X-Men: Apocalypse (Spoilers/Rewind)

So usually when I review superhero films or films that require a whole second post for a spoilers review, I usually write that review right after, if not very quickly after the first one. X-men Apocalypse, and Captain America: Civil War, came out at a time where I was traveling a lot for work and I only had enough time to write the regular review. If a certain length of time goes by and I don't do a review for a movie, I usually don't do it because I like to have my thoughts as fresh as I can. Such was the case with X-men Apocalypse. I have just now gotten around to re-watching it and there is a lot to talk about. Here's the link to my first non-spoiler review in case you missed that one. 

So because the first act of this movie is pretty bloated with a lot of characters and exposition and a lot of introductions, that's kind of how this review is going to be. 

X-men Apocalypse takes place 10 years after the events in the 1970's of X-men Days of Future Past. 

Since then, Xavier's (played by James McEvoy) School for Gifted Youngsters has started to blossom into the school we all know and love. At the school there are some new students that are actually familiar characters. Apocalypse introduces the characters of Scott Summers (played by Tye Sheridan) and Jean Grey (played by Sophie Turner) and the beginning of their time at the School for Gifted Youngsters. Eventually the character of Nightcrawler (played by Kodi Smit-Mcphee) is also introduced and in the first act you get a feeling for what school life for the students of Xavier's school is like.

I thought they did a decent job introducing the new characters pretty well but they really take their

time. They give a full scene to each one of these new characters (excluding Jubilee of course played by Lana Condor) and while these three are pretty good actors, I don't know how wild I was about their stories and their attitudes. For example: Scott Summers is played off like a rebel when he's traditionally known as the boy scout leader of the X-men. Jean Grey is a loner which I don't know if that's too different from the comics but it doesn't give Sophie Turner a lot to expand on. Even in Game of Thrones she's not given a lot of range and here is not that different. And the kid who plays Nightcrawler... well he's more there just to bring back a fan favorite of Nightcrawler back on screen. He doesn't add a whole lot and the only reason he's memorable is because he has the best powers out of the three new character.

While that's happening we get caught up with Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence) who has shed

her ideology of "Mutant and Proud" and just walks around like Jennifer Lawrence, trying to save persecuted mutants around the world. And this is one of the big issues with the movie, Jennifer Lawrence. She is really phoning this one in. But I'll admit that even when she's phoning it in, she's not god awful. I think a lot of the backlash that was received over JLaw in this movie was the fact that she forgot the whole "Mutant and Proud" thing, not because it made sense, but because it's more profitable for Fox to show not blue Jennifer Lawrence on the poster and in the marketing. I'm sure that Mystique was always going to be written into the movie but I can just imagine the studio going to Bryan Singer and saying, you do you with this Apocalypse script, but Jennifer Lawrence needs to be a big part. And that bothers me because that kind of puts restrictions on the creative process and where this story could have gone. I might do a post on how I would have fixed this movie, but we may or may not get to that post, let's keep going with this one.

And the absolute best part of the film: Michael Fassbender as Magneto. The beginning of this film is

done really well at getting us right back into the sympathetic story of Erik Lehnsherr as he's trying to have a normal life with his wife and mutant child. Of course tragedy strikes him and he is grief struck by the grief of losing his family. And man is Michael Fassbender a great actor. This was hands down the best section of the film and because it's at the beginning, it really made you hope for a really great film... it didn't last though...

Enter Apocalypse. 

Now you would think with the movie being named after him and him being the main conflict of the film that he would be a compelling villain. His origins are pretty interesting, being one of the first and utmost powerful mutants. His roots in Ancient Egypt being seen as a god is a pretty good connection to the modern debate about mutants. But Apocalypse is really just boring throughout this film. He walks around barely saying anything and when he finally does, he's not convincing at all, everyone just joins him because he can do cool things with his powers, things that he never does again mind you. I am of course talking about the sand decapitation scene that would have been very useful against the X-men in the last battle scene, but whatever. I don't know what Oscar Isaacs was thinking when he did this movie but it's a surprisingly bad performance from an actor who consistently puts out good stuff.

And even if he's boring as a character, you'd think that the effect he has on the people around him, especially his four horsemen would be substantial and it would make sense for them to follow them. But it doesn't. 

Apocalypse starts his search for his four horsemen by saying that he wants the strongest of the

mutants. But who are his first three horsemen? A random kid on the street, a hot chick with a lightsaber, and a drunk bird boy. The only real persuasion he has on these three is that he will make them more powerful, and while he does, it feels like there was more effort in designing their hair and their wardrobe then making them more powerful.

