Alex Yarde doesn’t get all the hate of a solid, if not stellar end of the rebooted X-Men Trilogy—X-Men: Apocalypse.
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Spoiler warning: If you haven’t seen X Men:Apocalypse and want to go in blind. Stop reading. But do come back and share your opinion in comments!
Reviews are decidedly mixed. I would say the Singer / Kinberg’s FIRST CLASS trilogy tracks like the Star Wars original trilogy. There is a hilariously meta “play witin a play” conversation between Cyclops (appropriately churlish Ty Sheridan) Jean, Jubilee (Lana Condor still with nothing to do) and Nightcrawler going back-and-forth after they see Return of the Jedi. Jube citing Empire’s complexity and darkness vs. Scott insisting Episode IV supremacy as the building block for the series.
Jean cuts to the heart of the matter.
“We can all agree, the third movie is always the worst one.” A dig at sub par (non Singer directed) X Men: The Last Stand. And, some would argue, X Men: Apocalypse.
It’s a fair comparison, because though X-Men: Apocalypse is head and shoulders above the train wreck that was The Last Stand, it suffers from two primary problems in my view-
First-
The villain, Apocalypse. I’ve no problems with his transmutation powers and his impressive skill set as presented (I’m not going to educate you on Celestial
Technology or Techno-Organic Viruses here but it’s worth a Marvel-wiki search to get some of his background & origin proper) But, as powerful as he is, he’s just not terrifying (as the comic Apocalypse was) and a little hokey as written. I don’t blame the always great Oscar Issacs for this, he did as good a job as anybody in full-on “Ivan Ooze” drag, delivering messianic platitudes Autotuned like T-pain. (Btw his modulated voice was a nod to the superior ’90s X-Men animated series Apocalypse voiced by John Colicos.)
But this isn’t a problem unique to this film. Besides Loki and Magneto, when have you seen a compelling MCU villain?…I’ll wait…..
Marvel/Netflix nailed both Killgrave (reptilian David Tenant) & Kingpin (sociopathic Vincent D’nofrio) in Jessica Jones & Daredevil respectively. Both were written with the right mixture of intelligence, menace and pathos of a great villain which frankly was missing here. The MCU villain problem clearly extends beyond Marvel Studios. Dr.Doom, Helmut Zemo, Yellowjacket, The Mandarin, Malaketh, Ronan the list goes on.
Second-
Filmakers seeding future movies instead of concentrating on the one they are currently shooting. Prime example being Post-Nolan Batman Trilogy (Dark Knight Rises confirms Jean’s theory) Warner Bros. sitting on it’s own balls with what should have been a slam dunk in Batman vs. Superman. (Which I enjoyed, here is my review, but there were admittedly three movies in there). And they come dangerously close to doing this here. You simply can’t build a cinematic universe on the back of one or two movies.
All that being said, X-Men: Apocalypse is not a bad movie, and it most certainly doesn’t deserve the dismissive ” the franchise is in trouble” ho-hum reviews I’ve read.
Pharaonic archvillain En Sabah Nur (The First) accumulating mutant powers like Pokemon cards with every regeneration, arises five millennia after betrayal and entombment in the Nile Valley (a very slick opening action setpiece). He recruits Cairo street urchin Storm (perfectly cast Alexandra Shipp rockin’ ’90s Mohawk) and after touching the TV in her meager dwelling, reaches out through earths satillite network (Star Trek TOS episode- “Who Mourns Adonis”- about a false God sans believers playing is a nice touch and a clue to his motivations ) to learn the worlds languages and current state of affairs. He wants to cleanse the planet by harnessing powerful mutants “his children” to do his bidding.
You see, to fully appricate X Men: Apocalypse story wise, you must see Apocalypse’s character as less a God and more a Cult leader.
Like all Cult leaders, he has a serious God complex, abuses his position and uses his followers to his own ends. (Like critics!) He values loyalty and obedience. His “Horsemen” aren’t the traditional Biblical- War, Famine, Pestilence and Death. His are metaphorically the four pillars of Cult indoctrination- Politics/Magneto, Military/Archangel, Youth/Storm and Sex/Pyslocke. Many professional critics, thrown by Singers choices surrounding the villian, failed to make these kinds of connections, reflected in many dismissive reviews I’ve read.
The exploration of cultism & hero worship elevated the proceedings for anyone who cared to look a little deeper. Particularly Mystique (Jennifer Lawerence) former Brotherhood Terrorist, now reluctant mutant folk heroine post DOFP. We find her freelance rescuing mutants like young Nightcrawler (a winning Kodi-Smit Mc Phee). This altered timeline is definitely growing on me.
