I will be posting another review today or tomorrow, for The Nice Guys, but right now let's talk X-Men.
I love the new X-Men Universe that was kicked off with X-Men: First Class and succeeded by Days of Future Past. Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy carry these films, combined with excellent storytelling from Bryan Singer. However, the trailers for the next film in the franchise, Apocalypse, did not look very promising. And when I saw the 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, I was scared.
But I am pleasantly surprised to disagree with critics this time. I really enjoyed X-Men: Apocalypse and don't understand the hate. Yes, there are flaws in this film, which I will get into, but in the end, this film is well made, and incredibly enjoyable. Just to get into those flaw though, I have two big ones. One is about 15-25 minutes in the middle of the film that feel like nothing is happening. Apocalypse is moving along with his plans, and the X-Men are talking about what to do, but not getting anywhere. Nothing is happening. In film, there should not be moments when the audience is bored. The audience should be hooked from the first scene, which they were from an opening scene in Egypt, but there was a very noticeable middle chunk where things slowed down. Another is Jennifer Lawrence. Personally, I think she is a very overrated actress. She has given two great performances in my opinion: Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. Winter's Bone, the Hunger Games films, the X-Men films, and Joy, were all mediocre performances, and I don't understand her appeal. I thought she gave a bad performance, where she said almost every single line in a monotone and boring voice. I like the direction where they took her character, I just don't think it was executed well, largely due to her acting.
Everything else about this film, I enjoyed. The best part by far was Michael Fassbender as Magneto, especially with the story they gave him in this film, involving an incredible scene in a forest. You could get behind him and understand what hes doing, and he was the highlight of the film, as he was in First Class and DOFP. McAvoy and Fassbender and how their characters play off of each other is one of the best parts of the X-Men franchise. Also, this film has to balance a lot of characters, and it does that well. It introduces Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawler, and they all are pretty awesome. The Nightcrawler action scene in X-2 was one of the best superhero action scenes ever, but I really loved the approach that was taken in this film to the character. Jean Grey and Cyclops are given their full backstory and such, with emotional and powerful moments that really get you behind these characters. Now one part of this film that I was really scared of was Apocalypse himself. Oscar Isaac is a terrific actor, from Inside Llewyn Davis to Ex Machina, he is awesome. He is great as Apocalypse and really is a menacing character that easily could have been very cheesy. This movie also features a huge ass action scene towards the way end that could have been something like Transformers 2. But because of the emotional depth for the characters that we have, the well executed action had worth, and you were actually caring who lives. Also, Quicksilver, no spoilers, was super cool. Additionally, I didn't see the last trailer for this film, because people said it was spoiler heavy. Yeah, it was after seeing the film. It reveals a damn awesome sequence in the film. That's all I'm gonna say.
Is Apocalypse better than First Class and DOFP, I would say no. But is it a good film and a fun time at the movies. Hell yeah. Bryan Singer finished off a trilogy that topped the original, in almost every way, without relying on Wolverine for two of the films.
Consensus:
B+
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