The superhero genre has gone through different dramatic changes since Bryan Singer directed “X-Men” in 2000, and now finds itself in a beautifull place.
The city-level destruction that characterizes so many third acts has become visually rote and morally abhorrent. And how many more movie can we handle about white men given great power who churn out jokes and punches with equal aplomb? The genre desperately needs to diversify not just in terms of race and gender but also the kinds of stories on which filmmakers choose to focus. “X-Men: Apocalypse” should be a corrective measure, considering its ensemble allows for the opportunity to focus on popular female and people-of-color characters. Instead, it magnifies all the worst issues of the genre, serving up a story that would have felt dated five years ago.
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"X-Men: Apocalypse" is a confused, bloated mess of a film. There are several films crammed into one, all battling for the spotlight, and none of them wholly work; there is really no central storyline or heart to the film. The first hour is almost entirely in service of setting up new players and establishing what the veterans are up to. Charles Xavier/Professor X(James McAvoy) is successfully running his school for mutant kids. Raven Darkholme/Mystique(Jennifer Lawrence) is rescuing mutants, including the walking punchline Nightcrawler(Kodi Smit-McPhee) on her own, and struggling with being seen as a hero. Then there are the teenaged Scott Summers/Cyclops(Tye Sheridan) and Jean Grey(Sophie Turner) who are struggling to cope with their powers and fledgling attraction to each other. Sheridan and Turner seem to actually be enjoying themselves but their development staggers under the weight of everything else going on around them; Jean grappling with the dark side of her abilities is especially fertile ground. One of the few evocative scenes involves her having a nightmare which rocks the school and burns the walls of her room before Xavier comforts her. Even though she gets a big hero moment at the end, it doesn’t land well, given how poorly she’s developed. Singer doesn’t offer the scant interesting moments enough room to breathe. He’s too interested in hurtling to the next plot point, the next introduction, the next fight scene.
The greatest sin of “X-Men: Apocalypse” by far is how terribly it wastes some of the greatest modern actors