While there are some genuinely moving moments in X-Men: Apocalypse, it is too often an overly familiar reworking of superhero-movie ideas, especially the seemingly all-powerful villain confronted by a group of flawed heroes.
Part of my disappointment may simply be a function of X-Men exhaustion. Apocalypse is the ninth film in the series (following X-Men, X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Deadpool.)
Yes, other series have gone longer. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, coming from a different studio than X-Men, consists of 13 films so far.
The X-Men series did refresh itself with younger actors taking on the key mutant roles in First Class, and threw out old time lines in the history-changing Days of Future Past. And Deadpool had a radically different attitude from its movie predecessors, more comedic and far more violent, which suggested something really different could be done within the X-Men universe.
Only Apocalypse is not really all that different. It is very serious, especially as it examines the emotional torments afflicting its characters in the 1980s, a decade after the pivotal events in Days of Future Past. But for much of the film, we’re back against a huge cosmic threat, the ancient mutant Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), and forced to wait for the good characters to figure out something that the audience will have long since known.
Like Batman v. Superman and Captain America: Civil War, Apocalypse also has to serve existing characters while introducing new ones (or, more precisely, the younger versions of some previously seen ones). Civil War has done the best job of that, and Apocalypse feels cumbersome in comparison.
This is all the more frustrating because of the fine acting that is often on view in Apocalypse, the kind you would expect from a cast including Michael Fassbender (as Magneto) and Jennifer Lawrence (Mystique). They, as well as James McAvoy (Charles Xavier), know how to share their pain with audiences. But their best moments still have to exist within the larger X-Men framework. And I am really tired of the old moves involved with that.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal, Ohio.com, Facebook and Twitter. You can contact him at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.