X-Men: Apocalypse takes place somewhere in the timeline of the other films after Days of the Future Past changed everything. It’s um, “ambitious ” how they tried to change the mistakes of previous films, but it does also mean that the timeline is a little more confusing compared to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially considering Captain America: Civil War just dropped.
X-Men: Apocalypse opens over 3,000 years before any of these timelines. Here we see Oscar Isaac, play the titular Apocalypse. The X-Men franchise is certainly building its roster for plenty of spin-offs and future films, but the origin story is quick and clean, even if Apocalypse doesn’t look anywhere near as cool as the 90s cartoon. We’re quickly thrown into the action, and the chain of events that lead the world to come into chaos is quickly activated.
Apocalypse throws away plenty of the big themes that were established in Days of the Future Past and works on moving the X-Men forward. Instead of the idea of mutants in the world, the cost of freedom and the police monitoring people, we’re left with a fight against Apocalypse.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the new cast all fit in wonderfully, and plenty of fan favourites come out of the woodworks. The only real issue is that X-Men: Apocalypse seems torn between being a serious film tackling issues, and then winking into the camera and the cheesy elements it possesses. The script is nowhere near as strong as in previous installments, and often dialogue was predictable, and made anti-climactic scenes that bit more anti-climactic. Whether it’s from the success of Deadpool, or some weird message he wanted to nail home, Singer couldn’t help but include an unsubtle reference to the poor reception of X-Men: The Last Stand.
The biggest problem with the film is that the stakes were too high, and it felt like it was always going to work out in the end. Apocalypse is meant to be one of the most powerful mutants ever, and obviously the world was going to be saved. This is a strength Civil War had, and Apocalypse lacks, because we’re simply waiting for the final moments where one of the X-Men uses their powers, or they combine together to save the day.
Once again, Bryan Singer delivers a love letter to the comic series. It’s ambitious and pulls many punches, but not everything lands as we’re quickly rushed to the ending. Characters like Jubilee are shown, and even have a few lines, but we never see any of her powers.
The majority of this film felt like an origin story, set against one of the best villains of the story. Instead, the issue is that the two never cohesively gel together, and instead it feels like an attempt at a saving grace. This is a shame as watching Magneto living in hiding and try to live a normal life is wonderful, yet quickly he is cast back into the same back and forth of wanting justice and caring about his friends, which is quickly growing tiresome.
The most neglected of the mutants, excluding Magneto, are Apocalypse’s four horsemen, who have motivations to join Apocalypse that seem difficult to believe for characters that are known for being fierce. Archangel is the one who gets the most explanation and least justice, and rather than being a callback to earlier in the film, the audience may be left scratching their head, wondering why his turn of events were so significant. They aren’t created as interesting and personalized characters, and seem to be boringly motivated by achieving more power. If we were looking at a different superhero movie, this might not be such a big deal, but it shows to the obvious juxtaposition by how great the X-Men are developed.
In short, X-Men: Apocalypse is an inferior sequel to Days of the Future Past, but does serve justice to its characters, at the very most. The cast do a fantastic job, but its ultimate failing is down to the writing. It’s mostly plot, feeling somewhat like an interim between the next big X-Men film that won’t underwhelm. The action scenes are skippable, and it’s frustrating because the film could have been great, but it all somewhat rests on its laurels of being wrapped in 90s nostalgia.
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