The only choice that really makes sense is Magneto. Not only because he's one of the main character, but because he's been shown to be an incredible powerful mutant before so we know how powerful he can be. And like the rest of the film, Magneto continues to be the best part of it, but even his motivations and his actions start to not make sense when they have the Apocalypse lens put to them.

I mean it does make sense that after the death of his family, Erik goes into a depression and is more susceptible to the words of Apocalypse. His excuse that apparently he's only good for destruction really kind of reduces a complex character to little more than a tool for Apocalypse but again, he's grieving. But what the hell is he doing at the end? Creating destructive rock sculptures? The motivation to follow Apocalypse becomes weaker and weaker, especially when Apocalypse's plan is to be able to control and become everyone in the world by taking Xavier's powers. The reason any of these guys continue to follow him gets pretty weak and their turns on him are even weaker. 

And let's talk about the random kid, the hot chick with the lightsaber and the drunk bird boy. Really? These are the most powerful mutants you could find? These are more like people you literally ran into on the street. 

Storm isn't a character. She has one scene where she says more than 2 sentences and it's not even that great of a scene. From then on she's just Apocalypse's henchwoman and she turns good at the very end because they need her for future films. I don't even want to talk about Arch Angel because neither did the movie. He is always in the background the entire time and he does nothing to further the plot. 

And I would say the same thing about Psylocke... but it's Oliva Munn. That's really the only draw of this character. She looks like the comic book character. 

Now the movie makes it pretty clear that Psylocke will be back as she just walks off the movie. I think she's going to come back in the Deadpool sequel because you know, screw continuity and timelines. It's just a bummer because Olivia Munn seemed so excited about this film and the production of it made it seem like she had a lot to offer when in reality she was just there for fan service. 

The first act of this movie is mainly focused on introducing a lot of characters and just like I went through all of them, it takes a lot time. While they're trying to introduce and reintroduce characters, they're trying to create conflict through Apocalypse. They really waste Rose Byrne in this film as she really only serves as an exposition fairy and then is only in the background throughout the film. 

They establish Apocalypse as this super bad mutant and decide they need to go out and find him. But this turns against them as Apocalypse finds Xavier and kidnaps him because he has psychic powers, something Apocalypse wants to take over the entire world. 

Then Quicksilver appears and he does the whole Quicksilver routine but this time to the song of Sweet Dreams, you know cause it's an 80's song. 

And I really like these sequences don't get me wrong. But it's a gimmick that was good in Days of

Future Past and just feels like a retread in Apocalypse. And then you hear that Bryan Singer wants to keep on this trend of doing these X-men movies set in a new decade and you can only assume that if he had his way you'd see Quicksilver doing the same speedster montage but set to All-Star by Smash mouth. And that sounds awesome, but I would rather see that in a YouTube video, not building a whole movie just so you can shove in a gimmick like this again.

And while we're talking about the decade thing, this trilogy started in the sixties and everyone who was in First Class is supposed to be 20 years older... Yeah... I'm sure.

But the biggest problem with this movie is the absolutely pointless second act. Why was it in this movie? Because they wanted to shoe horn a Wolverine Cameo that didn't even make sense. At the end of Days of Future Past Wolverine in the 70's ends up with Colonel Styker, but then his eyes glow so you're meant to think that it's actually Mystique. So how did Wolverine actually end up with Stryker in this movie? I'm so glad Logan is coming out and this wasn't the last appearance of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine because it's pointless and a little bit hilarious if you think about it. 

Yeah it's cool that they were able to recreate the original Weapon X comic, but yeah the second act is pointless. 

The third act is Apocalypse trying to carry out his plan of transfering his consciousness to Xavier and take his powers and it's a mashup of all of probably the most boring X-men and their boring powers. I remember in the theater of how bored I was watching Beast (played by Nicholas Hoult, oh yeah he's

in this movie too) fighting Psylocke. And there's a reason they killed off Cyclops, because he's boring and all he can do is shoot lasers out of his eyes. Jean Grey doesn't do anything except for the ending (we'll get to that) and Mystique doesn't do anything else.

The only interesting person in this entire fight is Nightcrawler and Kodi Smits-McPhee is just not that strong of an actor to carry a film like this. The fight with him and Arch Angel is so quick and you forget about it very quickly. Oh and Magneto is there but he's just making his Destructive Rock sculptures so he's pointless.

But the biggest thing missing from this movie in total is a central character, or the inaction of a central character and that is Charles Xavier. 

First Class and Days of Future Past kind of boxed Apocalypse in because they created a character in

Charles Xavier that made him just a more interesting character and someone that you had a lot invested in. So when he's the captive the entire time, the focus I guess was supposed to be put on Mystique but again, all she can do is punch things and shape shift. On top of that, JLaw just isn't invested enough to be a central character. And the younger cast, while not horrible actors, actually decent additions to the X-men Universe in theory take over the franchise in a movie or two, seem lost and out of place when they are following sort of Katniss.

