The “X-Men” franchise is now a well-oiled machine for its ninth entry, “X-Men: Apocalypse.” Although it has big spectacles – indeed, the fate of humanity is at stake in this one — it hasn’t forgotten that characters, personalities, colorful costumes and creative uses of superpowers drive the saga. While some themes (Is Magneto good or evil? Are humans going to accept or reject mutants?) are old hat, the franchise remains fun.
Singer’s fourth go-around
For those keeping score at home, this is the fourth entry directed by Bryan Singer and the third where Simon Kinberg has a hand in the screenplay. Kinberg also penned the maligned “X-Men 3: The Last Stand” (2006), so the joke in “Apocalypse” about how the third movie is always the worst (some of Xavier’s students check out “Return of the Jedi,” as this film is set in 1983) is probably a case of the writer making fun of himself.
While “Apocalypse” is expertly paced and logically written, with a little bit for every superhero to do, it depends heavily on the performances. Oscar Isaac is the glue that holds the film together as the title character, the original Egyptian mutant who is resurrected from a slumber of three millennia.
“X-Men: Apocalypse” (2016)
Director: Bryan Singer
Writers: Simon Kinberg, Bryan Singer, Michael Dougherty
Stars: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence
With a gesture, he can turn weapons to dust, bury people in the ground, or boost his allies’ powers, as he does with Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Archangel (Ben Hardy), Psylocke (Olivia Munn) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), his new Four Horsemen. The only thing he’s lacking is the ability to be everywhere at once, so he seeks to tap into Xavier’s (James McAvoy) psychic powers.
With assistance from facial prosthetics that turn down the corners of his mouth, Isaac gives an understated performance as a being who is confident because he’s all-powerful. He kills his enemies without a care, because they mean nothing to him, and he never has emotional swings. We don’t have to endure any supervillain posturing.
Because of the time-travel aspect of 2014’s “Days of Future Past,” “Apocalypse” features a mix of the players from the 1960s (“First Class”)/1970s (“Days of Future Past”) timeline along with new-timeline versions of characters we knew from the 21st century (starting with the original “X-Men”). Got all that? Good, because it gets even more confusing.
Unusual aging
While it’s conceivable that mutants don’t age like normal humans – thus allowing us to explain the eternally youthful Xavier, Magneto, Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and Havok (Lucas Till), plus the more explicable Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), since she’s a shapeshifter – Moira Mactaggert (Rose Byrne) is another story.
Xavier’s love interest — at least when he allows her to keep her memories – doesn’t seem to age, but as far as we know, she’s not a mutant. Byrne has played the character over the course of 20 years in films that were shot over the course of five years. Also – for what it’s worth, being a different timeline — an only slightly older actress played Moira in the 2006-set “The Last Stand.”
File Moira’s lack of aging under “mysteries deferred to future movies.” For now, suffice it to say that the newcomers are excellent, and I hope they stick around for many more movies. Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) and Nightcrawler (Cody Smit-McPhee) refreshingly look like normal kids (well, Nightcrawler looks like a mutant, but you know what I mean), eager to learn from veterans like Mystique, Beast and Havok.
Storm, with her Mohawk of white hair, and Psylocke, with her sleek purple costume, may have been cast for the figures they cut, but they’ll get a chance to act more in future films; Storm on the side of good, Psylocke still seemingly evil. In “Apocalypse,” Storm gets a largely wordless change-of-heart arc, whereas Psylocke does nothing except stand around and look sexy and awesome.
(Another trick of the new timeline is that characters don’t have to exist in the same time they existed in the previous timeline. Psylocke and Archangel debuted as youths in the 2006-set “The Last Stand.” On the other hand, Jean, Cyclops, Storm and Nightcrawler are born at about the same time on both timelines.)
Fun with superpowers
As noted, “Apocalypse” knows how to have fun with its mutants’ superpowers. Quicksilver (Evan Peters) stars in another music-video-style slow-motion action scene, and – avoiding the cheat that plagued “Days of Future Past” – this time he’s around for the grand finale, where his super-speed might be an equalizer for the forces of good.
I remember “X2: X-Men United” (directed by Singer) and “The Last Stand” as packing too many story points and character arcs into a single movie. But the filmmakers have learned. It’s remarkable how much stuff is in “Apocalypse” without it feeling overstuffed.
For example, we visit villainous Stryker’s (Josh Helman) secret facility for at least the third time (see also “X2” and “Origins: Wolverine”), but rather than feeling old, it leads to the film’s best surprise cameo (which you can probably guess with ease). By the way, Stryker deserves to die if only because he keeps saying “Eggzavier.”
There’s not really a new thematic point to “Apocalypse,” and we’re on the second incarnations of many of the characters now (and the third actor, in some cases, such as Cyclops). Still, the “X-Men” franchise doesn’t feel tired yet – Singer and Kinberg clearly still love this world and these characters, and they present them with care.