X-Men: Apocalypse Is Overstuffed, but It’s Not the End of the World; Vanity Fair, 5/26/16

Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair; X-Men: Apocalypse Is Overstuffed, but It’s Not the End of the World:

"As is often said, in the X-Men movies, the personal is political, and vice-versa. These are stories largely about personhood and identity, struggles with self hyper-magnified to become battles for humanity. That’s a stark difference from Marvel’s Avengers movies, which are all about (or have become about) the larger civic politics of government and diplomacy, questioning systems of power and control in a globalized world. Both series can be read as contemporary allegories, with the Avengers’ stories grappling with our current fears and concerns about U.S. adventurism overseas, while the X-Men run parallel to, say, the maddening debate over who can use what bathroom. Perhaps that’s simplifying things—but the X-Men movies have (almost) always felt closer to the bone, more immediate and oddly relatable, than their shinier cousins.

Which is why it’s a shame that Bryan Singer’s latest X-Men film, X-Men: Apocalypse, contends with not a clash between man and mutant—a war so cleverly, and movingly, escalated in 2014’s spectacular, brain-itching time-travel epic X-Men: Days of Future Past—but with an ancient being, named Apocalypse, who aims to do nothing more interesting or creative than end the world so he can rule whatever comes after. Sure, sure, those are some mighty high stakes. But the X-Men are our tortured, emo superheroes, so I like when their fights are coming from within. You know, Magneto (a commanding Michael Fassbender in the last few films) going on some messianic, destructive tear while Charles Xavier (James McAvoy, always giving it his all) tries to talk him off the ledge. Yes, other big things (missiles, robots) get involved, but these clashes can always be boiled down to people trying to define and defend who they are."