X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

[Dementeleus]

Discuss.

[rukaio101]

I posted this in the spoiler thread, but I might as well repost it here. Overall thoughts, I liked it.... but I can entirely see why it's getting such a mixed reception.

 

The problem is that, while the movie has a lot of good character and story ideas, it really doesn't feel like it spend enough time on a lot of them. Team Apocalypse in particular gets pretty damn shafted. I will say I definitely enjoyed Apocalypse as a villain (as I have a soft spot for the occasional hammy doomsday villain) and Oscar Isaac is definitely having a ball with the role. But the movie does a really shitty job of developing his team and establishing their motives. Despite showing him recruiting each of them in turn, there's not a single member of his team (except maybe Angel) that I felt like I really understood why they were working for him. Not even Magneto and he gets the most screentime pre-joining Apocalypse (with a very eye-rolley 'Stuffed in the Fridge family' subplot)*. And, as a result, that reflects poorly on Apocalypse himself. They could've used those recruiting moments to really show off his charisma and what makes him worth worshipping as a god. Instead, the audience is confused as to why exactly these people are following him.

 

I'll admit, I really can't tell whether the problem with the movie is a result of having too many character subplots (especially with ones like Quicksilver's, Moira's and Magneto's, none of which really add anything to the story) or simply that there's not enough time to satisfyingly develop them because of the utterly pointless Stryker/Wolverine segment that is dumped in the middle of the movie, like a big steaming... dump. And it's odd, because I don't actually dislike that segment. It's a perfectly well-told mini story within the movie. The problem is that it's entirely pointless and irrelevant to the rest of the movie and when you already have so other many character threads that desperately need the screentime it hogs up, it feels very hard to justify. Did we really need to see more of Wolverine and Stryker? Haven't we seen enough already in, you know, almost every other X-Men movie?

 

I will say though, there was a lot I liked about the movie. The young X-Men (Scott, Jean, Nightcrawler in particular) were great. There were two fun Quicksilver sequences. I particularly enjoyed some of the scenes where Apocalypse demonstrates his power, such as when he hijacks Cerebro. The opening was awesome, as was the final scene where the team show off new costumes (which look great and I hope stick around for the next movie). Mystique didn't hijack the movie nearly as much as I thought/feared she would. (Her subplot of fearing hero-worship is fairly stupid, to be honest, though.) But it's fairly easy to recognise that the movie is flawed. I suspect the movie was trying a bit too hard to copy the Avengers method of team-ups** where every character gets a fairly equal representation and their own little stories (as opposed to previous X-Men movies which have been largely Wolverine & co/Professor X, Magneto and co (fyi, that's not necessarily a bad thing)), but that balancing act, like the first Avengers did perfectly, is much more difficult to pull off than the normal X-Men method and I can't say they've succeeded here.

 

So, in conclusion, would I recommend it? Honestly, I'm not sure. It's a lot better than BvS for certain, but it's very disjointed and significantly more flawed than Civil War or Deadpool or even Singer's other X-Men films. I think, if you're interested in the movie and have enjoyed the previous X-Men movies, give it a shot. I can't guarantee you'll like it, but there are definitely things to like.

 

 

*Personally, I really wish Magneto's wife + daughter hadn't died. Not only because the Stuffed into the Fridge thing is overused, cliche and you could see this one coming a mile away. But I also found both were interesting characters. The wife for her connection with Magneto and the daughter for being a fucking Beastmaster. Also, they brought out new, interesting aspects to Magneto's character which vanish the instant they die so he can go back to being an angsty vengeance machine. Because obviously we needed to see more of that again. Just like obviously we needed to see more of Wolverine. 

 

**Funnily enough, I'd say Civil War actually copied the X-Men method of team-ups this year, by focusing mainly on two characters (Cap + Iron Man) and relegating the rest to supporting status. And it worked very well. Unfortunately, this wasn't quite as successful.

[antovolk]

Pretty solid. Sure it's definitely the weakest of the 3 prequels but idk much about why the critics were slamming it that much. It's not the best, could have been done better in places (Singer mostly on autopilot here) but it's solid and very comic-booky, more than DOFP or FC I felt. Think of it as the SPECTRE to DOFP's Skyfall and FC's Casino Royale so to say.

