I know what you’re thinking: Here’s Magoo, the Marvel hater, ready to dump all over another superhero film. Well, I don’t blame you for thinking that. But uncannily, I love the X-Men film franchise. It’s actually one of my favourite film franchises ever. Days of Future Past remains as one of my favourite films of 2014, and I even love the shittier ones like The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. And now I know you’re thinking: Origins: Wolverine?! Magoo must just be an X-Men fanboy ready to overpraise this latest instalment. This time I really don’t blame you because despite Apocalypse being a substandard entry, I still had a great time with it.

X-Men: Apocalypse is set in the 1980s and is the continuation of the prequel storyline initiated by First Class starring James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender. Professor X is finding success running his school for mutants and Magneto is living a life of peace. Meanwhile, cultists discover and awaken a villainous ancient mutant, En Sabah Nur, aka Apocalypse. With the world in jeopardy, our heroes must find a way to work together to defeat this new and powerful threat.

First of all, they once again nail the casting. It’s always been a strength of the series, with almost-irreplaceable actors like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, and Fassbender being a revelation as Magneto. This time we’re treated to Sophie Turner delivering a compelling and convincing performance as a young Jean Grey wrestling with her abilities. The same can be said for Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers – both very welcome additions to the series.

However, their characters are a little underdeveloped, with the narrative a little too reliant on our knowledge of who they are to become. This is likely a consequence of the writers trying to force too many new characters into the mix. Storm and Psylocke are victims of this, with little screen time or development at all and only existing so that the villain has enough teammates.

But it’s interesting to think back to the first X-Men and First Class – did we complain that the likes of Toad and Azazel weren’t fleshed out? No – they were just henchmen, after all. This excuse almost holds for Apocalypse, but for the fact that Storm is an incredibly important character in the original films. If the film is relying on our knowledge of Jean Grey, I feel it was unjustified in its treatment of Storm.

This cramming in of characters does upset the balance of the first act, but as the film builds momentum it does pay off for the most part. At best, characters like Jean Grey are treated to real moments to shine, not only in the action but as impactful inhabitants of the greater mutant world. And at worst it’s mostly harmless, winding up with characters like Nightcrawler, whose inclusion is a little unnecessary but makes for great action and comedy.

Now I say mostly harmless because one character who desperately needed some better development was Apocalypse. Remember when Ultron woke up and in two seconds decided he was evil and wanted to blow up the world? Well, it isn’t quite that bad, but I would have liked a lot more than what we got, given that the franchise has a history of great villains. In fact, the film seems very reliant on its underused themes in how it explores the character, but more on that later.

I can say the action is pretty awesome, finding new ways to add creative set pieces to show off our mutants’ abilities in not only the physical world, but in the mental realm too. This has always been a challenge for the franchise given that one of the most powerful characters is a wheelchair-bound psychic. But Apocalypse finds ambitious ways of realising these moments and the result is often stunning.

It’s really Bryan Singer who we must praise, who triumphantly returned to the franchise after the poor reception of The Last Stand. He once again demonstrates a deep understanding of the universe. He always picks out those excellent hero shots, times the humour well, and opts for smooth, creative action sequences with no trace of shaky cam (fuck you, Russo Brothers). In fact, he may be unique in Hollywood as someone with such a consistent and clear vision when it comes to franchise blockbusters.

What lets Apocalypse down is some of the writing. The story and plotting are certainly not as strong as those of Future Past, where everything that happens is entirely motivated by the film’s rich characters. Instead there are a few forced moments of storytelling, where it’s obvious where the film is trying to go and has a few convenient turns just to get us there.

Finally, I have to talk about the film’s themes, because the subtext is really why we all love the X-Men franchise. They’ve commented on discrimination, homophobia, and haven’t been afraid to go dark in places – Future Past even managed to hide a metaphor for heroin addiction. Now they comment on religion and the nature of God. Heavy stuff, and boy let me tell you, this film is agonisingly close to being brilliant. In the end they chickened out of its sharp thematic undercurrents in favour of spectacle.

It’s a shame, since the best entries in the franchise tell their tightly woven story so well that they don’t have to sacrifice commentary for action. That’s why X-Men: Apocalypse doesn’t hold up with the likes of Future Past and X2. But in the end it’s still a decent blockbuster with exciting characters and thematic depth which, while lacking bite, still provides enough to think about.

7-8

(GRADES: Both are from 0 to 10. The left is an objective score based on artistic merit, the right is my personal enjoyment.)

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