X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Review

144min

Genre:       Comic-book, Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Director:    Bryan Singer

Cast:         James McAvoy, Oscar Isaac, Jennifer Lawrence…and more

Writers:     Simon Kinberg, Bryan Singer, Dan Harris… and more

-Synopsis-

Professor X’s dream of a school for the gifted and peaceful coexistence with humanity is threatened by the resurrection of an ancient powerful mutant, hell-bent on dividing mutant-kind and wiping a 1980s civilisation off the face of the earth, our divided rebooted young mutant heroes must unite to face their biggest threat yet.

Writer/director Bryan Singer continues at the helm of 20th Century Fox’s valuable Marvel property, while continuing to add heroes and villains to his rebooted class of mutants in what is arguably the most epic and ambitious ‘X-Men’ movie to date.

However ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ may well be the perfect example of narrative overreaching and the evidence for a strong argument about cinematic simplicity and execution over scope and ambition, not to mention highlighting the complexities of adapting comic-books or cartoons into live-action film.

McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence and most of the fresh-faced major players in ‘X-Men: First Class’ and ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ return and deliver competent performances, flanked by a host of rebooted baby-faced new mutant blood which includes the likes of “Cyclops” and “Jean Grey”. All of whom are confronted by “first ever mutant” and powerful villain of the piece in the form “Apocalypse”, brought to life in all his purply blue glory by a barely recognisable Oscar Isaac.

‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ has so-far received a lukewarm reception and been criticized for being overstuffed with too many underdeveloped characters; and although there’s some validity to that, it sort of misses the point of the self-contained ensemble nature of the “X-Men” franchise. Ultimately it’s about the execution of character, not the number, and frankly the array of mutants is the least of this film’s problems.

There’s no shortage of impressive and elaborate CGI-laden action set-pieces to feast your eyes on and the scale is as impressive as you might expect from a near $250 million budget; but no amount of window dressing can hide a fundamentally flawed narrative which underwhelms the effectiveness of the film, and is made all the more disappointing considering it came from Singer himself and co-writer/producer Simon Kinberg.

Unlike the recent ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’, ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ doesn’t have one single massively disappointing “mommy” related turning point, but instead there are countless lazy and convenient plot-points which test your ability to suspend disbelief and might have you rolling your eyes.

Perhaps even more egregious is the dialogue that is often too hammy even for a superhero film, resulting in legitimately cringeworhty dramatic moments that break up the flow of the film; and which even the more accomplished actors like Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence can’t sell in their surprisingly subdued and increasingly marginal roles.

Frankly none of the cast particularly shine, but then they haven’t got much to work with here; only Evan Peters, reprising and effectively re-creating his performance as “Quicksilver” from ‘Days of Future Past’ , provides something memorable and injects the only dose of humour or charm in this generally dreary affair.

Don’t get us wrong, this is by no means a bad superhero film and it’s an entertaining enough spectacle overall; but in a world with the quality of the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” and indeed the ‘X-Men’ predecessors, ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ feels like a big one-dimensional creative step back for 20th Century Fox.

The Bottom Line…

An epic scale and truly impressive visuals can’t gloss over a fundamentally flawed narrative and a lack of creativity or charm in its execution. Despite the best efforts of a chronically misused cast, ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is an entertaining enough piece of escapism which fails to captivate like its predecessors or reach the high bar of creativity and complexity of modern superhero fare.

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Similar films you may like (Home Video)

X-Men: First Class (2011)

The “X-Men” movie franchise gets a lavish 1960s origin story reboot as the new incarnations of our favorite gifted individuals come together to stop a powerful mutant from perpetrating a cataclysm that will divide the planet.

Directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence among others.

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