The good:
- score!! Ottman delivers, a welcome return to the themes and ideas and now-new traditions (re-)established with DOFP.
- Visuals were sweet in IMAX
- Fassbender early on
- McAvoy as always great, some hilarious stuff early on too.
- A certain confrontation sequence near the end I loved
- Quicksilver! Loved seeing him more used in this!
- Sophie as Jean, consider me very intrigued and looking forward to seeing more of her
- More Rose Byrne in everything please
- Kurt was cool if slightly underused
- JLaw wasn't as bad/phoned in as I feared, she does sound a bit like she's done with it all though early on.

The meh:
- the other new mutants incl Psylocke and Storm, just nothing much if at all.
- Apocalypse didn't make that much of an impression unfortunately while being incredibly at first. Slightly disappointed
- Great beginning while pacing/structure began to sort of mess about in middle/end

The WTF:
- post credits scene but I think I need to read up on that.
- that cameo *cough* that was awkward to watch especially *that* part, like really?

All in all, it's still pretty good, very very enjoyable watch, just don't go in expecting something on the level of pushing boundaries like the previous two. Guess that sort of disappointment is what set critics against it so much?

7/10

[Kraken]

Not as great as DOFP, but as a long time X-fan I adored every second of it. There's a very Claremontian feel to it.

[Goffe]

Remember those people who kept whining Singer didn't do X or Y mutant "justice" in the previous movies because they were sidelined in favor of a tighter focus? they basically won. Singer made this movie for them, for people who always disliked the X-Men movies, and as a result, we got the most episodic, messy, rushed, overstuffed and unfocused X-Men yet.

 

If X-Men: Apocalypse had picked one of the ten plot lines it tried to juggle, just one, and stuck with it, we would have gotten a much superior movie, you can be sure of that.

 

Also, I had a big problem with the editing, you know when you feel the shot should have been a few seconds longer? that's basically the entire movie, never letting it breathe properly, I was like calm down for a bit.

 

I feel Moira subplot would have actually worked if DOFP hadn't treated her like she didn't even exist. A simple short scene where Charles says he lost everything, including Moira, that he misses her etc would have sufficed to set up her subplot for Apocalypse.

 

But what really leaves the sour aftertaste is the third act, which is pure garbage. Kinda reminded me of Fant4stic's third act tbh. Heroes must work together to defeat villain, lots of awful CGI, awkward and uninspired fight choreography, someone literally telling us out loud the villain plan (which was already obvious), etc. It's all there.

 

Wolverine sequence is Cave Thor levels of shoehorned in.

 

Best way to describe Quicksilver sequence is comparing it to a meme's life cycle in this forum.

 

As someone who thought X-Men was the last good superhero franchise left, this movie made me quite depressed. Worst X-Men without Deadpool in it.

 

45, maybe 50/100

Edited May 19, 2016 by Goffe

[superweirdo87]

Goffe. Worse than The Last Stand?

[Goffe]

1 hour ago, superweirdo87 said:

Goffe. Worse than The Last Stand?

I actually think The Last Stand is decent, it's a solid 6 to 7 out of 10.

[MrFanaticGuy34]

What about X-Men Origins: Wolverine? That is considered by many to be THE worst of all X-Men films.

[Goffe]

"Worst X-Men without Deadpool in it." 

 

Origins has Deadpool in it. Origins is dreadful. Undoubtedly worse than Apocalypse.

Edited May 19, 2016 by Goffe

[TMP]

I don't know, maybe I'm a Singer X-Men fanboy but I really enjoyed the film.

It's a disjointed mess, with instances of terrible green screen and some really obvious CG; and a villain that's about as compelling as Ronan from Guardians of the Galaxy. The action kind of sucks, the four horseman are given little to do, and Magneto especially is underutilized.

- but when the film works, it really worked for me.

Tye Sheridan finally gives us a compelling Cyclops for the big screen, Smit-Mcphee tops Cumming's performance as Nightcrawler, and Turner was a really good Jean grey, taking home what was probably the stand out sequence of the whole film. On top of that, we get two awesome Quicksilver scenes, a pretty sweet Weapon X scene, as well as another great turn from McAvoy. And when Fassbender is used as Magneto, he's as great as he ever was. 

