X-Men: Apocalypse Reviews- 12 Early Reactions You Need To Know
5. Oscar Isaac Is Entirely Wasted
And now to the most depressing of all the criticisms: pretty much everyone says Oscar Isaac's villain - initially positioned as a world-ending threat and the worst thing that's ever happened to the X-Men universe so far - isn't up to billing.
This is a villain who has powers that turn Magneto into a side-kick, and which terrify Professor X, and yet he's apparently something of a dullard, according to EW:
"Part of the problem, I think, is how uninteresting Apocalypse is as a foe. With his leathery aqua, reptilian skin and cobra-cowl, he keeps trying to lure various X-Men over to the Dark Side like a broken-record Darth Vader. The guys kind of a relentless pest."
The Wrap are similarly harsh:
"Where Apocalypse falls apart is with its titular villain: Hes generically evil, setting out essentially to destroy everyone and everything on the planet, a plan thats not only difficult to take seriously but also gives screenwriter Simon Kinberg no metaphorical meat. Previous X-Men instalments used the mutants and their struggles to comment on everything from the civil rights movement to coming-out in the LGBT community, but all we can take from this film is standard-issue superhero battles.
Those skirmishes are perfectly fine, granted, but they dont amount to much since the bad guy is such a blank and since we never feel that Apocalypse is going to succeed; youll find more genuine stakes in The Angry Birds Movie.
Yikes.
There also seems to be some frustration that Isaac's performance is almost entirely hidden by the character design, as EW notes:
"Apocalypse, who looks like a cross between Watchmens Doctor Manhattan and the breakfast-cereal specter Booberry (and nothing remotely like the great actor trapped beneath the makeup, Oscar Isaac)..."
It does seem something of a waste: but then surely it was better to cast a great actor under lots of makeup to make him look right rather than a beef-cake with no acting skills at all? Maybe not.
And worse, his costume wasn't even well made...