Susan Granger’s review of “X-Men: Apocalypse” (20th Century Fox)
Helming his fourth “X-Men” movie, Bryan Singer once again wrangles Marvel’s mutants through another adventure, set 10 years after “Days of Future Past” (2014).
This time, the super-villain is Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), supposedly the world’s first and most powerful mutant, known as invincible/immortal En Sabah Nur, who ruled ancient Egypt circa. 3600 B.C. before being entombed in an immense pyramid – until he awakens in 1983 at the height of the Cold War in the Reagan era.
After hibernating for 5,500 years, the petulant Pharaoh is not a happy camper, now that “the weak have taken over.”
Vowing to “wipe clean this world,” he solicits disillusioned Erik Lensherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and his colleagues Warren Worthington/Archangel (Ben Hardy), Elizabeth Braddock/Psylocke (Olivia Munn), and Ororo Munroe/Storm (Alexandra Shipp) into becoming his legendary “four horsemen.”
Working with Hank McCoy/Beast (Nicholas Hoult) and CIA agent Moira McTaggert (Rose Byrne), Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) enlists rejuvenated Charles Xavier/Professor X (James McAvoy), who supplies younger versions of psychic Jean Grey (Sophie Turner, a.k.a. Sansa Stark in TV’s “Game of Thrones”) and laser-eyed Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) from his School for Gifted Children, along with Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and Jubilation Lee/Jubilee (Lana Condor).
Working with screenwriters Simon Kinberg, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris, director Bryan Singer utilizes his 16 years of experience with this franchise as he desperately tries to blend multiple time-shifting, semi-coherent plotlines with remarkable CGI, particularly those of Quicksilver and Nightcrawler.
Problem is: there’s no character development, which means no emotional investment. Previous installments focused on the love/hate relationship between Erik Lensherr and Charles Xavier; there’s too little of that here.
Plus, Singer mixes and matches so many spandex-clad mutants with a myriad of mystical powers that it’s confusing. Even Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) does a clawed cameo.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “X-Men: Apocalypse” is a fatiguing 5, filled with a mediocre multitude of mutants.
