Memorial Day weekend: A time to reflect and express gratitude for all the fearless men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. As a military brat of a man who served 20 years to his country, I try to never lose sight of the work our troops do, whether I agree with the reasons they are deployed or not. Rest in Power to the fallen and thank you.
That being said, the more trivial things to look forwards to on the 3-day weekend are an extra day off work, cookouts, thousands of people trying to cram into Captain’s Quarters in The Ville, and typically a summer blockbuster opening in theatres. This year we were #blessed with Alice Through The Looking Glass! What bombed worse? Alice or the Huntsman? I even enjoyed the first Huntsman movie too, but don’t tell anyone.
BACK ON TOPIC, Brys! Yes, this memorial we were given the next installment in the x-men series, X-Men: Apocalypse. X-Men: First Class resuscitated the series after lackluster X-3 and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (serious, remember what they did to Deadpool ?L L L ). I’ve mentioned this before on a previous review, but I absolutely adore Days of Future Past. So given the critical and commercial success of the past two films, it was damned near impossible for me to temper expectations for this film. It’s featuring Apocalypse, the first mutant, the all-powerful, the menace! … Then the reviews hit. It was like Batman v Superman all over again. How could a movie with amazing thespians like J-Law, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy be bad? Are critics revolting against superheroes? Did the movie try to do too much? These were all questions I had to find out myself.
So, on Memorial Day I met up with trivia teammate, future film director, and Hugh Jackman enthusiast Morgan, grabbed an ICEEas cold as Leslie Rixman’s heart and got to the screen 7!
(Beware of the spoiler minefield ahead!)
This film reintroduced a lot of characters, which was no small task. Following the events of Days of Future Past, it should be noted that things in the x-men universe have been altered. Director Bryan Singer gives us insight here <hyper link?> http://collider.com/x-men-apocalypse-new-timeline-explained-bryan-singer/ <Thanks Rob> . This raises some questions and mild confusion and it probably would have been beneficial to mention ripple effects in the last movie or in this one somehow. Never the less, we meet youthful versions of Scott Summers (Cyclops), Jean Grey, Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), Ororo Munroe (Storm), Warren Worthington III (Archangel), and Jubilation Lee (Jubilee). We also meet for the first time, Psylocke and Apocalypse (obviously). With so many new characters, one could surmise there wasn’t a lot of time to develop each, but for the most part the film did its job in establishing our new mutants for future films to come.
The film did drop the ball with Jubilee, in my opinion. We get to see her have a prominent role in the halls of Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters and early on in the movie, it appears as if she’s going to have a respectable role. Nope. She’s not part of the x-men, we don’t get to see her fireworks show, nor do we hear mention of her checkered Olympic past. She’s still around, so perhaps she’ll garner a bigger role in the future. Psylocke and Archangel suffer similar fates, but they were glorified henchman and expendable..
On a personal level, I’ve loved to dislike the character of Cyclops. He’s a dick and Wolverine was always a welcomed foil to him since I first discovered x-men through the 90’s cartoon. I did like the introduction of him as a teen struggling with the emergence of laser sight and acceptance, to a young man set on proving he was worth it and making a fallen brother proud. As soon as we meet Jean, we’re teased about the unstoppable potential that the phoenix force has granted her. Sophie Turner (who’s apparently on GoT according to my roommate) did an excellent job. She plays Jean perfectly as we see her come along more throughout the movie from weird outcast to assured x-men member. The film also didn’t rush the obvious future romance between Jean and Scott. Make ‘em wait on it!
The script worked to build up Scott’s role and emotional value to the viewers by killing off his brother, Havok. With so many characters running around the halls and a disenfranchised villain from an ancient time, someone had to perish right? I’m not saying, Havok wasn’t the right choice, but I didn’t feel outraged or sad. Alex Summers (Havok) had a prominent role in First Class, but he was barely in Days of Future Past and is just casually inserted back in a decent role as a plot device for his little brother. Maybe I’m just coldblooded *Rick James voice*.
