X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), directed by Bryan Singer, stars James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, Oscar Isaac, Evan Peters, Sophie Turner, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till, Ben Hardy, Josh Helman, and Lana Condor. This is the eighth film in Fox’s X-Men franchise and only the second to not center around Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. It follows the titular X-Men as they band together to defeat Apocalypse (Isaac), a bloodthirsty mutant who has been freed from an ancient prison. Using the powers he absorbed from various mutants over the centuries, Apocalypse embarks on a quest to exterminate mankind. Along with three other mutants who are sympathetic to his cause, he enlists Magneto (Fassbender) as one of his “Four Horsemen,” powerful mutants prophesied to aid him in his destruction. With the world at stake, Mystique (Lawrence) rejoins Professor Xavier (McAvoy) in a final attempt to unearth Magneto’s remaining humanity, defeat Apocalypse, and save the world. Along with returning allies such as Beast (Hoult), Havok (Till), Quicksilver (Peters), and Moira McTaggert (Byrne); they are joined by fresh faces (only to this timeline) that include Jean Grey (Turner), Cyclops (Sheridan), and Nightcrawler (Smit-McPhee). Although the team is bigger than it’s ever been, they still find themselves as outmatched as they have ever been, begging the question of who of them will even live to tell the tale.

Although the film features countless strong actors, it features the series’ most lifeless set of performances since X:Men: The Last Stand (2006). To be fair to most of the cast, I think this is more due to what is clearly a rushed script that can’t decide which of its countless characters it wants to focus on. Previous strong leads McAvoy and Fassbender aren’t particularly bad, but by the end of the film, their arcs either feel rushed or completely abandoned. The script just never allows them to leave an impact as performers; they’re just kind of there. Unfortunately, the script only gets worse from here. Once again, Nicholas Hoult’s Beast is an afterthought that has only become more so since his first appearance in X-Men: First Class (2011). Oscar Isaac is a bit more intimidating than I remember from my first viewing, but his characterization is far too basic for him to truly stand out. Sophie Turner as Jean Grey is a small improvement over Famke Janssen, but her delivery still occasionally feels dry and monotone. As for the remaining supporting cast, they share the same problem mentioned earlier: the script just doesn’t have time for all of them. That being said, it is nice to see some of the iconic characters return even if it’s not in the capacity I would have liked. The X-Men never fully feel like the X-Men without them.  

The only character that gets a slight improvement here is Evan Peters’ Quicksilver. There’s a bigger effort to attach us to him emotionally, and although his arc isn’t fully resolved, it’s a welcome addition to the character. He’s such a large focus, that the film strangely sets him along with Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique as the main players of the film’s third act. This is particularly negative for the film when it focuses on Lawrence. She gives an almost careless performance thats poor quality is only compounded by a script that tries to unnaturally force the character into a definitive hero role. It just makes her less complex and therefore boring. 

Whether it’s the characters or the story, the script tries to fit far too much into one film. It’s so fractured, that it ends up failing at most of what it tries to accomplish. Even the hook that makes this film unique, which is that they are faced with their most powerful adversary, isn’t fully taken advantage of enough to feel worthwhile. Even various character deaths aren’t effective in establishing stakes. Singer still shows flashes of being proficient with staging mutant action, but his direction mostly works as proof of the behind-the-scenes troubles that he was facing during the film’s production. The CGI looks rushed and the script even goes so far as shamelessly reusing Quicksilver’s fantastic slow-motion action action sequence from the previous film. 

The script is just generally lazy. Countless silly moments make little sense and the comedy works very little of the time. The film even takes a shot at The Last Stand with a joke that points out how trilogy cappers are always the worst of the series. This lack of awareness is just stunning when considering that this is of similar if not worse quality than that film. Maybe they were trying to be self-aware, but why joke about the fact that your movie sucks to an audience that is desperately desiring something of quality?

Overall, although this is not the first “bad” X-Men film, it does feel like it’s the most devoid of creative gusto/inspiration. Characters are forgettable, special effects are spotty, and the script spends far too much time setting up arcs for future films. This may be worth a watch to continue the story for the most die-hard of X-Men fans, but everyone else will find this to be a big disappointment compared to X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). C