X-Men: Apocalypse

Bryan Singer – 2016 – USA

I admit being slow to get interested in the X-Men movies.  I never knew the comics or the animated TV show, or cared much about superheroes in general, but the Bryan Singer-shepherded film franchise has something special about it.  It has some historical perspective, some intriguing theories based on science and human nature.  But probably the main thing I like about these above other superhero movies – such as Marvel’s concurrent Avengers series – is that X-Men’s “mutants” are outcasts, often working class, and have some severe inferiority complexes.  Yes, the allegorical suggestions comparing the persecution of the mutants to the Holocaust and the treatment of homosexuals is pretty heavy-handed at times, but never enough to spoil things.  Like many, I expected Singer to become a major auteur following the ingenious The Usual Suspects in 1995, but since Apt Pupil (1998) failed to find the same success, he seems given over completely to the safety of Hollywood modus operandi.  I don’t know for sure that he achieves that much in the X-Men movies that other skillful directors may not have done just as well, but in any case, I’m not complaining.  Apocalypse suffers from some of the same problems as other films in the series – especially The Last Stand (2006) and Days of Future Past (2014); namely, the focus on potentially world-ending cataclysms over human conflicts we can relate to, and the profusion of new characters we barely have time to get to know and who feel crammed in to please the fans rather than actually necessary.  It’s a strange thing that even though I like Days of Future Past and Apocalypse immensely, I do so almost in spite of their stories rather than because of them.  I have a hard time buying into the time travel premise of the former film as much as I do the Apocalypse character in the latter one.  It’s everything else that’s interesting instead; the mutant’s plight as they move through history, the Martin Luther King-Malcolm X-inspired war of ideology between Magneto and Charles Xavier, and the genuinely moving stories of lonely individuals coming to terms with their true natures.  The caliber of actors helps too.  Where The Avengers boasts colossal bores like Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth, X-Men has James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, as well as (in this installment) Oscar Isaac; some of the best actors of their generation.  In fact, one of my only gripes about Apocalypse is that Isaac is so buried in appliances that it’s hard to even see his performance; it might as well have been anyone under there.  Apocalypse is an ancient mutant who built Egypt and was eventually betrayed by his people who condemned him as a false god.  Entombed alive for millennia, just like Imhotep, he is reawakened in the 1980s to a decadent world run by weak humans who dare to call their major governments “super powers.”  Apocalypse will have none of this and proceeds to recruit his own “four horsemen” to obliterate human society and remake the world as he sees fit.  He’s caught the X-Men at a particularly shaky time; Magneto has been trying to live a quiet life of anonymity as a factory worker in Poland, and the pacifist Xavier has dedicated his students to enlightenment and self-esteem versus combat training.  As in the previous film, the two antagonists – and their respective followers – are forced to work together in order to fight a far more dangerous enemy.  I thought it was all well-handled, considering how many characters must be dealt with, but I sort of long for the simplicity of the first X-Men (2000) and First Class (2011), that were dedicated more directly to the philosophical conflicts between the humanitarianism of Xavier and the stridency of Magneto.  I definitely liked that Wolverine figured so lightly this time around; every other X-Men film except First Class was basically all about Wolverine.  As in all these movies, characters’ motivations and loyalties can change direction at the drop of a hat when it suits the screenwriters’ needs, and you may often find yourself wondering how society can go on functioning when these city-demolishing calamities seem to keep happening every couple of years, but for the most part, these are great stories filled with a perfect mix of drama, humor, action and small human details.