The Third Movie's Not Always the Worst

Rating: 7/10 (18 May 2016)

While Days of Future Past played on our nostalgia by giving us the original cast back, Apocalypse holds the trend by introducing younger versions of them. Jean Grey, Scott Summers, Ororo Munroe, and Kurt Wagner are back, but as teenagers. The core of Xavier, Erik, Raven, and Hank return once again to keep the 'preboot' foundation alive, while Quicksilver, Moira, Alex Summers, and the younger Stryker return as well. And yes, Wolverine too, although in a slightly extended use to his nod in First Class.
Unfortunately, Apocalypse doesn't spend a particularly great amount of time introducing brand new mutants and characters. I was really excited to finally see a live-action Jubilee given her long overdue spotlight. I remember her fondly from the 90s cartoon. Unfortunately she's little more than a cameo used to make sure you know you're in the 80s. There's also Psylocke and yet another Angel (I've lost count now), but neither of them are played as anything more than bodyguards, which is pretty much all the Four Horsemen are. Furthermore it kind of quashed the surprise and tension when you pinpointed exactly which horsemen would betray Apocalypse before the movie even started. The lack of development also unfortunately extends to the hyped return of Moira from First Class. Once we hit the third act, I found myself wondering why on earth she was reintroduced in the first place, as she holds absolutely no use beyond a small comical exchange with Xavier early on. For some reason that gives her a right to tag along, where she just sits there and does literally nothing the whole time.
Apocalypse himself was a bit of a two-sided apple. On one side, there's no denying Oscar Isaac's ability to play the villain really well. He offers probably the strongest Super-Villain this year (which isn't saying a lot compared to the super-lacklustre Ajax, Lex Luthor, and Zemo we've had so far). Isaac has a way of bringing a godly gravitas and sense of real threat to Apocalypse which was impressive. It was sorely needed because physically, Apocalypse is a bit of a letdown. As talented as Isaac is, he just isn't tall or bulky enough. It felt a little off when Magneto looks him in the eye and they're as tall as each other. The somewhat tacky make-up job doesn't do him any favours either.
The rest of the cast do admirably as well though. James McAvoy's Xavier sounds a little lazy and not bothered during the film's opening monologue, but he re-engages afterwards and brings back that young Xavier that could almost be a young Patrick Stewart. Jennifer Lawrence is on par with her previous outings, neither showing improvement nor any sign of slacking. Most the praise belongs to the new cast members. Tye Sheridan does a pretty good job of the young Scott Summers who's just coming to terms with his uncontrollable lazer eyes, and Sophie Turner is a perfect fit for Jean Grey (although her American accent sounds a bit off at times). Kodi Smit- McPhee is completely unrecognisable as Nightcrawler though. Hats off to him. Obviously though, and for the third time in a row, Michael Fassbender is the star of the show. Magneto is again offered arguably more character development than any other character, and Fassbender puts it to good use. Time and again he is the highlight of the movie.
Apocalypse is probably one of the most action-orientated X-Men movies around, certainly the most action packed that Bryan Singer has personally directed. He took on quite a large bite for Apocalypse though, requiring an epic and bombastic approach to the fight scenes. Apocalypse is pretty much a god after all. I can't say it's fully successful, as there weren't any particularly memorable clashes (unlike Nightcrawler's attack on the White House in X2, for example), but what we get certainly does the job, without any of this silly zoom-in and shake the camera crap blockbusters are getting increasingly riddled with. It was also really cool to see the unstoppable Apocalypse tackled more than just physically, as Xavier takes him on mentally while everyone else is hitting him with all they've got. It finally takes a hint of what's to come to finally beat him, but I won't spoil it.
The effects are hit and miss just like Apocalypse himself. I've mentioned his make-up and costume, so I won't talk about that again, but there is a lot of CGI here. Some of it works, some of it doesn't. Smaller, more intimate uses are great, like people being swallowed up by walls or Apocalypse's growth in the mental battle against Xavier, but the grander moments are let down by a lack of clarity. For example, there's a moment just before the third act where Apocalypse disintegrates a city in order to build a giant pyramid. The screen just gets filled with indiscernible dust for a few minutes as you try to figure out exactly what's going on. It's unfortunately not an isolated incident.
Apocalypse was a worthy and enjoyable addition to the X-Men franchise. I look forward to seeing the younger versions of these classic characters return once again, but beyond Wolverine 3 and the Deadpool movies, I feel pretty happy to leave the X-Men movies here, if it comes to that. It wasn't the best the franchise has to offer, but it was far from the worst as well. Thankfully it's self-fulfilling, tongue-in-cheek prophecy of "the third movie is always the worst" didn't come to pass. I give Apocalypse a respectable 7/10