After the critical and financial success of X-Men: Days of Future Past, the bar was set extraordinarily high for Bryan Singer’s follow-up. Unfortunately, X-Men: Apocalypse is not quite at that level of excellence, but it still is a pretty entertaining film that re-introduces us to some of our favorite mutants from the X-Men canon.
Singer’s latest takes place about a decade after the (early) events of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Charles Xavier is in full-on Professor X mode, running his school for gifted children and blissfully believing in a future that was recently saved where, he hopes, mutants and humans can live side-by-side. Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) is a heroine, landing on the cover of national magazines as the mutant that saved the President and everyone else who was in and around the White House in the closing moments of the last film. She is hot on the trail of a new (to us, in this universe) mutant named Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), who will prove to be a priceless addition to our heroic collective
Meanwhile, Magneto is going by another name and is working in a mine in Poland, where he is happily married and raising a little girl. Something happens that reveals his powers and it means his days are numbered living in quiet splendor. That something will also push him further into the darkness, which as anyone knows who follows the X-Men, is not a good thing in the least.
Our villain is established in the opening moments of the film. An Egyptian of supreme power, Oscar Isaac’s (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) En Sabah Nur (aka Apocalypse), is considered the first mutant. Fast forward several millennia and he has risen again and he’s ready to assemble his Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and destroy the world and rebuild it in his image. As those who have followed the X-Men in the comics, you know he is one of the most, if not the most formidable foes they ever came up against. With Magneto’s shoulder firmly chipped, you know he’s one to line up to be part of Apocalypse’s “Four,” and joining him is Olivia Munn’s Psylocke, Angel (Ben Hardy) and Storm (Alexandra Shipp).
The good versus evil is established and so is the landscape for their battle — the entire planet earth. The scope of Singer’s film is massive and by far the largest ever tackled in an X-Men movie. It is a marvel for the eyes as the effects are brilliant. Destruction on a massive scale has never been brought to life (or is it death?) in such a swatch of sensationalism. Singer handles this well, as he also does the pacing. The film is edited quite smoothly, as character development is not lost in the vastness of its cast — which is massive (and stellar ensemble that is not wasted one iota). Heck, Rose Byrne’s (Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising) CIA Agent Moira Mactaggert is even back from X-Men: First Class, to the delight of Professor X (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
The only issue is that X-Men: Apocalypse is a little over-weighted. It feels like it comes off a bit to heavy-handed at times, which is easy to do considering its scale and scope. Of the three X-Men films since the series was “re-booted” with X-Men: First Class, it is the least powerful and memorable, but that’s not to say it isn’t entertaining and a formidable addition to the 2016 summer movie landscape.
Michael Fassbender continues to show why he is a perfect young Magneto and his onscreen friend/sometimes nemesis Professor X finds James McAvoy shining yet again. Casting those two is a stroke of brilliance; after all, they’re filling shoes left vacant by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen.
The newbies are also fantastic, particularly Sophie Turner as Jean Grey. She has laid a groundwork with her performance that plants her front and center in where we think Singer will take his franchise in the future… and that is a very good thing. Yet again, Evan Peters has the best scene in the movie as Quicksilver. It’s easy to see why the folks at Marvel killed off their Quicksilver in the Avengers series. Why try to compete with Peters’ charm, wit and wizardry when it comes to inhabiting the beloved character.
We also have to point out that we are thrilled that Fox stuck by Singer after the brew-ha-ha that emerged during the release of X-Men: Days of Future Past. Of course, that scandal turned out to be based on lies and in the process the studio kept a director who is not only an aficionado of the X-Men world, but a helmer who has his hands firmly on the wheel as to where this speeding train of tantalizing fun is heading.
Grade: B