X-Men fans will be glad to know this is not the worst offering we’ve seen from Fox. It’s not the best either. This film could have been titled “X-Meh: Apocalypse.”
Uninspired filmmakers will fall back on massive destruction and world-shattering consequences to raising the stakes in their movie. “X-Men: Apocalypse” relies on just that sort of thing, at the expense of true drama and suspense. These apocalyptic threats don’t mean anything if we don’t feel the threat on a more personal level.
Director Bryan Singer and writer Simon Kinberg fail to bring the personal connection to these characters and so they fail to engage the audience.
The Story
“X-Men: Apocalypse” picks up ten years after “X-Men: Days of Future Past” which places it in the early 80’s. The film’s villain is an ancient evil mutant who is awakened after thousands of years and wants to rule the Earth. He proceeds to create his Four Horsemen while Professor X and the X-Men struggle to catch up.
There is way too much set-up and talking in this film with very little action or character development. That reminds me of another recent superhero film… what was it? Oh! — “Fantastic Four” by the same studio and the same writer, Simon Kinberg. Apparently Fox doesn’t believe that miserable failure should be punished in any way.
The Director
Speaking of failure, we are “treated” to another lackluster superhero film from director Bryan Singer. This guy does not get superhero films. He’s not good at putting together compelling action scenes, his shots are uninspired and his storytelling contributions are always off the mark.
I truly hated the fight scenes in this film. They were difficult to follow, were shot from too far away and missed any sort of visceral feeling. This is a superhero film by someone who should be shooting period dramas or soap operas on television.
The action was not helped by sporadically poor visual effects. I don’t like saying that because one of my own personal heroes, John Dykstra, was the visual effects designer, but I have to call it like I see it.
Quicksilver Saves the Day (and the film)
This film is not a disaster. It has entertaining moments. One of the best moments is an extended scene featuring the mind-blowing speed of Quicksilver. The humor, pacing and inventive nature of this scene are nearly worth the ticket price alone.
Quicksilver, played by Evan Peters, is a fun character that certainly has his moments. If they had treated all of these characters with as much care then this would have been a much better film.
I might add that this version of Quicksilver is about 100 light years away from his comic version, and that’s a recurring problem with the Fox X-Men films. With the exception of Deadpool, their film counterparts are just slightly off from their comic iterations and it’s hurting their movies overall.
The Actors
Michael Fassbender treats his role as Magneto like he’s going for an Academy Award. I don’t mean that as an insult. He’s fully engaged in his role and he has some scenes that let him show how good he really is.
This film is certainly not bereft of good actors. James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Oscar Isaac and Sophie Turner each show both presence and range in their roles. I’ll give credit to Bryan Singer for being a good director with his actors and he gets a lot out of them.
I do have to call out Jennifer Lawrence for giving us a cardboard performance. Despite her position as one of the most influential characters in the film she delivers her lines like she’s announcing order numbers at Steak N Shake. If she feels like she’s above this sort of material she needs to stay out it.
The new mutants were all interesting. Special recognition goes to Kodi Smit-McPhee’s portrayal of Nightcrawler and Storm, by Alexandra Shipp (who is infinite worlds better than Halle Berry in the role and should have had much more attention). Olivia Munn has a dead-on comic look for Psylocke, but is a one-note bad guy and largely underutilized.
We do get a brief look at Wolverine in this movie, and we also get a taste of what an R-Rated Wolverine solo film might look like. I won’t say anymore, but it’s promising.
Some Bright Spots
The costumes by Louise Mingenbach in this film were awesome! In fact, given that Apocalypse is supposed to have created the look for Magneto, Storm, Psylocke and Archangel I would say that he missed his calling as a fashion designer.
The art direction and set decoration are excellent as well. Let’s give some much-deserved credit to production designer Grant Major and art directors Ravi Bansal, Michele Laliberte and Veronique Meunier. The look of the Professor Xavier’s School, his wheelchair, and the Cerebro chamber, among other sets, were beautiful.
The Wrap
“X-Men: Apocalypse” is a spectacle film. There are some impressive scenes and some fun scenes, but they are too few and too far between. There are plenty of easter eggs and appearances for fans.
Much of the blame for the film’s shortcomings can be placed squarely on the shoulders of director Bryan Singer and writer Simon Kinberg. I hope we get some new blood in the major creative roles the next time around.