James McEvoy is the second best part of the film behind Fassbender and only because he's under utilized in this film. All his scenes in the movie show that he's a great Charles Xavier and he at least seems like he enjoys playing the role. But he's just not well utilized in this film in multiple ways. I've already mentioned the fact that he's captured almost all of the film, but even when he finally is able to fight for himself, maybe not on the physical plane but on the mental, that really falls flat when he's just punching Apocalypse in the "mental realm". 

This could have been a really cool scene to have Charles fight with the power of his mind but instead they just have him go fisty cuffs with him. 

And then the Phoenix shows up...

Now listen, I understand the Bryan Singer didn't get to take on the Phoenix Saga the way he wanted to the first time around and that's partly the reason the X-men: The Last Stand was handed off to Brett Ratner. I get that that was something Bryan Singer really wanted to do and now that Jean Grey is on

his screen again he can develop the Phoenix Saga however he wants...

But I'm gonna be honest, this was not the right way to do it...

Again, I like the choice of Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, I think she does a serviceable enough job as the character and I'm sure she'll be a great addition to the franchise if they decided to keep going with these characters. But why would you bring in the Phoenix right off the bat? At the end of the day, there was nothing about Jean Grey to suggest that she has this power hidden away besides one scene at the beginning of the movie where she has some bad dreams that could be just interpreted as premonitions of Apocalypse.

The Phoenix really comes out of no where and it serves as a Deus Ex Machina when all is said and done. Even as someone who knows about the Phoenix storyline, it still felt random and just a cheap way to finish off Apocalypse and give Jean Grey something to do.

And at the end of it all, what was the impact of Apocalypse? We won't know that for sure until we see some future X-men movies, but think about it, the most he does is blow up Xavier's school, which is quickly rebuilt, and was overall just a blip on the X-men's radar, like he was a normal bad guy.

The worst casualty of the battle against Apocalypse was Charles Xavier's hair.

And yeah the end of the movie shows the X-men all formed up, Charles is bald, him and Magneto are once again frenemies, and the new team is training against Sentinels. Which is appropriate because after the immense damage Apocalypse caused humanity is going to reconsider using Peter Dinklage's mutant seeking robots from Days of Future Past.

The end credit scene is somewhat intriguing as it introduces the Essex Corp which fans of the comic

book will know as the corporation headed by Mister Sinister, and that the corporation now has Wolverine's blood which could allude to them doing the X23 storyline and replacing Hugh Jackman's Wolverine with X23, the female Wolverine.

That's all speculation because at the end of the day, this movie really made the Studio start to question the future of the X-men franchise.

The franchise of course is by no means failing, they made a lot of money from the hit success that was Deadpool, but I think the negative reception to Apocalypse made Fox Studios question the direction they should be heading with the X-men Universe. Before 2016, Fox was riding the high of Days of Future Past and it didn't matter that Fantastic Four didn't do well because they had Deadpool which was costing them no money, a bankable franchise in the next X-men movie, and a future Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum that I guess people were excited for.

Now what's the plans after 2016?

Well it's not totally clear. They've got a young cast that was not exactly well received in Apocalypse,

a Gambit movie that people aren't really excited for, and the low budget Deadpool film that was just a Ryan Reynolds pet project has now become their greatest asset.

Fox is in no means in trouble, but they've been in situations like this before where they've had more than one critical failure and the underwhelming performance of Fantastic Four and X-men Apocalypse were worrying to them. So much that the entire direction has changed towards a X-Force movie, and a potential complete reboot. Now nothing has been confirmed but it's just interesting that all this shift is occurring because a movie set to be another clear winner for Fox ended up failing them.

Is Apocalypse a complete failure?

Now I don't think so.

There are worse comic book movies and a lot of the criticism that I have on this movie is because I

am so used to having higher standards when it comes to comic book movies. This movie would have passed as decent in the Phase One Marvel times but now it's seen as below average. I actually put it as one of the worst comic book movies of the year and this is the same year that brought us Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman. I'm thinking about doing a Top 6 Comic book movies of 2016 list this month, let me know if that's something you're interested in.

Overall, X-men Apocalypse had a bloated first act, a pointless second act, and a lackluster third just culminating in a movie that left much to be desired. Now I have a couple of ideas on how it could be fixed but I'm going to hold off on that for another post...

But those are my thoughts. What did you think of X-men Apocalypse. Where does it rank in the comic book movies of 2016? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. I thought the Honest Trailer for this movie was pretty good. But other than that here's a spoof on the Quicksilver scene but using scenes from Spider-man. Enjoy!