If you agreed about my cold heart at the end of the last paragraph, you are mistaken! I do have a heart and more emotions than a Drake song! (Maybe not that much). In contrast to my shrug and frown at the death of Alex’s demise, was the emotional sequence of events that lead to the revival of Magneto. X-Men: Apocalypse is set 10 years after the previous film and Erik Lehnsherr has found a new life as an unassuming factory worker in Poland. Things get dicey after using his powers to save a co-worker and before he knows it his new family (wife and daughter) are surrounded by the authorities. After an unfortunate arrow goes awry and destroys his wife, Erik goes on a quest for revenge. While we only meet the new family for a brief time, Fassbender’s expressions and anguish really grabbed at my emotions. I wanted to cry, I wanted to lend an ear to the man who once again tried to do right. Fassbender is awesome, this movie solidifies it. I just worry if they may do the Magneto is evil, changes, then goes evil again cycle one too many times in future films.
Not to the level of Magneto, but I found Oscar Isaac’s portrayal of Apocalypse to be more than solid. Ivan Ooze jokes aside, the character looked fine. I’ve heard friends condemn the director for not using CGI to do for En Saban Nur what the Avengers did for Thanos. I like Apocalypse using a human base, there’s enough CGI and effects going on with the wide range of mutant abilities our heroes and foes have (which were all fine. I didn’t notice, which means they weren’t bad!). Back to Poe Dameron’s portrayal of the villain! When the character first re-awakens in 80’s Cairo, the facial expressions and eye movements he makes really drive home that he is a being completely disillusioned by what the world has become in his absence. While it’s clear, his intentions are to bring force destruction to recreate a new world in his vision, Isaac does a fantastic side of showing the compassionate side of Apocalypse, who truly has some interest in the well-being of other mutants rising above the rules and standards of the new world.
Apocalypse was menacing and the scene in which he brings poor Magneto back to Auschwitz was a wonderful testament to his goal of arming his horsemen. While Magneto ultimately stole the scene, the spurring of the first mutant was a perfect auxiliary piece to it. This was an awesome scene, but my favorite had to be when our heroes are taken to the infamous Weapon-X facility. There’s simply one reason why: Wolverine. While Morgan was busy checking out Hugh Jackman, I came to appreciate the homage to Logan’s time as “Weapon X” in the comics. Previous X-Men films have been dominated by Wolverine’s character and mostly been a showcase for him, even as he was granted his own series of spinoffs. This was violent, action packed, and the perfect amount of screen time for old man Logan and the reviled William Stryker. It added to the movie in demonstrating the growing feats of bravery from Nightcrawler, Jean, and Scott while giving the viewers a treat.
Now if you’re even low-key familiar with the Apocalypse character, you know of his four horsemen and one other… sinister partner. This man is a scientist who has a slight obsession with Scott Summers’ bloodline and has been known to do some DNA splicing and experimentation to enhance, augment, and create a superior mutant. In the film, Apocalypse is able to enhance and awaken dormant x-gene traits in mutants. In several x-men media, this is done by one Nathaniel Essex aka Mr. Sinister. I had questions about how the film would be without Mr. Sinister listed on the cast. I was disappointed about his omission, until the post credit scene. In the wake of the slaughter left by Wolverine in the Weapon X facility, we simply see a briefcase with the Essex name collecting DNA. According to the director, this will have obvious ramifications on the next X-Men film, as well as Wolverine 3 and Gambit (please come out, he’s my favorite). In such a short scene it restored my concerns and has me giddy for the future projects.
This film wasn’t perfect, but if it was a person, it wouldn’t be in dire need of acne cream to cover pimples. It could use a little bit of makeup here or there, but this is still an attractive attraction. There were a lot of characters and relationships to further develop (I didn’t even mention the Quicksilver/Magneto, Xavier/Moira relationships), but the ones that needed to be hit were checked. There was action, there was suspense, and there was a definitive ending and a delicious post-credit scene. Honestly, no clue what the critics were thinking. Go see it!
3 ½ out of 4 Crabs!
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