My basic response to the way the “X-Men” franchise has re-jiggered their timeline is simple.

I don’t want to work this hard.

Not only has the crowded cast of characters been back and forth in time (the ordering of things was definitively altered in the 2014 “Days of Future Past”), they’ve also been played by multiple actors. Characters who died in the original story are now re-set, and everything old is new again.

“X-Men: Apocalypse” takes place in the 1980s. For a while, you won’t really care about keeping any of the timelines straight.

There’s a wonderfully crazed prologue in ancient Egypt, setting up our new super-villain, En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac, lost in makeup). He later takes the name Apocalypse, which is admittedly catchy.

Quickly enough we’re back at the school for gifted mutants run by Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), who keeps tabs on the unusually strong Jean Grey (Sophie Turner, from “Game of Thrones”).

Other skillful sequences introduce us to Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Angel (Ben Hardy), and Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), the kid with the killer gaze.

There’s also a carefully-constructed sequence showing us how Magneto (Michael Fassbender) has his quiet life ruined. No wonder he goes back to being evil.

Director Bryan Singer, making his fourth “X-Men” title, really knows how to set the table. The movie’s overlong, at nearly 2 ½ hours, but the first 90 minutes are the best superhero stuff we’ve seen this year, full of character-building and quick action beats.

Singer pulls off two splendid sequences back to back, scored to musical selections that shouldn’t be spoiled. One has Xavier and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) innocently sitting at his big ol’ Cerebro machine and suddenly realizing that the apocalypse might be coming down out of a clear blue sky.

Then, Quicksilver (Evan Peters) gets to do one of his stop-time things and speed through a collapsing mansion. Fun stuff.

It falls off in the last 45 minutes. We miss the political material from the first “X-Men” movie, and the climactic battle is too much of the usual thing.

Plus, we haven’t spent enough time with the villains for this to mean anything much; Storm (Alexandra Shipp) and Psylocke (Olivia Munn) are especially bland.

As for the scrambled universe, I’d be more inclined to sit back and forget about all that if it weren’t for the fact that “Apocalypse” refers to past events for a lot of its punch — to say nothing of a cameo appearance from a key member of the “X-Men” team.

The series will keep going, of course. Is it too much to suggest that next time, the gang gets over the angst of being mutant, and starts doing a little crimefighting?

“X-Men: Apocalypse” 3 stars

Director Bryan Singer really knows how to set the table, and this installment of the series has a fun opening 90 minutes, full of new characters and clever sequences. It falls off badly after that, and the villains aren’t interesting at all. With Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender.

Rating: PG-13, for violence

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