In X-Men: Apocalypse, a brief scene shows Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Jubilee (Lana Condor), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) leaving a screening of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and arguing the merits of the entire Star Wars trilogy. Jean ends the conversation with a single line: “At least we can all agree, the third one is always the worst.” Though director Bryan Singer was probably intending a dig at X-Men: The Last Stand, he unintentionally shot himself in the foot as X-Men: Apocalypse is on the lower end of the X-Men films. Though not as excruciating as X-Men Origins: Wolverine or Dark Phoenix, it falls far short of the standards set by X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: First Class…and a great deal of that is due to the titular villain.
Taking place a decade after Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) reset time in Days of Future Past, Apocalypse chronicles the reawakening of the ancient mutant Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur (Oscar Issac) and his plans to wipe the slate clean. The X-Men get drawn into the fray when Apocalypse targets Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and recruits Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to be one of his Four Horsemen. With such a stacked cast and an epic premise, not to mention the blank canvas left by Days of Future Past, Apocalypse was set to be one of the best X-Men films. But execution is everything, and Issac’s performance as the Big Bad falls far short of the menace the character is known for unleashing in the comics.
Oscar Issac Feels More Campy Than Compelling in ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’
In the film, Apocalypse is called “The First Mutant,” and possesses immense powers including matter manipulation, regeneration, and the ability to transplant his consciousness into other mutants’ bodies. He also seeks to create a “stronger” world by wiping away civilization and starting anew, which would be a compelling plot if Issac wasn’t hamming it up. Every other sentence is shouted or whispered as if Issac wasn’t sure what take he wanted to go with. On top of that, his voice is also put through an electronic filter that makes Tom Hardy‘s Bane voice sound clear as day. Apocalypse’s motivation to destroy the world also feels fairly bland compared to previous X-Men films, especially when his goal in the comics is to ensure “the survival of the fittest.” Fans of Issac’s work will no doubt be disappointed by this performance, as it doesn’t let him embrace the full range of his acting abilities.
Issac’s transformation into Apocalypse also was extremely uncomfortable, as he was wearing a 40-pound suit in addition to layers of makeup and prosthetics for the character’s royal blue complexion. But a combination of bad lighting and dark hues made him look more bluish-gray, and invited unflattering comparisons to Power Rangers villain Ivan Ooze. Issac went further into the hassle of the Apocalypse suit in a GQ interview: “I had to sit on a specially designed saddle, because that’s the only thing I could really sit on, and I would be rolled into a cooling tent in between takes. And every time I moved, it was just like rubber and plastic squeaking, so everything I said had to be dubbed later as well. And then getting it off was the worst part because they just had to kind of scrape it off for hours and hours.”
Apocalypse’s Horsemen Are a Missed Opportunity
In Marvel Comics canon, Apocalypse is known for having his “Four Horsemen”: four mutants with abilities that he can amplify to correspond to the horsemen in the Book of Revelations. X-Men: Apocalypse keeps this tradition intact, with the Horsemen consisting of Magneto, Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Angel (Ben Hardy), and Psylocke (Olivia Munn). However, the Horsemen have no outstanding character or personality traits, which misses out on a key component of the comics. Most of Apocalypse’s Horseman are conscripted into the role, and struggle with his Darwinian methods; Angel’s transformation into Archangel is a key example, as Apocalypse came to Warren Worthington at a low point in his life. In contrast, Angel is little more than a henchman and Storm receives an even worse treatment, as she joins Apocalypse’s side seemingly out of nowhere, then just as quickly turns against him in the final fight.
It’s Psylocke and Magneto who get the worst of it, however. At the start of the film, Magneto is living a peaceful life with a new family…until they are killed in the crossfire of a confrontation between him and the authorities, causing him to turn his back on humanity. This feels utterly lazy, as if Singer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg couldn’t think of any other way for Magneto to turn to villainy. It’s even more galling as the original Days of Future Past script features a sequence where Apocalypse forcibly takes over Magneto’s body, which would have made for a far more compelling conflict. While Psylocke has some great fight scenes — courtesy of Munn honing her swordsmanship skills — Apocalypse chooses to leave her fate up in the air after she escapes a plane crash, which feels like a disservice given that Psylocke is one of the more beloved members of the X-Men.
Apocalypse Has Fared Far Better in Animation Than Live Action
What truly makes Apocalypse’s portrayal such a letdown in the movie is the fact that the villain plays a major role in various X-Men animated series. In X-Men: The Animated Series, he served as a major antagonist, particularly in the “Beyond Good And Evil” saga in Season 4. There, he sought to use the world’s psychics — including Charles Xavier — to enact a scheme that would rewrite time itself. The sheer scope and scale of “Beyond Good And Evil” shows how powerful Apocalypse is, and gives the X-Men a personal stake as they race to save their mentor and the world. X-Men: Evolution also featured Apocalypse as a major antagonist for its final season, and introduced more personal stakes when he transformed Magneto, Xavier, Storm, and Mystique into his Horsemen. The X-Men had to fight to save their mentors, while Nightcrawler and Rogue were fighting to save their mother. Even X-Men ’97 looks like it’ll be getting in on the action, as the X-Men not only meet Apocalypse in the past but he may turn Gambit into one of his Horsemen in the present day.
X-Men: Apocalypse may have wanted to aim big, but it forgot that the personal stakes are what makes an X-Men story, and their antagonists so compelling.
X-Men: Apocalypse is available to stream on Max in the U.S.
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