Brian Singer was on a solid streak, ripping out 4 straight fantastic Xmen films. Remember, Rattner directed that flaming elephant turd, Xmen 3, and Matthew Vaughn directed the fantastic Xmen: First Class. But no one bats 1.000, not even Babe Ruth, who’s the greatest baseball player ever. And Singer’s streak is over, as I felt Xmen: Apocalypse was disappointing. Why? Well here we go:
A few new mutants enter the mix: Cyclops, Storm, Angel, Nightcrawler, Jean Grey, Psylocke, and little cared about, Jubilee. They tell the backstory of Jean, and Cyclops just fine. But Storm gets maybe a handful of scenes and how she discovered her powers is barely touched upon. Jubilee gets maybe 3 lines but no one cared about her before so why start now? Angel also got the short shrift as well. Nightcrawler got a little more airtime but they made him look like a boy band member that fell into a cauldron of blue dye. But I thought the biggest character letdown was Psylocke, as there was a ton of hype about her when filming began. Olivia Munn looks great but there is zero back story on her and in the end, you’re left shaking your head, well now what? And she has such little screen time, not what you would think from the commercials.
The biggest flaw I had with the film is Apocalypse. The comic has him at 7 feet but can grow to much larger heights with his ability. 99% of the film has Apocalypse at eye level with most of the actors. There is nothing physically imposing about Oscar Issac’s character and Apocalypse was supposed to be one of the biggest and baddest villains ever. He didn’t show 1/10th of what powers he has and the script didn’t give him the gravitas that I expected.
And let’s also discuss how Mystique gets all Katniss Everdeen on us. She assumes a leadership role with the newer mutants? I know she watched over Rogue in the comics but this felt kind of forced, wasn’t feeling this arc.
Lastly, this film has very little of Wolverine. I just feel it’s not an Xmen film without a healthy dose of everyone’s favorite wise crackin’, cigar smokin’, Canadian bad ass. Wish they had a little more of him but guess they’re saving him for the final Wolverine film.
This film wasn’t bad, just very disappointing how they brought a lot of great characters in but didn’t give them all their fair shake. And especially, the injustice done to Apocalypse. I rank this as the 2nd worst Xmen film, above xmen 3. Like I said, no one bats 1.000 so let’s hope Singer gets back to his stellar track record with the next installment.
I give the film a 6 out of 10. If you’re a fan of the other films (and why wouldn’t you be, they’re excellent), curiousity will get the best of you and you’ll see it in the theater. But I wouldn’t drop 15 bucks on it, wait for Netflix. Don’t bother with the 3D; the only reason I did is the showtime suited me best so I could sneak into my second film of the day.
Kevin Gootee 