylist. Cartoonish moments aside, the film delivers exciting, kinetic action sequences and makes good use of period music (watching Quicksilver dart around while everyone is frozen in place set to Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams” is a standout). Moreover, this film successfully pulls off several tonal shifts. The Quicksilver sequence and some of Nightcrawler’s awkward lines are funny while Wolverine’s cameo is like something out of Alien or an 80s slasher film.

Though billed as the end of the second X-Men trilogy that began with 2011’s First Class, Apocalypse is likely not the last we’ve seen of Xavier’s mutant team. A third Wolverine movie, a Deadpool sequel, and a few spinoffs are in the works. Were it truly the last X-Men film, Apocalypse would be quite a disappointment, a shallow, poorly plotted end-note a la X-Men: The Last Stand. But viewed as an episodic placeholder, it’s an entertaining – if flawed – outing that sacrifices some depth and introspection to bring familiar characters to screen and lay the groundwork for further installments (whether they are titled X-Men or not).

7.5/10