There’s a few ways to look at X-MEN: APOCALYPSE… You can see it as the 9th Mutie film of the Fox world, following, X-MEN, X-MEN 2, X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, THE WOLVERINE, X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST and DEADPOOL. You can also look at the film as being the fourth Bryan Singer directed X-MEN film. Then there’s my feeling that it is the 3rd X-MEN film of the reboot era, which began with X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, which led to Singer’s return with DAYS OF FUTURE PAST and now APOCALYPSE…
Sure, there’s Hugh Jackman connecting them all together, or the X-MEN theme of John Ottman’s… but prior to Matthew Vaughn’s X-MEN: FIRST CLASS, the only X-MEN film that I just flat out love is X-MEN 2. I still like the original X-MEN movie, but given the executive hell that movie had to go through, it is just a miracle it worked at all, so I’ve always liked it more than it probably deserved, but it started this ship to sail.
If we could time travel X-MEN: APOCALYPSE to 2000 looking as it did today, it would destroy those brains completely. So how does it play now? Pretty fucking great.
Since FIRST CLASS’ casting of McAvoy and Fassbender as Xavier and Magneto and Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult as Mystique & Beast… well, it all started working so much better. I love Stewart & McKellen, but other than wishing James McAvoy would have his hair fall out every second of FIRST CLASS and DAYS OF FUTURE PAST… I really have been happy as could be. I still would like more faithful costumes, powers, relationships, etc… but until Fox gives Marvel the property back, I figured we would just have to make do.
Along comes X-MEN: APOCALYPSE and some key X-MEN Iconography comes along with it.
We finally get The Angel (I’m aware that many of you think he was in some Ratner infected Last Stand of an X-Men flick, but in my dojo, this film does not exist) – and the biggest gripe I have about X-MEN APOCALYPSE is that Angel isn’t really the character at all. We get introduced to him in a German Mutant Fight Club having dispatched with THE BLOB – in his Animated X-MEN attire of the Black Leotard with the wide yellow belt… but I hold that there’s no f’n way that The Angel could beat The Blob. But, ok… What’s missing with Angel is his complete lack of character. This isn’t Warren Worthington III, there’s no silver spooness to him. Also, he’s transformed into ARCHANGEL before he’s ever met Scott, Jean, Hank, Bobby or the Professor. And as someone that read X-MEN starting with issue 1 forward… The continuity of these X-Men films have always driven me a bit batty. When we get into the ORIGINAL X-MEN characters – I still have a major twitch in diverging from their path.
However, as a grown-up I’ve softened on my strictness to the pulp, but I still kinda long for it. Ya know?
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE is a huge scale film. Much larger in scope than any MARVEL film other than GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. This is a global Apocalypse & the film spans well over 6000 years of life here on Earth. Oscar Isaacs’ Apocalypse, while there have been many fears about his portrayal – I can assure you… He’s fantastic. The look of the character on screen just works, he’s somehow still charming even under all that make up. Watching APOCALYPSE adapting to the modern world is very fun – and his recruiting of Storm, who was a street thief in Cairo and upping her powers – bliss. I really do love this iteration of STORM – and more so, I can’t wait to see more of her from here on out.
We’re still 3 weeks from the film opening, but I was told I could write it up, but I really do not want to explain the movie at this stage. I mean – take the trailers you’ve seen. You know the shot of all the nuclear missiles being launched? Well, there’s more to that – and I have to say, APOCALYPSE has something in common with Superman in QUEST FOR PEACE. And I loved that.
