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X-Men: Apocalypse


The NZA

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First reviews are not good

 

“If you’ve seen one cinematic apocalypse, you’ve seen them all. At least that’s the feeling conjured by “X-Men: Apocalypse,” the latest entry in one of the more reliable comic-book franchises around, this time disappointingly succumbing to an exhausting case of been-there-done-that-itis.” -
Variety

 

“Narratively jumbled and jammed with so many characters that you give up keeping them all straight while simultaneously lamenting not seeing more of those you might actually want around, Bryan Singer’s fourth entry in the enormously profitable series he inaugurated 16 years ago undeniably builds to a cataclysmic dramatic reckoning. But mostly it just feels like a bloated, if ambitious attempt to shuffle as many mutants and specially gifted characters as possible into a story of a resurrected god ready to take over the world.” -
The Hollywood Reporter

 

“With “X-Men: Apocalypse,” however, Singer seems to have acquired a new mutant power of his own: Monotony. Whether it’s the lack of an interesting villain, or the fact that the series’ time-travel element is forcing these mutants to meet each other (and the audience) all over again for the first time, this latest entry marks a shocking letdown from Singer’s earlier contributions; what once soared now slogs.” -
The Wrap

 

““Apocalypse,” for all its faults, has the audacity to make the MCU look small, and the conviction to make the DCU — if there even
is
such a thing — look foolish for confusing self-seriousness with gravity. If only these characters were allowed to be as complex as the ideas they fight for, “Apocalypse” could have represented a new beginning for superhero cinema.” -
Indiewire

 

““X-Men: Apocalypse” is a lifeless affair, squandering its star power, underselling its characters, and muddying its action in grays and cutaways.” -
Comic Book Resources

 

“For the second straight movie, the best setpiece belongs to Peters’ Quicksilver, who steals the show with an exciting and funny showcase for his powers. If we’re being totally honest, though, it’s not all that different than his showcase scene in the last movie.” -
Screencrush

 

“At times, it feels like Singer is trying to fit as much as humanly possible into this movie, just in case it’s his last. By the time it gets to the climactic showdown against Apocalypse, it’s obvious what an unstoppable force he is, and everything leading up to that point does pay off.” -
Daily News

 

“53 years of X-Men comic stories and an almost unlimited budget, and this is the best they could come up with?” -
Film School Rejects

 

(some spoilers in there so be warned)

 

It is a lifeless and hollow shell of a picture, lacking exciting action, strong character interplay, or compelling storytelling. It is the nadir of the franchise, determined to make you apologize for every mean thing you’ve ever said about Brett Ratner’s rushed
X-Men
trilogy capper a decade ago.

 

Yeeeeesh

Edited by Axels
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Dang. What is it with super hero trilogies? There is ALWAYS at least one bad entry. Blade Trinity, X3, Spider-Man 3, Iron Man 2, The Dark Knight Rises. I was hoping the 'First Class' trilogy would break the cycle, a near flawless trilogy but it's not looking good (I'll reserve judgement until I see it of course). I guess the 'Cap trilogy' would arguably be one of the best, now that Civil War is out, although I didn't care for First Avenger (definately bottom 3 in my personal MCU rankings)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just got back from seeing this with my momma! I am not actually posting any plot spoilers just general feelings, but I'll tag it anyway, just in case!

 

 

 

So it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. My only MAJOR complaint is that it felt waaaay too long. If they'd have trimmed a lot of the fat, this could have been great!

 

PLUSSES:

+ James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence give amazing performances. Like far better than this movie deserved. Had the script been tighter and general writing been more interesting, it may have been worthy of their talent. McAvoy especially. Shit. He is so damn expressive with those eyes, it's really moving.

+ Nightcrawler was great!! A real highlight.

+ Quicksilver is ever the scene-stealer.

+ It's pretty funny at some points.

