X-Men: Apocalypse review – an over-bloated yet enjoyable comic book film

‘Apocalypse the most powerful mutant in history declares war on humanity and only the X-men can stop him.’

After the luke-warm reception from Brett Ratner’s X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and the abysmal first solo outing for X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) it looked like the X-Men franchise was knocking on death’s door. Then Matthew Vaughn took us back to the beginning with X-Men: First Class (2011) and showed us there was still life in the old girl yet. Bryan Singer then re-took the reins for the follow up, X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and similar to J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek (2009), used time travel shenanigans to bring the two time periods together and reboot the whole thing.

 What could have been an over bloated mess was actually a well-crafted movie, and it made people excited about these films again. Now comes the much anticipated X-Men: Apocalypse, and with Singer at the helm again there’s a lot of pressure to maintain that upward momentum and not see the franchise collapse on itself again.

As seems to be the rule of any superhero sequel, the stakes must be raised, and the action bigger and louder. After eight films (nine if you include Deadpool), it only seems fitting then that the X-Men would be facing off against their most dangerous foe yet, the immortal and powerful Apocalypse, who ironically enough, wants to destroy civilisation and start again with him at the top. With Professor X and his team of mutants standing in his way the stage is set for a battle of epic proportions.

The film also serves as a kind of restart for the franchise. If in Days of Future Past Singer created a new timeline, then what we’re seeing in Apocalypse is a whole new origin story of how the X-Men were born. It’s a clever way to reintroduce this world and even bring in a fresh audience who may not have been following from the beginning. Singer even retools Wolverine’s origin with the obligatory Hugh Jackman cameo (clearly setting up for the next standalone film). Like Apocalypse, Singer is looking to start again, but the question is: is it a good start?

The answer: yes and no. It’s a solid film and there’s a lot to enjoy but it is far from perfect and does have some flaws. Oscar Isaacs Apocalypse leaves much to be desired, playing another bland villain whose main goal is to rule the world. I get that he has a major god complex but his motivation has the feel of over familiarity and a seen-it-all-before mentality.

Admittedly, this isn’t an isolated issue, with many other superhero films suffering with underdeveloped antagonists but it’s now beginning to get stale. At least when Magneto was the main threat he had depth, and his motives felt more developed and authentic, adding layers to his character and making him far more interesting. It probably didn’t help having Isaac hidden under all those prosthetic’s. I struggled to see the actor’s performance, and found it distracting. He was obviously going for pathos but I just couldn’t see it under all that makeup and it came across as hammy more than anything.

All the other central cast more than make up for this though. McAvoy and Lawrence returning for a third time and seamlessly slotting into their roles again to give good performances which they can do in their sleep by now. Fassbender particularly gives another excellent performance as Magneto. He has a lot of emotional heavy lifting to do this time round and he definitely nails it, especially when it comes to showing his internal conflict over which side to pick. There’s a big ensemble of characters to fit in so not everyone gets a lot to do and it does feel at times like there trying to shoehorn in characters for the sake of it, like reintroducing younger versions of the original X-Men. Despite the overstuffed cast though most of the supporting players at least get a moment to shine.

After a slow start and a good chunk of time focused on setting up future storylines for inevitable sequels there is a fair amount of action throughout the runtime. There is obviously a lot of CGI used which can feel like too much at times but mostly works. In fact, the visual effects are utilised perfectly to another stand out set piece involving Evan Peter’s Quicksilver whose presence definitely elevates the film and gives it a much needed comedic touch. Having a variety of superpowers on display certainly provides a visual feast for the eyes and action junkies will clearly get their fill.

‘This isn’t the best X-Men film, but neither is it the worst.’

With some excellent action sequences and a good central cast there is a high amount of fun to be had. What brings it down though is a boring antagonist with the overdone motive of ruling the world, which also makes an uninteresting story which at best can be described as formulaic.