‘X-MEN APOCALYPSE’ REVIEW

Release Date: Wednesday 18th May (UK Release)

Directed By: Bryan Singer 

Written By: Simon Kinberg and Bryan Singer

Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Laurence and Oscar Isaac

Distributed By: 20th Century Fox

With the superhero genre doing nothing but growing in popularity, budget and box office returns, it seems strange that one of the first cinematic superhero franchises, still seems somewhat at the bottom of the pile. Given its groundbreaking first film back in 2000 (‘X-Men’) the franchise has gone through some rocky patches without question before finally seeming to get back on track with the two latest reboots (‘First Class’ and ‘Days of Future Past’). Does the latest instalment create the trilogy the franchise deserves?

Helmed yet again by visionary Bryan Singer, ‘X-Men Apocalypse’ begins in ancient Egypt where we meet the first mutants, lead by an aged Apocalypse who, in order to continue his reign, must move his consciousness to a fresh host. The process is halted however, leading to the titular Apocalypse buried deep within the Egyptian ground. We then jump to 1983 where we catch up with our favourite mutants post ‘Days of Future Past’. Here Mystique (Jennifer Laurence), now seemingly rid of lifelong friend and mentor Charles Xavier, is working to save fellow mutants from the still hostile humans who still fail to see equality as an option with the mutant race. The previously mentioned Xavier (James McAvoy) seems done with conflict and now only wishes to create a place for mutants to learn and feel safe with Hank (Nicholas Hoult) by his side. Fassbenders Magneto is now living incognito in Poland and has started a family, seemingly also done with plotting to put humans in their place. With all loose ends somewhat tied, the awakening of the ancient Apocalypse (Now wielding the face of the chiselled Oscar Isaac, in a prosthetic laden form), kickstarts a new fight once again between mutants old and new, between enemies old and new.

In its early days, one of the more notable achievements of the franchise, lied with the seemingly spot on casting choices in both look and performance. Indeed this similar appeal occurred with the reboot, Laurence seeming a perfect choice for feisty skin changer Raven. Here however, the once empowered and scrappy character, becomes somewhat soulless and something of nothing more than a means to drive the narrative. The slew of new characters introduced have varying degrees of success with the likes of Kodi Smit McPhee’s Nightcrawler and Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops set to become new favourites, the prior blending childlike innocence with the heir of goofy charm. The same unfortunately cannot be said for the likes of Ben Hardy’s Angel (the rebellious bad boy act coming off as hollow arrogance) and Olivia Munn’s Psylocke who appears to become nothing more than a flexible female in thigh high leather boots. 

It is evident from the off however that the poor performances are not all due to the actors themselves as the writing of the characters and indeed overall plot soon become the films primary weaknesses. Indeed even returning characters such as the fan favourite Quicksilver who wowed audiences in the last instalment, becomes infatuated with incredibly heavy sub plots which add to the already complex narrative, leaving them unanswered and therefore obsolete at the finale. The relationship between previous allies Xavior and Magneto is also run through the mill with a somewhat deja vu effect, with the ever present McCoy given little to do except ‘test’ and ‘invent’ with little to no follow up. The fluidity of the narrative proceeds to entangle even further with a fleeting cameo bordering on breaking the already complex timeline of our mutant heroes.

The reveal of big bad Apocalypse also packs much less of punch than the arrival of the ‘most powerful mutant’ would have you believe. From here the heavily made up Isaac (Heavy which borders on campy) proceeds to globe trot, Stargate style in order to collect his ‘Four Horsemen’, ideally the ‘most powerful mutants’ around. With only one of these members coming close to that title, the writing issues only grow in severity. With an objective to cleanse the world and start again, you'd think you'd want a bit more power than a boy with metallic wings (Religious symbolism aside) and a girl who has the power to manipulate the weather (Whilst sassy, Alexandra Shipp’s Storm is simply not given enough to do). Indeed say from assembling these Horsemen, Apocalypse soon becomes nothing more than a hollow maniacal powerhouse with no reasoning or motive for annihilating the human race and as a result, somewhat two dimensional and not at all leading up to the god many refer to him as. 

In a year which sees Superheroes turning on each other, (Sometimes to great effect, others much less so) ‘X-Men Apocalypse’ carries elements of both Snyder’s ‘Batman vs Superman’ and the Russo Brothers’ ‘Captain America: Civil War’. Unfortunately however, these are the problematic similarities which leave it being inferior to Marvel’s Superhero Smackdown as it carries the same issue of having too many strands to neatly bring together, stemming from an overflow of characters both old and new, with the returning faces given very little to do say a chosen few and introducing new characters, making it a very difficult balancing act in order to flesh out and give the characters the introduction they deserve. The parallels between the DCU’s maiden film are far more problematic in that the pace of the story telling is sporadic at best. With a Quicksilver esque pace, the narrative jumps between characters old and new with little consideration for tonal appropriation. Indeed much like Snyder’s mess of a Superhero showboat, the lack of humour is heavily apparent with even Evan Peter’s usual swift and snarky superhuman raising few moments of relief.

With Singer back in the directing chair and contributing to the writing of the story, it is unfortunate that the usual visual excellence becomes more of a Computer Generated slur instead of breathtaking visuals we’ve come to expect. If the likes of ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Batman vs Superman’s climactic endings hung on empty citywide destruction, ‘X-Men Apocalypse’ takes this snore inducing trope to a new level as multiple cities are near levelled yet fail to carry a single ounce of human weight and very swiftly becomes another empty climax. 

Now in its 16th year and 8 films in, the X-Men franchise sits similar to where it did in 2006 following “Last Stand’. Whilst it does succeed in setting up characters which could become great with Fassbender and McAvoy on usual top form, almost in another film entirely. At the midway point as the young mutants exit a screening of ‘Return of the Jedi’, Jean states “The third is always the worst”. Whether a laugh at the expense of the previous second sequel in 2006 or simply being accidentally self referential, out of the latest reboot trilogy, Singer fails to bring together a flowing narrative with a genuine sense of scale, threat or wonder a franchise this many films in should should really be achieving. 

"Everything they've built will fall and from the ashes of their world, we'll build a better one" - Apocalypse