7/10

[The47th]

I loved the film, even if I can see why it's clearly below X2, DOFP and First Class. But it was in a way the X-Men film I've always wanted to see, with all characters getting their time to showcase their powers.

 

The first act suffers from the same issues of Game of Thrones: they have dozens of characters, each with their separate storyline and each in a different part of the world, where there's no chance to find any of the other people, so you just spend a great deal of time jumping from each story, which results in the feeling that the story as a whole is not advancing much.

 

I was not expecting at all that they would re-introduce the Phoenix this early. And at the same time I'm glad they are coherent with their own vision from The Last Stand: the Phoenix is just the hidden powers of Jean, and not an entity from space. Comic fans would have like them to change it for this revision, but it would have been too messy with their own continuity.

 

In fact, if you haven't seen The Last Stand, hence knowing beforehand that Jean has hidden powers, you would pretty much think this is a very cheap trick from the writers. Even if we do get an introduction with Jean's dream scene.

 

And talking about continuity, I can't believe they are still messing things up. If everything has continued the same with Weapon X, why was it so important that Mystique and not Stryker took Wolverine out of the water in DOFP?

 

Also, I don't understand why Singer was saying that something in DOFP made Apocalypse awaken in the 80s. Or was it the introduction of mutants in the 70s, which caused the reappearance of the cult to the first mutant?

Edited May 20, 2016 by The47th

[jb007]

Liked it more than I thought I would. The pacing is slower but just as entertaining as the two predecessors.

 

B+ 

 

 

[Arlborn]

I loved it. I have a hard time imagining anyone who liked both First Class and DOFP disliking this one, but I suppose there are all sorts of people in this world.

 

Quicksilver, Jean Gray and Mystique were awesome in it. Just awesome.

 

Better than the last two superhero movies released this year.

 

9.5/10 (I don't think in letters when grading)

On 20/05/2016 at 3:39 PM, The47th said:

Also, I don't understand why Singer was saying that something in DOFP made Apocalypse awaken in the 80s. Or was it the introduction of mutants in the 70s, which caused the reappearance of the cult to the first mutant?

Bingo.

[Thrylos 7]

F . My in depth review : FUCK FOX AND BRYAN SINGER thank you very much .

[lab276]

1 hour ago, Thrylos 7 said:

F . My in depth review : FUCK FOX AND BRYAN SINGER thank you very much .

 

Oh come on.

[Thrylos 7]

7 minutes ago, lab276 said:

 

Oh come on.

Movie was horrible beyond belief . I went with the best intentions and I couldn't believe how shitty it was . Not going to write an essay about it, it doesn't deserve it . Free these wonderful characters from the diabolical hands of singer .

[stripe]

It feels rushed, but I loved the movie. I don't get the rotten reviews. It's pretty solid, funny and intense.

 

DOFP A

X2 A

 

Apocalypse A-

FC A-

Wolverine A-

 

XM B

 

XM3 C+

 

XMW C-

[snitch]

Come on it's mediocre and with a lot of problems... and was boring at times. But it's still much much better than Last Stand and that piece of Sh*t Wolverine Origins. 

That being said.... really, really that movie was more X-men: Katniss that X-men Apocalypse. That shift towards J Law bugged me. 

In a chaotic order:

-The four Horsemen were pretty meh, i expected more from them given the powers that Apolypse "gave them/unlocked". 

+Quicksilver scenes were again the highlight of the movie, FOX should consider this character for a solo movie.

+ Olivia Munn was sexy as hell

- The effects at times were half baked

+ Sophie Turner - because she wasn't as bad as people thought she would be

- The action

- I would've liked if they saved Apocalypse for future installments, to me he awlays was THE VILLAIN not a villain 

 

6/10

 

 

[IronJimbo]

Without Quicksilver I would give this an E, honestly gutter trash.

 

The action was non-existant, there were lots of flashing lights and debris flying about though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The emotional scenes fell flat, all of them.

 

So many cheesy cliche lines which killed immersion and made me remember I could be at home right now.

[tilko]

Fantastic movie, I absolutly loved it. Much better than DOFP.