Twentieth Century Fox
Early on in director Bryan Singer’s latest X-Men opus, a couple of Charles Xavier’s gifted children are exiting a screening of Return of the Jedi (the movie takes place in 1983) and discussing its merits compared to the superior The Empire Strikes Back. One of the kids snarkily comments that the third film is always the worst, a not-so-subtle dig at the widely reviled X-Men: Last Stand, the third film in the original X-Men trilogy that Singer himself famously dumped when the offer to direct Superman Returns landed in his lap. Unfortunately, that same comment can also be applied to this third film in the second X-Men trilogy.
X-Men: Apocalypse starts off promisingly enough in Egypt, circa 3200 B.C., with four mutants attempting to conduct a ceremony that will transfer their aged and dying leader’s essence into the body of a new host, against said host’s will. Others attempt to end the ceremony by destroying the pyramid the mutants are in, but one is able to hold a force field around the body until the blocks stop falling (even when said mutant is crushed under one of those blocks). It’s a pretty exciting start to the film with some cool physical and CG effects.
In the present (of 1983), we join up with Erik Lehnsherr (aka Magneto) now living incognito in some small European village with a wife and child. No one in town knows his true identity, but when the ancient mutant is inadvertently released from his tomb, he sets off a shockwave that is felt around the world, including in Lehnsherr’s town where he is employed at an iron smelting factory (with lots of metallic objects surrounding him … probably not the best choice of a career if you want to hide your abilities). The shockwave causes a large metal vat full of molten steel to fall, but Erik can’t watch his co-worker get flattened so he instinctively stops the vat from falling, and exposes himself as the wanted criminal Magneto.
Fearing for his family’s lives, he attempts to leave town but the police arrive first, leading to a stand-off that results in the accidental death of both his wife and daughter, followed by the not so accidental deaths of everyone else on the scene. With Erik on the run, Mystique returns to Xavier’s school to convince him to help her find Erik … and then the rest of the movie just goes completely off the rails, substituting CGI for story.
Twentieth Century Fox
The biggest problem with X-Men: Apocalypse is Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac!) himself. I don’t even think he’s ever referred to by that name in the movie, although there are plenty of allusions to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (from the original four mutants in Egypt to the four new recruits he acquires in the present). It’s assumed Apocalypse is the first mutant, so that makes him the most powerful for some reason, but none of that is ever really explained. And his plan to eradicate the human race to make the planet one for only him and his kind really goes nowhere for someone so all powerful. At one point, Singer hits us over the head again with the Four Horsemen concept as Apocalypse is surrounded by Erik, Angel, Psylocke and Storm (although none of them actually bear those names in the movie, you just have to know who they are) as they just stand on the rocks. That’s it, they just stand there for a very long time doing nothing until Mystique and her team arrive to retrieve Erik. Then it’s just a bunch of waving of arms while the effects people do all the work.
It’s a shame that the plot is so non-existent, and Singer also commits the sin of not putting Erik and Charles together at any point, because the cast is uniformly excellent with what they’re given. Michael Fassbender’s first scenes with his family are lovely and you really feel his pain and anger there, but once he’s under the influence of Apocalypse, he really has nothing to do. James McAvoy’s Xavier also gets little to do except be a psychic puppet for Apocalypse.
Twentieth Century Fox
Better are regular cast members Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult who are more active in the story, and Evan Peters returns as Quicksilver and steals the entire movie with a single scene, much as he did in X-Men: Days of Future Past. The real stars, though, are the newcomers: Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers/Cyclops, Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe/Storm, and Ben Hardy as Angel (although some hardcore X-Men fans may be very perturbed by his allegiance in the film considering his comic book status). All of them are terrific and really carry the film, but the stand-out is Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler. Alan Cumming was wonderful as the character way back in X2, and Smit-McPhee really imbues the character with a personality that grows from a sort of scared child at the beginning to someone with the confidence to go up against someone much, much more experienced than himself. He makes the movie worth sitting through.
On the technical side of things, there’s not a nit to pick with the production, cinematography, editing, effects, music or direction. It’s just the script that makes the whole effort flounder. And without a strong story, are the X-Men themselves enough to make the film a success in the span of two months when we’ve already had two other films with warring superheroes? It’s a bit of overload even for the hardcore fans. Perhaps if we mention there is a cameo appearance by Weapon X, that will get folks to the theater.
Twentieth Century Fox
If X-Men: Apocalypse fails to generate the ticket sales of Batman v Superman or Captain America: Civil War or even Deadpool, it’s going to put the studio and the franchise in a shaky position, especially considering Fox has already announced a fourth film in this franchise that will take place in the 90s. With Marvel contractually held at arms length for the Fox films, will the studio consider an agreement such as the one Sony made to allow Marvel more input into the Spider-Man films? Fox has already failed miserably with three Fantastic Four movies (and they would certainly be welcome in the MCU proper), and the advance reaction to this one also spells trouble. They’ve had a major success with Deadpool by just allowing the filmmakers to do what they wanted, but perhaps it is time they stop being so proprietary with their other Marvel characters, because one more X-Men stinker like this one could really put the franchises in jeopardy.
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Angel and Psylocke are both referred to by those names exclusively, you liar! ?
Just goes to show how bored I was with the movie. I honestly don’t remember ever hearing Angel or Psylocke mentioned by name, but if you say so. Even when asked by someone else about Psylocke, my response was “who?”
Okay, I owe you an apology for calling you a liar.