X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) | Film Review

The X-Men have been a part of the nerd zeitgeist for over fifty years, the tale of mutants trying to live in a world that fears and distrusts them acting as a mirror for geeks who didn’t feel like they were wanted in their world either. The roster has changed many times over the years, with heroes becoming villains and villains becoming heroes, and some jumping back and forth like it’s a game of hopscotch. No matter the year or the team members, though, the central message has always been the same: be the heroes humanity needs and they will one day accept mutant-kind. So far that hasn’t happened, but the X-Men keep fighting the good fight regardless, and that’s why we love them.

Plus Wolverine is just so damn cool.

Though the cartoons had always been popular, it wasn’t until Bryan Singer’s X-Men film was unleashed on theaters in 2000 that it truly became a worldwide phenomenon. Now, after three proper movies, two side Wolverine films (Deadpool is an arguable side film as well), and a reboot that has become the new timeline with its own sequel, we come to what just might be the X-Men’s greatest threat yet: Apocalypse.

Based on a character created by Louise Simonson and Jackson Guice in 1986, Apocalypse was originally created as a villain for X-Force, a sister team to the X-Men, and the website IGN ranks him as the 24th greatest comic book villain of all time. Over the years he has gone through several permutations (pardon the pun) and reboots, but his reason for existing is always the idea of survival of the fittest. By clearing away the weak and laying waste to all they built he ensures that those who survive will be stronger and will build a better world. This has been his mission since he was born in Egypt over six-thousand years ago and given the name En Sabah Nur (Marvel has mistranslated this to mean The First One). The movie version of Apocalypse, played so well by Oscar Isaac, differs in many ways from the comic book one, but considering how often the comics retcon and reboot things, that doesn’t really mean much.

The film begins in 3600 BCE as En Sabah Nur is being carried to his temple, a massive pyramid that dominates everything around it. The plan, we learn, is for him to move his consciousness and powers to a new body, one that possesses the power of rapid healing, so that it can be added to his collection of abilities. While this happens he is to be protected by his four greatest warriors, which comes in handy when a group of people who see En Sabah Nur as a false god attempt to kill him. Ultimately, and obviously since the movie is called Apocalypse, they fail, but not before the transition is complete and one of his guardians protects him as the ceremony chamber (not to mention the entire pyramid) crumble into the earth. The trauma of the event puts Apocalypse in a state of suspended animation hundreds of feet beneath the sands of Egypt, and there he stays until being unintentionally awoken. From there it’s all pew pew and explosions. Again, the movie IS called Apocalypse. That’s a lot of name to live up to, so to speak.

Considering that this is Bryan Singer’s fourth X-Men movie, you’d figure he knows how to make the most out of these disparate ensemble of characters and the chaos that always seems to follow them, and in that you’d be correct. The flow and rhythm of X-Men: Apocalypse is steady, despite cutting between locations covering every corner of the globe and the large number of characters that drive the story forward. I know there are many who don’t care for Singer or his take on the X-Men, but I’ve always felt like he was at his best where leather costumes and eye-blasts were concerned. His direction is solid, and his vision clear. This is possibly his greatest mutant film yet. It’s fun, exciting, a bit thought-provoking, and full of little Easter eggs that true comic book fans will delight in.

Speaking of the cast, there is no way that I can give all of them their due without reducing my fingers to bloody nubs on the keyboard, so let me stick to the new additions. First and foremost, there isn’t enough good things that can be said about Oscar Isaac. He is a man on the rise, and for me this is just one more rung on his ladder. The character of Apocalypse could have easily been a giant hunk of cheese, a one-note maniac bent on destruction and given to constant fits of histrionics, but Isaac is far too smart an actor for that. Instead, he plays it with a light touch, most of his dialogue uttered in a whisper filled with understanding and fatherly love. Its only at the end that the opera gates fly open and he lets rip, but by then he’s earned it. Apocalypse is a monster, but Isaac somehow makes him understandable, even sympathetic to a degree. That wasn’t something I saw coming, and I’m glad to be so surprised. He is by far the best villain yet to appear in an X-Men movie.

Sophie Turner, whom most know as Sansa from HBO’s Game of Thrones, plays Jean Grey, a young mutant with mental abilities she can’t always control. She does a good enough job of delivering the character. Nothing Academy Award winning, but she’s a solid actor and certainly doesn’t detract from the film. The same can be said for Tye Sheridan (Cyclops), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Nightcrawler), Alexandra Shipp (Storm), and Olivia Munn (Psylocke). The only real weak link is Ben Hardy as Angel. I know he and the writers and Singer all tried to give him as much development and pathos as they could in the short amount of time we get with him, but it just doesn’t work. Luckily his metal wings are so cool to watch that you just let the rest of him go. Sadly, it does seem like a missed opportunity since I would like to have seem him develop in the films to come. The only real standout amongst them is Olivia Munn, though I realize that’s probably because I’ve long had a crush on the character of Psylocke AND Olivia Munn, so having the two as one is like a dream come true.

I do, though, feel compelled to mention one returning cast member, and that’s Michael Fassbender. He joined the X-Men cinematic universe in 2011’s X-Men: First Class as a younger Magneto. He did a good job in the movie, nothing special, and then did about the same in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, but here he is in top form. In Apocalypse he has to cover a range of emotions, from fury to heartbroken, and with every turn he seems to up his game. Of all the actors in the movie, he has the most emotional weight to carry, and he does so in incredible fashion.

So far as the look of the film goes, stunning is about the only word that covers it. Then again, that’s pretty much become the norm these days. The world shattering sequences that the visual effects experts are able to create these days are just spectacular, darn near flawless, and it would be more newsworthy if they didn’t. We’ve now become spoiled by the spectacle on display, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad. Either way, every inch of the screen is gorgeous to behold. That continues with the sound design and music. All of it combines into an incredible couple of hours in the theater. Who could ask for more?

As an FX side note, one of the standout moments from Days of Future Past was Quicksilver’s slow-mo run through a kitchen in the Pentagon. Well, if you liked that bit of fun, then you’re in for a real treat here. To say anything more would be spoiling things, and I refuse to do that. Just smile and enjoy yourself when Evan Peter’s Quicksilver saves the day again. It’s a blast.

The comic book movie world has gotten pretty crowded lately. Between Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and DC’s attempt to do the same with their franchises, the X-Men universe of films have seemingly diminished. Singer’s original X-Men was, in my opinion, the movie that ushered in this golden age of superhero films, the harbinger of what was to come, and I hate to feel like it’s being relegated to the back of the pack. Is X-Men: Apocalypse the movie that will propel them to the front again? Sadly, no. While I love the movie, it just doesn’t have the same level of epic scale that something like Captain America: Civil War or Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice has. It spans the globe in its storytelling, but somehow it just doesn’t feel as big as it needs to. But, that shouldn’t and doesn’t take away from the film’s own greatness. If Fox can hire writers and directors of the caliber that Marvel has done, and they choose the right characters to spin-off into their own movies as they did with Wolverine, then I think there’s a chance they could stand toe-to-toe with the other studios, sharing in the spotlight as they rightly should.

Or, better yet, Fox could make a deal with Marvel similar to what Sony did with Spider-Man and let the X-Men be part of the MCU. It makes perfect sense to the fans, many of whom are dying to see Wolverine as an Avenger, which he is in the comics (Logan is too badass to be on just one team). I doubt that’ll ever happen since Fox has more franchises to risk than Sony did, but I won’t stop hoping. Until then I’ll gladly keep watching our merry band of mutants save the world time and time again for a humanity that doesn’t want them.