The first reviews for "X-Men: Apocalypse" are in and critics aren't impressed.
The third film in the rebooted "First Class" trilogy, "Apocalypse" brings the X-Men into conflict with Apocalypse, the original mutant (Oscar Isaac) who has awakened after generations asleep to destroy and rebuild the world with himself as its ruler. He's recruited Four Horsemen to join him, Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), ArchAngel (Ben Hardy), and longtime X-Men villain, Magneto (Michael Fassbender). Standing against him is Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and younger versions of the heroes from the original trilogy.
While this is only the first wave of reviews and early critics largely agree that audiences will love Marvel's latest entry, they have a lot of issues with the film.
The story jumbles too many characters and storylines instead of giving anyone, even the veterans, a chance to shine.
Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said it was "Narratively jumbled and jammed with so many characters that you give up keeping them all straight while simultaneously lamenting not seeing more of those you might actually want around, Bryan Singer's fourth entry in the enormously profitable series he inaugurated 16 years ago undeniably builds to a cataclysmic dramatic reckoning."
Geoff Berkshire at Variety wrote "... it’s clear that Singer aims to take audiences on an eye-popping roller-coaster ride, though in doing so, he leaves behind any pretense of coherent storytelling or character development ..."
But, reviewers overall praise the cast and the younger class of actors all hold their own.
Berkshire continued, "That lineup isn’t short on talent or charisma, and the addition of series newcomers Oscar Isaac (as titular mega-mutant baddie Apocalypse), Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner and Kodi Smit-McPhee (as younger incarnations of the original trilogy characters Cyclops, Jean Grey and Nightcrawler, respectively) only bolsters the ensemble’s appeal."
Tom Huddleston from Time Out agreed: "There are standout performances: Sophie Turner (a.k.a. Game of Thrones' Sansa Stark) works hard as doomed psychic Jean Grey and Michael Fassbender’s bristling Magneto is always a pleasure, even if his character motivation is crass (a visit to Auschwitz is particularly ill-judged)."
Unfortunately, comic favorites including Storm, Psylocke, and Jubilee — all debuting in "Apocalypse" — are sidelined.
Kyle Anderson at Nerdist laments: "Jean, Scott, and Nightcrawler are enjoyable but they don’t get to be the focal points they ought to be, and Psylocke and Angel are completely wasted while Storm is only mostly wasted."
Helen O'Hara from Empire said, "... The big problems lie with the bad guys, Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen. Alexandra Shipp’s Storm gets far too little to do given how well she does it, Ben Hardy’s Angel makes no impact at all and Olivia Munn, as Psylocke, is ferocious but entirely without nuance."
Scott Mendelson at Forbes also wrote, "The other three “horseman” (Psylocke, Storm, and Ben Hardy’s Angel) are walking action figures, with no character development and no substantive screen time. There is a reason why we keep seeing that 'Psylocke slices a car in half with a sword' shot in all of the later X-Men: Apocalypse trailers and TV spots."
—Block Samson (@insanityreport) May 9, 2016
And Apocalypse, despite Oscar Isaac's best efforts, just isn't a compelling villain.
Geoff Berkshire from Variety wrote "Apocalypse remains a one-note villain throughout, despite Isaac’s best efforts to imbue the godlike foe with authoritative menace underneath mountains of prosthetic makeup (whatever new fans the exceptional actor gained from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” will hardly recognize him here)."
Neil Miller from FilmSchoolRejects said "... Even though Oscar Isaac is a great actor, Apocalypse is an indistinct big bad whose stakes are so high that it has a numbing effect on the audience. The fact that he looks like Ivan Ooze the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV show just feels like a twisting of the knife. If an Oscar-caliber villain, one of X-Men’s great rogues, can’t make this franchise feel new again, you’ve got a problem."
Mendelson wrote: "I am not sure how you make Oscar Isaac as a world-destroying baddie dull, but the powers-that-be have pulled it off."
At the least, it sounds like we have another good Quicksilver scene again.
According to reviews, we'll get another scene-stealing slow-motion sequence from the speedster (Evan Peters). This time, it will be to the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams."
Screencrush: "For the second straight movie, the best setpiece belongs to Peters’ Quicksilver, who steals the show with an exciting and funny showcase for his powers. If we’re being totally honest, though, it’s not all that different than his showcase scene in the last movie."
Maybe Fox should just give Peters his own movie.