+ It is not SUPER action-heavy. This was a problem for me during Civil War. There were too many fights, with too many people that went on for too long, (plus the shaky-cam), I just got tired of it all! Not here, though. They're spaced out well and there seems to be more of a focus on character development, which is nice.

+ Cameos which I will not spoil but are pretty cool!

+ The 80s hair/clothes/music was also fun.

 

MINUSES:

- As I mentioned, goes on too long and there are too many little side stories to keep up with. By the time you revisit a story line, so much other shit has happened, you forgot those characters were even in the movie.

- I was really hyped for Olivia Munn as Psylocke, especially watching her training videos on IG. Looks like she put a lot of work into the character for very little screentime and pretty crap fight choreo...What a waste there.

- In fact, all the "horsemen" were pretty lame in the final fight. A lot of build up for what feels a bit anti-climactic.

- The actress playing Jean Grey is AWFUL. Is she the GoT actress people were concerned about? If so, it was with good reason. She's just so wooden and unlikable. She has exactly one facial expression and it isn't a good one. Man, she was awful.

 

 

So yeah, it honestly wasn't a bad way to spend an afternoon. I'd probably give it like a 6 out of 10. (For reference: I'd give BvS a 1.5, and Cap Civil War an 8.5).

Edited by Donatella
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Glad to hear about Nightcrawler! He's always been my favorite superhero X-Men or otherwise.

 

Shame about the GoT chick. She is actually quite good on Game of Thrones.

I kinda feel like Jean Grey never was the most interesting character in the movies though.

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Just got back from this, and y'know it isn't nearly as bad as the critics are saying. But holy shit are there some issues, mostly with the writing. The following will basically be a stream of consciousness. Big Spoiler time:

 

 

 

Oh man the writing is fucking bad, dialogue especially. There is a moment after Magneto's family gets killed (he goes to Poland after the DoFP incident and has a wife and daughter.) His kid starts crying when a group of people are coming to arrest Mags cause they recognize him after he saves someone's life at a factory. Anywhoo, his daughter has Dr. Doolittle's power and sends a bunch of birds to attack the humans when one lets loose an arrow that passes through both the daughter and mother.

 

Magneto takes his wife locket and kills all of them with it and starts screaming toward the sky "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE!?????" like three times. Fassbender tries to sell it, but you can even see he thinks it's dumb as fuck.

 

Sansa Stark isn't necessarily bad as Jean Grey, like I said, she is just a shit character.

 

They hit you over the head with so many fucking things. Subtlety is not in this film's DNA (HEY GUISE JEAN GREY IS THE PHOENIX REMEMBER WERE BRINGING THAT BACK. MUTANTS. SCARED. JENNIFER LAWRENCE'S TITS. ITS ALL BACK BABY!)

 

Nightcrawler is perfect! I wish they knew how to use him better than "Hey get us out of/over/inside of there." We need more X2 action sequences.

 

Also Quicksilver steals the show yet again. His action sequence is pitch perfect, even if it is the exact same thing as in DoFP. There's nothing wrong with that. It's also worth noting that he is literally the only one to land a single blow on Apocalypse. Physically I mean. There are tons of energy beams and lightning shooting at him, but Quicksilver manages to fuck him up a bit the old fashioned way that kind of makes him extremely OP.

 

Wolverine is shoehorned in for about 5 minutes, though it's done kind of tastefully? It's Weapon X :wolvy: and it's done extremely well, so it kinda let's you forgive that it didn't need to happen. It's a fun moment, and sets up a sequel I guess due to a post credits scene that teases the Essex Corp (who I had to google admittedly. Sounds cool tho!)

 

The villains were shitty. Apocalypse had moments of personality, but they never went beyond him making dub speeches about cleansing the world or him screaming. The only horseman they gave a personality too was Storm and that's because we already know who Magneto is and that it can set up a plot point later that cause her to shift to the good guys.

 

Fucking Magneto. I wish they would have just made him the villain. It would have been alot cleaner, even if it meant him repeating his stupid ass scheme from X1.