For me, the biggest question I came to this film anxious to have resolved was… How would Tye Sheridan handle my favorite all-time member of the X-men? That’s right, I’m a huge Cyke fan. Scott Summers aka Cyclops – the one true leader of the X-MEN was being reintroduced onscreen – and we get a pretty faithful origin to his horrific origin, which means – it is still going to be way too early to expect CYCLOPS to be an out and out badass. But I have to say I really like the chemistry between Tye’s Scott and Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey. Speaking of Sansa, how is her Jean Grey / Marvel Girl? Well, they never call her Marvel Girl, and I think she never will be. I’ve the feeling she’s going to skip that moniker and probably be Phoenix soon… I just hope we don’t go DARK PHOENIX for at least 3 films, so we can fall more in love with her in the role. And besides, I want me some Starjammers and the Shi’ar Empire with her to play with.
The thrust of the film is APOCALYPSE being awoken, recruiting his 4 Horseman and wreaking havoc upon the world. Meanwhile, Xavier and crew are concerned about Magneto becoming maliciously active again. I won’t say what happens with Fassbender’s Erik, it’s too good of a story to spoil here. But I love it.
In addition to APOCALYPSE – you do have other villainous characters causing trouble – and one of those side trips introduces us to something truly fucking awesome to behold in the mountains. So bleeding cool.
Olivia Munn is pitch perfectly cast as Psylocke… the only real notes onto her character would be that I crave for her character to dive further into the well of sadism that I feel is integral to the awesome she can become on screen.
We get NIGHTCRAWLER played by Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Nightcrawler – and while I think they had more awesome fun with the Alan Cumming Nightcrawler in X-MEN 2, there isn’t a darn thing wrong about this one. That said, I want Nightcrawler in his proper uniform and wielding a cutlass with his tail. Right? Right!
Evan Peters continues to just rock out as QUICKSILVER… and I hope we get a musical interlude in every X-MEN film from here on with him doing his shenanigans. It is just pretty damn spectacular to watch.
Oscar Isaac’s APOCALYPSE though is the jewel of this film. He plays the character beautifully. Understated using slight movements of expression, allowing his actions to speak louder than his words. He’s crazy powerful and Oscar plays that with a swagger. And with the run of roles that Oscar has had recently, he has totally earned that swagger. There are many times in the film where you may wonder what are the powers that his character is wielding, but rather than what, I thought wow. The most impressive is when he puts Magneto’s hand to the ground and asks him to reach deeply into the Earth. It isn’t a visual effect tour-de-force… it’s more the power of his presence dominating Michael Fassbender.. and dominating Fassbender just isn’t something many have been able to do on screen. Especially under make up that many of us thought looked lame and sloppy in early pictures, but that on screen here… it just works. Really well.
Apparently, the next X-MEN film will be set in the 90s. I can’t wait. This film is stuffed with delights throughout. Surprising turns in events. Some truly cool and epic vfx! And a mohawked white-eyed Storm being awesomely corrupt!
This is my fave of the X-MEN films after FIRST CLASS… which just flows to fucking well to ignore. Sure, the action here is far more special, the number of characters here are utterly delightful, the banter here is sometimes bliss-inducing – like when they leave a mall theater… But most of all, I think my overt fondness for FIRST CLASS comes from the sheer enormity of the relief I felt in seeing a great X-MEN film after the Rat and that Wolverine stand alone. FIRST CLASS filled my sails and made me want to sail with these characters for a good long time. Here, they’re reaching for new heights. They’re playing with history – and given what occurs in this film, I can’t wait to see what 10 more years of history after the cities of Earth have been ravaged.
That said, I don’t want a bigger disaster film. I want a more intimate action adventure story… Like GIANT-SIZE X-MEN 1. I’ve always wanted to see Genesis onscreen – and it delivers a different scale and type of action story. It’s like X-MEN on Skull Island, but with crazier shit going on.
I’ve no idea how my fellow Austin film writers have reacted to the film, I can imagine that the anti-CG crowd will probably loathe it, but for me – we’re finally getting the characters closer to their comic roots. Costumes are getting better, VFX are looking beautiful to my eyes and better than that… the casting keeps making the X-MEN film universe more and more robust. There’s still so much more they could do to make these films better still, but I sure as hell enjoy what we’re getting!
I can’t wait to see this one quite a few times.
Harry
