Trying to love ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is a hard thing to do (a spoiler-free review)

Hot on the heels of the fantastically executed Captain America: Civil War, I’ve had high expectations for X-Men: Apocalypse. I love the X-Men. I like how they’re the superheroes that can’t hide behind disguises or alter egos. Okay, Mystique can shapeshift, but that’s beside the point. I like that they are just themselves, even when some people can’t accept them. It speaks of the human experience and it makes them seem grounded to me, even with their superhuman abilities. So, you can imagine my excitement for this movie.

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I want to say I love it and preach how good it is to everyone I meet. But giving it a day to think about the film, made me realize there were some points of contention that’s stopping me from saying so.

In summary, this Bryan Singer-led film has Charles Xavier/Professor X (played by James McAvoy), together with Raven/Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence), have to lead a young X-Men team to stop the immortal Apocalypse (played by Oscar Isaac) as he sets out to create a new world order with the help of Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (played by Michael Fassbender) and other mutants.

The plot makes for a perfect fight for humanity. There were even references of the Holocaust in the film. However, there seemed to lack a certain humanness to it. Even when the world was being torn apart by Apocalypse through Magneto, you couldn’t see the faces of the people they were affecting. It was all just structures being torn apart. Of course, you can assume that people are there. But without being able to see them on screen, you couldn’t really feel like the world was in serious danger.

And that lack of a real threat can also be seen in the film’s main villain, En Sabah Nur or Apocalypse. Oscar Isaac acted in the best way he could underneath all of the makeup and extremely bulky costume. But the film version of Apocalypse reminded me of the film version of Ultron. I wasn’t quite sure what Apocalypse was fighting for. He thinks the world has gone to the dogs and it’s his duty as a powerful being to save it. Simple enough yet I couldn’t quite see the motivation behind that. It would’ve helped if they were somehow able to even briefly mention that.

It makes me wonder if introducing so many characters shortchanged the development of Apocalypse as a villain as well as the new faces in the film. We get the likes of Sophie Turner as Jean Grey/Phoenix, Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers/Cyclops, Olivia Munn as Elizabeth Braddock/Psylocke, Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler, Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe/Storm, and Ben Hardy as Warren Worthington III/Angel/Archangel.

The trio of Jean Grey, Scott, and Kurt get the most exposure out of the newbies. And Kurt/Nightcrawler certainly stole the show from the other two. Like Evan Peters’s Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver, he was clearly the comic relief of the film. He gets a few lines in but you’ll certainly pay attention to him. I like how Marvel easily puts in the humor in this film at the right moments.

It’s sad though that we don’t get to see much in terms of the Four Horsemen. Outside of Magneto, they hardly did anything in the film, which is quite a letdown. I wanted to see Olivia Munn kick more butt than the few moments that she did. But that’s the problem sometimes with ensemble films, a lot of people fall into the background because there are just too many characters to cover.

The film also felt predictable. You expect things to happen and they usually turn up that way, except perhaps for that little cameo we’ve been waiting for. But there wasn’t a major twist to turn the story on its head, which Civil War seamlessly introduced into its plot.

X-Men: Apocalypse, while the ninth film in the series, didn’t feel like the starting point or end of the franchise. It seemed like the middle or jumping off point to other stories. Even its post-credit scene opens up so many possibilities. But I wish it made more of a statement on its own instead of feeling like a transition film for other movies in its universe.

There was also a sense of déjà vu to the film with Charles still trying to convince Erik he has some good left in him and Erik flip-flopping sides. And as much as I like Quicksilver’s action scene in Days of Future Past, I’m not sure we needed a newer, longer one. We’ve also seen the big fight scene many times before, but I will say I enjoyed this one over Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice‘s major fight scene.

I want to root for it. I really do. I’ve watched and loved the X-Men cartoons as a kid but I know it could be so much better if it didn’t try to hark back too much to its old ways. I wish it could’ve surprised us more and given us better character development. If you’re a die-hard X-Men fan though, this will be an enjoyable time. But I can’t say for certain that non-die-hard fans would love it just the same.

X-Men: Apocalypse is now showing.