 

There is a moment where Xavier is fighting Apocalypse in his mind. The scene shifts to the mansion and X goes "You're in my house now." Katherine scoffed incredibly loud and that was my "I'm fucking done" moment.

 

 

It was nice to have Havok back for about 2 seconds. Professor X at one point even tells him to "wreak havok" which actually works better than some of the dialogue because it's just enough of a comic book line for it to work.

 

 

 

"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT ME TO BE!???????" Again, that part was fucking terrible.

 

Psylocke is in it, and you'll forget she until she is on screen all of 3 times.

 

Apocalypse should have pursued a career in tailoring because for 25% of his screentime he is literally building costumes for his team.

 

 

 

 

I can see why it's getting shit on, and my little review certainly doesn't flatter the movie, but it really isn't terrible. It's at least as entertaining as DoFP if not as well written. Here's my X rankings, including spinoffs.

 

 

1. Deadpool

 

2. First Class

 

3. X2

 

4. The Wolverine

 

5. DoFP

 

6. Apocalypse

 

7. X1 (it's aged that poorly for me)

 

8. X3

 

9. Wolverine Origins

 

Everyone's mileage will vary. This may be the most divisive in the series.

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digging the tempered-to-good reviews here! still think im gonna hold off till its out of theaters, but i like having proper expectations

 

7. X1 (it's aged that poorly for me)

 

it was yuge at the time (and important), but i think it's aged poorly for most everyone i know

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Finally saw this last night and caught it in 3D, which I felt was worth it. I really enjoyed the film and once again the Quicksilver scene was a highlight. However, unlike, DoFP, his scene wasn't the only highlight for me.I loved nearly every scene with Apocalypse and thought Singer and Co. did a great job of introducing him as a character. The young (and rebooted?) Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Storm, and Angel were all great. The scene with them introducing Nightcrawler to the epicenter of 80s American culture was fantastic. I also thought the writing and the ending was well done. I feel like there could be another film or two in between this and Singer's first X-Men, or this film could jump right into that film.

 

I agreed with all of Dony's highlights or "plus" points in her spoiler (especially the 80s Easter Eggs and cameos), but the only "minus" of hers that was a minus for me was the Horsemen being underused. Like Baytor wrote, Jean Grey ain't much to start with. i thought the actress and writers did a good, but not great, job with her.

 

And dat end scene was...

 

Sinisterly good! Anyone know if this will segue into Wolverine 3 or the next X-Film? Maybe Cable & Deadpool will crossover? (Yeah, that's unlikely.)

 

And since axels started with the list, and I love me some lists, here's my ranking of the seven current X-Verse films:

1. Deadpool

 

2. First Class

 

3. X2

 

4. Apocalypse

 

5. DoFP

 

6. X1

 

7. X3

 

8. The Wolverine

 

9. Wolverine Origins

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The scene with them introducing Nightcrawler to the epicenter of 80s American culture was fantastic.

 

 

 

 

I freaking loved that he was wearing the Thriller jacket throughout most of the movie. Nice touch that worked with his classic color scheme.

 

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I saw it - and I thought it was good. I enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Civil War.

 

 

 

I wished they hit the period piece (80s era) a bit harder. It had nice touches, but First Class n' DoFP really slapped you w/ the 60s n' 70s pretty hard. Also, no one looks like they've aged - hasn't it been like 10 years or something? Looked like everyone was just handed 80s wigs n' blazers w/ rolled up sleeves n' shoulder pads.

 

Jennifer Lawrence not being in make-up really, really, really took me outta the film and I thought hurt her character. They tried to explain it w/ a throw away line - but that was 4th wall breaking everytime I saw her. That's just an actress who they couldn't afford to cover in blue. It really bothered me.

 

Everything else, pretty much was really good - not better than DoFP, but it was a lot more...comic booky - which was different n' cool.

 

Apocalypse is my fav Marvel villain - I thought they did a great job of making him fit and make sense in the 'film universe', but I think they could've gotten more into his 'survival of the fittest' philosophy.

