X-Men should eXit now
Superheroes score zeroes in Apocalypse
X-Men: Apocalypse Cert 12A
YAWN your way to the end of the world in this inert episode of the increasingly underpowered superhero series.
It is bloated and boring and the exasperating multitude of characters are poorly served by some very laboured direction.
Haphazard editing and dialogue lacking any lyricism, humour or subtlety also do not help. Presented with a lacklustre script, the topdrawer cast offer performances to match. James McAvoy returns as Professor X, telepathicathic leader of supergroup the X-Men.Men.
He wants peaceful ul co-existence with non-mutants while Michael Fassbender’s Magnetogneto wants everyone to feel his pain.
Minor characters s such as Alexandra Shipp as Storm pose in heroic silencee as they once again re- hash their world views. Oscar Isaac is barely recognisablele and mostly immobilee as Apocalypse, a mutant utant from ancient Egypt who is r esurrected by his followers. With the ability to turn pe people to metal, Apocal Apocalypse wants to build an another world from the ashesash of the present one and sta starts recruiting mutants to serve him. NoN wonder Jennifer LawrenceLa looks bored as t he s hape- s hifting Mystique, who seems to have mutated into a thint copy of her Hunger GamesG character Katniss Everdeen. NowNo a reluctant global poster girl for mutants in hiding, Mystique needs convincing to take arms against Apocalypse. Hugh Jackman cameos as Wolverine and the younger cast fail to make an impression. The setting of 1983 allows for pop culture references to be scattered around but the film-makers lack the wit to exploit them. Though the Cold War and the nuclear arms race are a major subplot, a nuclear launch occurs and is promptly forgotten about while our focus hurries off elsewhere. The end of the world can’t come soon enough for this flatlining franchise.