Apocalypse thoughts:
[hide]It was a film about nothing. I came out of it the same way I come out of some MCU movies. With a sense of emptiness. And the second half was definitely an MCU movie: large action set pieces, jokes, tons and tons of fanservice. It explains why a lot of reviewers who are comic book fans said it was amazing and the best X-Men movie yet. But for me, as a Singer fan, it largely came up short.
HOWEVER, it wasn't franchise-destroying. On the contrary. The ending is promising and the Xavier/Magneto/Mystique trifecta is given its definitive solution. I don't think anyone was ever expecting J-Law to be back, but Fassneto is also giving a potential goodbye scene.
The good:
Cyclops, Jean and Nightcrawler are spot on. Cyclops is a natural leader, but they made him a lot more likable than the clenched anus asshole he is known for.. Jean is a powerhouse. Turner's acting at the beginning is very rocky, because she's either forcing out the American or just talking English. But by the end of the movie it feels natural, just in time for her standout scene. Nightcrawler is an utter delight. He was perfect. They cut out the mall scene, which was a really stupid decision (because it allows a sense of camaraderie to be formed), but these three still have tons of screentime and are very involved with the final battle. It's not like the original movies where they occasionally show up.
"Weapon X" was very well done. But the journey to it felt like a giant detour.
Quicksilver was a scenestealer again. I don't think they should've repeated the kitchen scene, but he was a delight in all his other scenes as well.
There's tons and tons of fanservice to digest, though a lot of it has been in promotional material.
The bad:
Without a firm anchor, the movie tries to give spotlight to a ton of characters and it shows. Instead of at least having a few characters having a well-rounded arc, instead a whole bunch of characters have screentime and none of them ultimately serve a purpose.
Mystique is mostly there to be there. She has screentime, sure, but unlike DoFP she is not the lynchpin of the movie. Actually, that also counts as a positive I guess. This is NOT Mystique and the X-Men like the first movies were Wolverine and the X-Men.
Storm and Psylocke do virtually nothing. Psylocke has a lot of cool action shots, but they were all in the teasers, trailers and featurretes.
Magneto gets an original story at the start of the movie, it goes exactly as you expect it and then he turns into a mostly silent mook for the rest of the movie. What's the point? He was a villain at the end of the last movie! I liked his scene in Auschwitz though, since it perfectly sums up his character, both in comics and in movies.
Apocalypse is mostly just a pontificating one-note villain. Again, felt like I was watching an MCU movie. Though if you're a fan of comics/TAS Pooky, I don't see why you'd have a problem with movie Pooky.
The turning point of the movie, and this has been said in reviews as well, is the Quicksilver scene. Before it, there's a lot of effort and a lot of moving parts. After it is the point where the tension-deflating jokes start hammering home and it turns into a generic action fest with tons of fanservice. I mean, the destruction of the mansion should be a huge dramatic moment. Instead, it's a hoot.
The movie is extremely shallow. It even forewent the hated and feared angle in this one. Not a single mention of it. The closest it came to this was Mystique saying that mutant tolerance only existed on a surface level and that mutants were still victims of hate crimes everywhere. Every X-Men movie opens with Xavier monologuing about themes that get explored throughout the movie. In this one, he monologues that powerful people can be very powerful. Got it!
The friend I went with who is a comic book movie noob said it had too many jokes and too much action. Take that as you will.[/hide]
In short, the moie was utterly mediocre. But still far superior to BvS.