After the one-two punch of First Class (stylish reboot) and Days of Future Past (emotional, time-hopping triumph), Apocalypse had giant psychic shoes to fill. Director Bryan Singer returns, but this time, the result is a deeply uneven blockbuster that swings for the bleachers—and sometimes strikes out.

Here’s a solid, versatile write-up for X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). You can use it as a review, a synopsis, or a critical analysis depending on your needs. Logline: When the world’s first and most powerful mutant, Apocalypse, awakens in 1983 to cleanse humanity and remake the world in his image, the fractured X-Men must unite—including a reluctant Wolverine—to stop an ancient god from destroying everything they’ve built.

X-Men: Apocalypse is a comic-book movie. It suffers from the same "too much, too soon" syndrome as Batman v Superman from the same year. Yet, it has heart where it counts—Fassbender’s grief, McAvoy’s weary hope, and the young cast’s chemistry. It’s not the disaster some claim, but it is the clear end of an era: a messy, overstuffed, occasionally gorgeous blockbuster that proves even ancient gods can’t outrun franchise fatigue.