 

Psylocke - I hardly knew ye, but damn her live-action version looked awesome. Magneto's wife n' kid getting killed by the same arrow...'What? Are we pressed for time?"

 

Selfishly, I wanted that ending to have a huge action sequence in the Danger Room. A ridiculously extended action sequence w/ 'em all just beating the shit outta Sentinels while avoiding hazards (Basically, not what we got in X3). Seeing that set up reminded me of what a big deal it was when Wolvie finally said 'bub' in the first one. It's just one of those things you wanna see - still waiting on a legit Danger Room sequence.

 

It was good. I enjoyed it. I'd totally watch it again.

 

 

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^^Yeah, I agree with you about the actors looking the same in 1983 as they did in 1962 to be jarring. Magneto, Hank, and Havoc especially. Magneto would be in his early 50s in 1983 and already has white hair in the comics. Why not age him a little by at least giving him some grey? Eh. But Mystique and Charles you can let slide because you can attribute their appearances to their powers.

 

As for your spoiler comments about the setting in the 1908s, I think they did a really good job of making it very 80s. Mystique had crimped hair! Axels also already mentioned the significance of Nightcrawler's civilian clothes. Speaking of which..

 

 

They just brushed over it in the film how Kurt went out to the movies and mall yet was totally unharrassed. I wonder if there's a deleted scene where they fit him with one of Forge's cloaking/hologram devices.

 

And I feel you with needing a proper Danger Room sequence in one of these films already! I was talking w/ someone on fb about how Fox owns rights to the Shi'ar, so maybe we'll get some of that tech into Xavier's hands. Or if they don't want to go canon, I'm cool with them introducing Forge to to help Hank spruce up the Danger Room. Or maybe future tech from Cable? Bottom line, get us a proper Danger Room fight sequence on film already!

 

Edited by Mr. Hakujin
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LOL - seriously! That whole 'Prequel Trilogy' ended up spanning like, 3 decades and nobody looked any older than they did in First Class! Some silver streaks and slightly aged make-up would've gone a long way.

 

But, hey - don't get me wrong - I thought they did a fantastic job w/ costuming and prop design in regard to it 'feeling 80s'. It was great. Guess what I'm saying - is that I wish we were involved more in the world somehow.

 

 

 

Kinda like how First Class worked in the whole Cuban Missile Crisis into the plot - DoFP worked in the Vietnam War, Nixon and had Beast scanning 'all 3 networks...and PBS' (LOL - I thought that was great) looking for Mystique.

 

I would've like to see the world of the 80s drive the plot a bit more. Involve...I dunno, maybe some of the international political strife of the day somehow or...newer technologies / the budding internet...maybe the times were too close to ours to try to be clever or interesting, but like I said - I wish the times were involved and drove the plot sum more. Felt like Apocalypse might as well have been done in the 90s - would've made no difference.

 

Y'know, a scene w/ Nighcrawler walking the mall is so ripe w/ potential - it's a shame they didn't go there. Now that I think about it - won't be surprised if we get a...freakin' 'Apocalyptic Edition' on blu. Oy.

 

 

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I disagree with you there a bit, Nemo. I think First Class definitely had a more 1960s vibe, but I think the whole concept of nuclear escalation and the Cold War as it was in the 1980s with the two superpowers really motivated the title characters actions in XP. There was also that great scene, that was in the trailers as well, with all the nukes flying up. That scenario was a big fear in the 1980s, pretty much the biggest.

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  • 1 month later...

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE COMING TO BLU ON OCTOBER 1ST, 2016

 

fe2fb070-1cd0-428c-8cfe-b79e2d87d8e3.jpg

 

Not the 'Apocalyptic Edition' - this is the theatrical cut. Not hearing anything about a planned 'extended edition' - this does have a bunch of deleted n' extended scenes, so maybe we'll get to see some stuff w/ Jubilee, Scott, Nightcrawler, ect. during their trip to the mall. (shrugs)

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