X-Men: Apocalypse is the latest edition (8th or 9th if you include Deadpool) within the X-men movie franchise by Fox. Bryan returns to direct his 4th X-men film and follows off after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014). Within this film, the first even mutant Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) returns from a deep slumber which he was portrayed by humans and now has decided that humans should be whipped out completely. Apocalypse recruits four mutants to become his four horsemen and once again the X-men need to come together and stop him from destroying the world.
Oscar Isaac as the villain brought some new elements into the movie. For me, it was good to see the franchise exploring new villains rather than using Magneto (Micheal Fassbender). My only problem with Apocalypse was nothing to do with Oscar Isaac (he played him really well), but with the appearance and his size. I mean sure loads of people freaked out on the early set photos of Apocalypse looking like a Power Ranger villain, but seeing early set photos or trailers doesn't mean that's what the final finished product is going to look like. Apocalypse looks small compared to his four horsemen which take away the illusion that he's supposed to be the first and most powerful mutant on the planet. It just annoyed me how his size doesn't show off how menacing he's supposed to be in this movie. On the other hand, Apocalypse did have some OP powers, which does cause some problems in this movie. He could take solid matter and turn it or anyone into dust if he wanted to. So why not use any of these powers on the X-men? One character in the film that does make you fell for him was Magneto (Micheal Fassbender). There are a few scenes in particular which you do sympathise with certain events of the film and stuff he needs to deal with his past. Once again Micheal Fassbender does an excellent job and is always bringing new cards to the table in each X-men film he's in.
I did feel that there are pacing issues with this film, but again like a felt for Suicide Squad was that there is a lot of character introductions as this is rebooting the X-men universe. There is Apocalypse's backstory at the beginning, Cyclops learning he has powers, Magneto's new life with is family. I feel that if you haven't seen any of the previous X-men films then you will not like it as much. This is because all the films have a lot of information that plays off from one another. Fans of the franchise will enjoy this movie for what it is.
About an hour into the movie Mystique (Jeniffer Lawerence) is recruiting mutants and so is Apocalypse, so the film has to showcase what each of them has to do with the comics have a large line-up of different mutants with powers and abilities. This becomes a bit convoluted as the film tries to show off the X-men we know (with some re-casts) and trying to introduce new X-men that's never been on the screen before. However, some re-casts in the movie were not that bad. We are introduced to Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) discovering his powers and him coming to grips with him being a mutant. Jena Grey (Sophie Turner) didn't do a bad job and it will be interesting where the franchise takes her character in any upcoming sequels and Storm (Alexandra Shipp) had an accent!
But hands down my favourite part of the film was Quicksilvers (Evan Peters) scene. They took the elements from Days of Future Past and incorporated it into this movie, which paid off really well. Quicksilver had a bigger role in the movie which I was happy about to see and again like the other characters does explore his origins, but doesn't really go for it. I think they'll be saving it for another X-men sequel.
One other thing that really did bother me was Mystique's character. I haven't got a problem with Jeniffer Lawrence as Mystique, but with what the film is doing with her character. The whole mutant and proud speech from Days of Future Past are very irrelevant because she isn't blue but stays as Jeniffer Lawrence. One could argue that the reason she is hiding is because she has become is mutant figure to inspire other mutants, but she dosesn't want to be that figure anymore and chooses to hide her appearance. So, therefore, everthing you stood for in the previous X-men didn't really matter.
Overall I think this is a pretty solid movie. It's your typical X-men vs. new treat plot. Apocalypse is menacing and it is good to see a new villain fighting the X-men. The treat is high in this film and there is a lot of fan service (hopefully you haven't watched the final trailer as it gives away a massive spoiler, fun scene and hint to the next one). The film is entertaining but lacks a lot of features from X:men Days of Future Past and X:men First Class. This film does have character depth in it, but most of it is tied down to one character rather than a lot of others. This movie does have pacing issues, but never to the point where I was bored or I had to walk out. This Movie is not as good as others in my opinion but is much better than X-Men: The Last Stand and X:men Origins: Wolverine.
Finally, I will be giving this film a B-.
No comments:
Post a Comment