Synopsis
X-Men Apocalypse is the third installment in the X-Men prequel trilogy, that finds the X-Men pitted against a new world-endangering threat, Apocalypse. Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) is the proclaimed ‘first mutant,’ who has been lying dormant in Egypt for thousands of years. After having been awakened in modern times, Apocalypse decides that the earth needs to be “cleansed” of humans-leaving only the strongest mutants to survive the impending cataclysm. The X-Men are in a desperate race against time to stop him before he can complete his master plan of global human extinction.
Director Bryan Singer brings us yet another entry in the X-Men film (his fifth to be exact) series that grapples with the issue of human-mutant relations, and the struggles of each factions’ intent to assert their power over the other group. The audience is thrown a new wrinkle with the insertion of the superpower mutant Apocalypse, who has his own, self-serving intentions.
Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) are joined by a group of younger, less experienced (in fighting) mutants: Cyclops (Tye Sheridan); Jean Grey (Sophie Turner); Quicksilver (Evan Peters), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smith McPhee) to try to stop the impending global disaster.
The Good
James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender absolutely nail the emotional gravity of the material, and carry the film through some of its unevenly paced scenes. Their portrayals of Magneto and Professor X have been the real dramatic and emotional linchpin of this entire prequel trilogy.
The opening sequence of Apocalypse being revealed and entombed was done well, and embodied the source comic book material quite well.
Wolverine’s cameo was well done, if not a little simplistic and unnecessary (I get it, these studios view cameos as commercials for future films).
Quicksilver once again stole the show with another fantastic slow motion montage that must be seen to be believed.
The new versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm (Alexandra Shipp) and Nightcrawler were great additions, and their scenes were refreshing in what was an otherwise very serious and grim film.
The Bad
Apocalypse (who was portrayed well enough by Oscar Isaac) had a plan that was very “villain-of-the-week” in nature, and not entirely clear at times. Did he want to destroy all of humanity and weak mutants or just all of humanity? Your guess is as good as mine.
The film’s pacing was problematic after the first hour (too slow), some of the CGI action set pieces dragged a little (too long), and the editing wasn’t the greatest (too jumbled, especially the fight scenes). The film became a little “Transformers-like,” with it’s CGI overload in the final action sequence.
Magneto constantly going evil then becoming good, and then back to evil, is getting quite old. All the while, he continues to murder scores of people, never shows any real remorse, and has hardly ever had to pay for his crimes (only when he was jailed at the beginning of Days of Future Past).
Psylocke played by Olivia Munn was not used at all and was totally wasted to me. Her character is inconsequential here, but is really a powerful character in the comic book realm. It was a disappointing “add” for sure.
Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique) was solid in the film, but she looks a little tired and worn on the role. I am not saying she mailed it in, but I am just saying, I sense a little Jeremy Irons in her here.
Havok’s death scene did not have the emotional impact that I am sure Singer intended it to have. It felt forced. There was a brief scene of grief (via his younger brother’s sadness and a quick conversation with Jean Grey on the plane), but it didn’t move me.
In Conclusion
Overall, this film is a middling, yet entertaining entry into the franchise. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I went in with lukewarm expectations, due to the “mixed-to-negative” reviews, but generally enjoyed the film. It’s not a great film by any means, but it’s good, solid “popcorn action flick” fun.
The movie reviews were definitely a little harsh on this one. This could be due to superhero movie fatigue or the high expectations that were set by X-Men: Days of Future Past-which is a far superior film.
I give it a 6/10 (above average) score, and I would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the X-Men film saga specifically or superhero films in general. Just don’t go in with crazy high expectations, and you will find this film enjoyable on some level.
The X-Men animated series to this day is the most accurate on screen adaption of the X-Men I have ever seen. I’ve always felt Bryan Singer makes good films with X-Men characters in them but he doesn’t actually make good X-men films. His over focus on Wolverine then Mystique has always annoyed me. Cyclops and Storm have never been fully given their due in his films. I never feel excited after seeing any of the X-Men films even though I can admit they are well made good films.
Also Apocalypse was done real justice on that animated series. Isaac did a solid job but he was not real imposing. He was shorter than Psylocke I think!
Also agree on the DC animated universe makes a joke of the cinematic film version in terms of quality – Superman, Batman and Justice League are some of my favorite cartons of all time. DC should’ve let Bruce Timm be a consultant on the DCEU along with Geoff Johns.
@Sai I’ll defer to @Ehren about the X-Men animated series, as my X-Men “X-Perience (ha)” was more via Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. But I agree with you wholeheartedly regarding the DC Animated Film Series vs the current DCEU at present.
It’s a little odd that 90s cartoons have done a way, way better job with both DC and X-Men than these huge budget modern films. Not that I really dislike the X-Men movies, but they’ve always left me a little flat. They’re fun once, but I tend not to want to rewatch them.
There’s a lot of truth to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8BobmZglOk
@ehren @sai I tend to agree. Case in point” X-Men: DOFP is a damn good flick, but I hardly find myself that compelled to re-watch it. It’s a very, very strange phenomenon. I enjoyed First Class as well. Both excellent films. The first X-Men fades in relevance by the day, but I did enjoy X2.