Nope

X-Men: Apocalypse is fun. It has it all. The great action, dazzling set pieces, excellent visuals, hilarious quicksilver sequences and supposedly the alpha mutant laid down to be the greatest threat Xavier and his pupils have faced yet. Still with all that going down and culminating into a bigger than man storyline, Apocalypse fails to meet the high bar set by either of its predecessors as even with all that it has, it still feels that the film lacks substance and consequently suffers.

The films begins with a sequence introducing us to the centuries old mutant: Apocalypse which also explains why this major player has been missing the action. The plot kicks off when Agent Moira Mactaggert, still unaware of the events of First Class, witnesses the Alpha awaken. The story raises some intriguing questions about the real world based upon which the Ancient Egyptian decides to end the earth as it is and create civilisation deemed ideal by him. The ‘Villain wanting to reset the current world’ scenario isn’t even close to unique. In fact it is the plot of the current season of Arrow but that wouldn’t have been a problem if the movie in itself would’ve given us more content, which it doesn’t.

The aforementioned intriguing questions, story potential and a lot of characters are simply wasted. The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse are nowhere nearly as significant as you might’ve thought they’d be. You’ll have a tough time remembering more than two instances in which they were given dialogue (except Magneto, arguably the protagonist).Character motivations change without sufficient reason and mutants, due to lack of development, are hard to care for.

A new problem that Apocalypse faces though, is the constant lack of threat. Oscar Isaac is great as Apocalypse. It’s just that it’s Apocalypse who never evolves as a threat. He’s the oldest and arguably the most powerful mutant of this universe and yet stakes are nowhere near where they should be or have been as in case of X-Men: First Class. Apocalypse never becomes anything more than an Obey Or Die sort of villain and that really hurts the movie. The conflict thus feels unsatisfying and Apocalypse under-developed.

In some areas Apocalypse does well though and as we’ve seen in the past, what X-Men does good, it does really really good. Michael Fassbender is at the top of his game here as Magneto. Even though his whole Family-arc is a little unnecessary, he sells it. You can see what is broken inside Magneto because of what is conveyed so beautifully through his performance. Acting is good across the board. McAvoy is great again, so is Lawrence as well as all others who are given something to work with. There’s a cameo of a beloved character which I won’t ruin. It’s good though. Quicksilver finally learns something comic fans would already know- his parentage. He is also once again given a 5-minute-sequence where he shines brighter than most.

The biggest success of the third movie of this trilogy is where the third of the main one failed. Jean Grey. She is explored, her powers are meaningfully conveyed and her evolution significantly portrayed. Jean here is as badass as you would want, and though she plays her part earnestly through the first half, it is the end where she explodes and the moment she does is a moment to behold. I was left in awe of a character who deserved justice in a movie which wasted so many. Thankfully, it was a swing and a hit in case of Jean.

All in all, Apocalypse isn’t bad. It’s very decent if what a person wishes to see is a straightforward hero vs villain movie with a lot of buildings rammed down and lot of characters kicking ass. The movie doesn’t go light in the action area. For the rest of us however, Apocalypse doesn’t even come close to the origin/revenge combination of First Class, masterful complexity of Days Of Future Past or even the neat storytelling of X2.
X-Men Apocalypse is a reminder that the franchise has to come up with new because 16 years into the franchise, fresh is something that is underrated. Hopefully that is where the franchise moves from now because if not, it’s all Apocalypse.