TNR: X-Men: Apocalypse

The reviews for this movie have been...mixed to say the least for the 3rd entry in the rebooted (kinda) X-Men Franchise. Where do I stand on this? Well let's just say I hope this apocalypse means the end of Bryan Singer's run as director for the franchise.

"X-Men: Apocalypse" starts off familiarly enough with a Professor X narration about mutants, but then goes back in time to Egypt where we see Apocalypse attempting to transfer his essence into another vessel (Oscar Isaac). From there we are flung to the 80's and meet the new mutants..well kinda. You see, one of the issues I had with this film was that it was all over the place; we see Mystique in Berlin rescuing Nightcrawler, then it's Scott in school having his powers develop, then it's back to Mystique and Nightcrawler in Berlin only moments after they just escaped, then there is McTaggart in Egypt....it just jumps back and forth at leisure. You'd think with all the jumping back and forth that something would be happening but the plot takes forever to pick up. I think it was an hr into the film before Apocalypse was even revived and even then he spent most of his time picking up mutants that we simply didn't need to see. I say that because they spend about 5 minutes on each one, except for Magneto; he gets an entire arc basically. He's a father and husband living in Poland, things happen, he's then propositioned by Apocalypse, then is taken to Auschwitz and its a whole thing when it didn't need to be...Magneto has been in the last 2 films he didn't need that much time dedicated to him.

The acting in this film is on the same level as before with McAvoy and Fassbender turning in stellar performances and Quicksilver once again stealing any scene he is in, but I couldn't help but feel like some of the actors weren't really invested in the film; particularly Jennifer Lawrence and her portrayal of Mystique. I am not sure if it is because the actress has stated she doesn't like doing these films    but it shows in this film, her Mystique doesn't seem to be invested in anything that happens, which may have been a character choice but just comes off as Lawrence just not buying into the film.

I wanted more of you guys

 The newcomers to the series did do a good job in portraying the characters as novices and I really did like that but all that is wasted in that the characters largely did nothing in the film. Jean Grey has dreams and then just watches as her friends get decimated, Nightcrawler was there to get the characters from point a to point b, and Scott was just angry and then totally into Jean. So much time was devoted to other characters that we've already seen that the new guys didn't get the opportunity to truly shine. Oh and if you are wondering why I didn't mention Jubilee it's because she has like 2 lines in the entire film so if you want your fireworks fix, you'll have to settle for this.


The movie isn't all bad; there is more humor in this than in previous installments and they did finally give us costumes (albeit at the end of the film), but there's just not enough here for me to warrant a super positive review here. I don't like bashing on films needlessly but this film highlights to me that Singer just doesn't know how to handle an ensemble cast. A lot of talent in the film is wasted; Oscar Isaac as Apocalypse is a bore, there is no charm to the character, no wit, just dramatics and monologing and my god is his plan one of the worst one's I've seen in the franchise. Olivia Munn had very few lines also and even less screentime, Professor X was Professor X'ed once again and the the resolution to the horribly choreographed and planned out battle didn't feel earned at all. The franchise needs a new creative direction, the entire film felt derivative of the other ones...some of the best parts of this film was referencing X-Men: First Class...that's when you know there is a problem. 

Overall, if you don't watch this film you're not missing out on anything, there is nothing in the movie that happens that you do not see coming a mile away, aside from when the plot finally starts to pick up. If you're a die hard X-Men fan then nothing I say will dissuade you from seeing this but you're better off watching Deadpool for the 100th time or watching Days of Future Past. X-Men Apocalypse is at moments visually entertaining and has solid performances from McAvoy and Fassbender, but they are no longer enough of a reason to see these movies. Maybe the next film will focus on the team aspect more and let us invest in the new characters, one can hope.