There’s a throwaway joke in “X-Men: Apocalypse” where a few young mutants sneak away from mutant school to see “Return of the Jedi.”

“The third movie is always the worst,” remarks one character about “Jedi.”

Regardless of how director Bryan Singer feels about Ewoks, fans of the “X-Men” series know the joke is pointed at 2006’s “The Last Stand,” the third X-movie (and the first not directed by Singer) from the original X-trilogy that managed to botch the goodwill from the first two X-stallments.

OK, no more unnecessary x-words. There’s no x-cuse for such terrible x-clamations. STOP.

While “The Last Stand” is certainly deserving of ridicule, the joke in “Apocalypse” bombs because it’s contained within an equally terrible film.

Singer may not be the most dynamic filmmaker out there, but his previous “X-Men” installments work because of character detail and the understanding that a story about oppressed mutants can be a meaningful starting point to a greater exploration of societal intolerance. Hugh Jackman also stabs people with metal claws, and that’s cool.

“Apocalypse” opens with the same promise but stumbles through stories and characters better examined in previous movies. It has no reason to exist, other than to rehash the franchise’s greatest hits and make a few jokes about 1980s fashion.

A little backtracking: “Apocalypse” is the third installment of a second series of “X-Men” movies. The first, 2011’s “X-Men: First Class,” directed by Matthew Vaughn, introduced a young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) in the 1960s.

Singer returned to franchise with 2014’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” a movie that connects the previous trilogy to the new timeline. It follows the first trilogy’s Jackman as Wolverine time-traveling to the 1970s to stop a key assassination.

“Days of Future Past” is a terrific movie, especially when you stop to consider all the characters and plot strands it needs to service. There are clear and resonant story arcs for four characters (Magneto, Xavier, Wolverine and Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique), and the other players get moments to shine in support of those stories.

It’s baffling to see Singer and the same creative team go from “Days of Future Past” into something as unfocused and frustrating as “Apocalypse.” On paper, the story is simpler — Mega-baddie Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac, in lousy makeup) wants to cleanse the world of humans, and the X-Men have to stop him. But not a single character gets more than an undercooked reason to pick a side. McAvoy and Fassbender’s scenes together in “First Class” and “Days of Future Past” are electric. In “Apocalypse,” they rarely share the screen.

Lawrence, maybe the most popular actress in Hollywood right now, has nothing to do as Mystique, and the character abandons the growth in previous films just so Lawrence wouldn’t have to endure hours of blue makeup application. She still looks miserable to be there. McAvoy, the MVP of “Days of Future Past,” is sidelined and underutilized throughout the 145-minute slog of a runtime.

Fassbender, though, suffers the brunt of Simon Kinberg’s spectacularly inept screenplay. Magneto as a character doesn’t need much more justification for his evildoing, and the movie spends plenty of time referencing his past and the reasons previous movies gave for his murderous ways. But that isn’t enough for “Apocalypse.” This movie gives “tamed” Magneto a wife and daughter for the sole purpose of killing them five minutes after they’re introduced.

If you need another reason to play the Magneto-turns-to-the-Dark-Side plot, there are a hundred better ways to go than the ol’ dead-wife routine. It’s a cheap narrative shortcut. In order for audiences to care about the loss, you have to give the characters a reason to exist in the first place. In “Apocalypse,” Magneto’s wife and daughter exist to die.

Magneto as a character is especially problematic as it becomes clear the film has no interest in developing a credible threat out of Isaac’s Apocalypse. The film instead makes Magneto the real threat, but don’t worry! “Magneto still has good in him,” everyone says, even after he mass murders half the world’s population.

Magneto’s unjustified redemption is an annoying product of greater narrative problems. The rest of the movie is just tedious, and the introductions to young versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Storm, etc. never build to meaningful characterizations. Compare Alan Cumming’s Nightcrawler in “X2” with Kodi Smit-McPhee’s version in “Apocalypse.” It’s roughly the same amount of screentime, but the execution couldn’t be more different. One is a character, the other is a guy in a Michael Jackson jacket.

There are two eyebrow-raising sequences in “Apocalypse.” One is an expanded rehash of the Quicksilver scene from “Days of Future Past,” and it’s fun if you simply ignore how haphazard it is to the narrative. The other is the appearance of a certain you-know-who in a sequence that could be removed entirely and it wouldn’t change a thing about the rest of the movie.

If “Apocalypse” is the start of new era of films featuring a younger core group of “X-Men,” then perhaps Singer and Kinberg should hand the franchise over to someone with fresh eyes. “Apocalypse” lays waste to all the goodwill created by “First Class” and “Days of Future Past.” “Apocalypse” is the new trilogy’s “Last Stand,” and it’s an even bigger misfire than the one this movie had the audacity to criticize.

80s nostalgia and ‘Sing Street’

“X-Men: Apocalypse” is set in the ’80s for no reason other than to introduce young versions of characters we met in the first “X-Men” film in 2000. The song choices are glib, and the costumes take the most obvious visual cues. At least in “First Class” and “Days of Future Past,” the ’60s and ’70s settings add something to the function of the plot.

On the opposite end of the moviegoing spectrum, the coming-of-age musical “Sing Street” uses its ’80s setting to inform the story of a Dublin teen who starts a band to impress a girl but succumbs to the magnetic power of creation and artistry.

It’s the latest film from John Carney, the director of the 2007 indie musical, “Once.” While the story is familiar, the execution in “Sing Street” is personal and joyful, and the original songs, inspired by various icons of ’80s music, are as buoyant and infectious as the decade’s best pop. The time period matters in “Sing Street,” and it’s one of the few films to celebrate the decade’s pop influences without joking about its perceived mediocrity.

“Sing Street” was playing last week at the Hayden Discount Cinema. This week’s schedule at the theater wasn’t available at press time. If it’s still playing, go see it, or remember it when it goes VOD.

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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.