Oscar Issac looks rather blue in X-Men Apocalypse
Photo Credit: FOX
Sometimes a good idea can overcome its execution. There is
really no better example of this than X-Men Apocalypse. Both visually and plot
wise X-Men Apocalypse is really nothing particularly special. For the most part
it resembles a “greatest hits” package of all of Brian Singer’s X-Men films a
mix of all the good and bad things that have been a part of these films since
he started making them all the way back in 2000. On the surface X-Men Apocalypse is a film that really brings nothing new and special to the table. Yet somehow there
is an emotional core to Apocalypse that managed to pull me in and really
allowed me to care about it on a level I haven’t actively cared about a
superhero film since at least Captain America: Winter Soldier.
The best X-Men stories have more than often centered around
the conflict between its two central characters, Professor Charles Xavier and
Erik Lehnsherr. For those not familiar the original idea for the
characters were for them to be metaphors for two of the sides of the civil
rights movement LBJ and Malcom X. One sees hope for integration between
humanity and mutants while the other sees the only way for mutants not to be
hunted is to tear everyone else down.
Apocalypse sets up the motivations for its
two central characters beautifully. It doesn’t center the
motivations around single scenes like Civil War does, instead it connects
everything that happens in the film to previous events, giving the audience a
better idea of all the events that led up to the decisions that Xavier and Magneto make. This is not holding peoples hands nor assuming the audience is
dumb it is just adding layers to the film's storytelling. Sure a lot of the things
that drive the characters has been covered in previous films but brief
reminders only make the storytelling more interesting and powerful. X-Men
Apocalypse never allows for the interpretation that the central motivations of
its characters revolve around single events but instead allows for the
characters to have complicated and layered reasons for the decisions they make
which ultimately makes for a much more satisfying experience.
It also helps that the center conflict involves two world
class actors. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender both elevate the material
that they are given. Each manage to ground their respective roles which really helps in getting across their respective characters' motivations. This is especially
true for Fassbender who is given some material late that could be considered a
little cheesy but manages to pull it off quite marvelously. The central actors,
like the central character arc, manage to make Apocalypse a infinitely more
engaging experience.
The core central push and pull makes the rest of the
admittedly generic X-Men Apocalypse far more interesting. All of the elements
of the film surrounding the core conflict run into most of the problems that
Marvel films have been running into over the past few years. The most egregious
of these is having a poor villain. The villain Apocalypse feels so out of place here. In a
film that is fairly dark and emotionally driven Apocalypse looks so over the
top it’s laughable. The film generally has a rather grey color pallet and then
there is Apocalypse and his awful bight blue body paint and completely cheesy
purple teleportation bubble. Then there is the fact that Apocalypse is played
by Oscar Isaac. Yes, that Oscar Isaac the man who just may be the best young
actor in the world is put in the most ridiculous of costumes and then given
nothing to do at all. Even Star Wars: The Force Awakens, in which Isaac may
have been in a combined four or five scenes gave the man more to do. Here he’s
just running around in horrid blue paint being the most generic comic book villain possible.
It’s really quite sad.
The action here is also, for the most part, unspectacular.
Bryan Singer has never been the best action director in the world and while
everything here is absolutely serviceable none of it is especially eye catching
or original. For example, the best action scene in the film is essentially a
reworking of a scene they already did in Days of Future Past. The scene is
still great a second time but it ultimately feels like a lot of the rest of the
film, familiar and a little bit uninspired.
Having said all of that X-Men Apocalypse still managed to
grab me. It’s a film whose core conflict managed to make me care about the otherwise
generic film around it. Apocalypse is an example of just how important deep and
involving core characters can be. Being invested emotionally in a film can erase
a lot of sins and while X-Men Apocalypse is indeed a film that contains a lot
of sins its care for the characters at its core makes it the most satisfying
Superhero film to be released in 2016.
Grade: B
-Frederick Cholowski
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