En Sabah Nur covets powerful telepath James McAvoy’s Professor Charles Xaviers powers most. Dominion over all by controlling every mind on the planet must be the ultimate prize of a Cultist patriarch.”To be everywhere! To become everyone!” He extalts to his assembled Horsemen within a beautiful splash-page shot on a high plateau overlooking Cario.
There are truly remarkable moments in this film, enough for me as a huge and very picky X-Men Fan to recommend it. Primarily, Michael
Fassbender’s tourtured performance as Erik Lenshire/Magneto. His arc is the most satisfying and he’s the only Marvel villain that is written with this level of complexity. You don’t need to be a telepath to feel his pain.
He’s the most wanted man on the planet for a decade post D.C. and passing as human, humbly works in a small town Smelting Plant in rural Poland. Complete with a loving wife and cherished daughter he sings Yiddish lullubies to.
We all know it can’t last.
After outing himself by saving a co worker, he suffers horrific tragedy that makes him ripe for recruitment into En Sabah Nur’s Death Cult.
His young daughter, a fledgling mutant with abilities that manifest in a chilling, ironic twist, mirror his own powers awakening in the camp as a boy being separated from his parents. (That twisted gate scene still gets me) Teleported back to Auschwitz, a rockbottom Erik asks , “Where were you when they were slaughtering my mother and my father in this place?!” En Sabah Nur replies, “Betrayed, entombed, asleep, but now I’ve come my son, as fire to burn away the overgrowth so a new stronger forest may flourish.”
Apocalypses recruitment of Erik and unleashing Magneto’s true power deliver some of the best acted, cathartic moments of the trilogy.
Plus, any film featuring Caliban & Morlocks with Pyslocke (a criminally underutilized Olivia Munn) as muscle I give massive geek cred!
Quicksilvers (Evan Peters) jaw dropping set piece, set this time to “Sweet Dreams” has to be seen to be believed! Racing an explosion while clearing Xavier’s School packed full of students is so inventive, funny and brilliantly shot I can’t imagine topping it!
Oh, then there’s The Wolverine, in full Bezerker mode, clad only in Weapon X helmet and sensor boxes (unbilled Hugh Jackman) straight up Barry Windsor-Smith Weapon X comic shot for shot!
Bullets fly, bodies hit the floor, blood splatters everywhere.
Before he unleashes on her group, Jean restores a portion of his memory and Logan, held captive for a decade since his recovery at the bottom of the Patomic by Stryker at the end of DOFP, flees into the wilderness. Ready for the R rated Wolverine 3!
Of the great new crop of students Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) is the standout for me, her third act scene where Xavier has her tap-in on both psychic and physical fronts against all-powerful Apocalypse and her reluctant but inevitable “Let it go” moment? Choice!
Weakened by Xavier’s psychic assault, stripped of his armor by Jean, impailed by Magneto, blasted by Cyclops, fried by Storm to disrupt his teleportation escape and consumed finally by the unleashed Pheonix Force, Apocalypse’s last words, “All is revealed..” is fitting. I’ve finally seen the X Men as I’ve imagined them, working in unison on screen pulled straight from the comics!
The after credit Essex Corp. reference and stolen Weapon X blood samples acquired at Alkili lake were pure gravy! They reference the very awesome Mister Sinister, whom I assume is the next Big Bad and eludes to Wolverines female clone X23!! Mystique’s Drill Sargent speech to the comic faithfuly garbed (Jim Lee’s Cyclops uniform and visor were super cool!) X-Men in the Danger Room complete with reclaimed Trask Sentinels?
Pure. Joy.
I’ve read critics complain about “over loaded” action…In an action movie… Like complaining about too much meat at a BBQ wouldn’t you say? I’ve dreamed of the day I’d see the X-Men fighting Apocalypse as a unit. Isn’t that what you came for? “More of the same” Well, It’s a movie full of X-Men running around doing X-Men things, so they have a point. If the prospect didn’t grab you two movies ago, it’s not going to now. What exactly do people expect from a big summer CBM made for fans and casual viewers? This is a movie where 1/3 of the cast are either blue, fly, shoot lasers out of their eyes or read minds. It ain’t King Lear.
“Cliched villain”? Definitely. They gave little background and less menace to such a rich, evil character. However, uniformily strong performences, deeply obscure, comic fateful references and resonant themes on Cultism, Religion and Hero Worship make X-Men: Apocalypse a good if not great addition to the franchise. I got what I paid to see, pure comic book movie entertainment!
I can recommend this film to X-Men Comic and movie franchise fans and sleep the sleep of the just.
What’s your take? Sound off below.
Art – 20th Century Fox / Marvel Entertainment
I love X Men movies but some movies cant understand well thanks for you for posting articles like this. this articles helps to understand the movie. thanks again
X Men-
Thanks for reading & sharing! It’s my pleasure. I wasn’t going to write this initially but I felt it was being unfairly judged and I want more FIRST CLASS timeline projects!