X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 6/15/2016 at 8:27 PM, Grace19 said:

I am really shocked that comic book fans hates Mystic/Raven. She is one of my favorites from the movies. In the original trilogy, she didn't have much development but she was a kick ass character and was very enjoyable for me and in the first Class trilogy I loved what they did with her, especially her relationship with Erik and Charles. This goes to show how comic book fans and non-comic book fans can see things differently. The characters comic book fans are bored with (Wolverine, Magneto and Mystic), might be characters the general audience actually like.
 

Well, I'm not a comic book fan; I never read the X-Men comics, but I did watch the cartoon from the 90s. And I loathed her character on that show, just as I loathed her character in Evolution. We like who we like and who we don't like. She's a vile character as far as I'm concerned. I'm not interested in any kind of 'redemption' or changing her history, so that she's more of an anti-hero, blah, blah, blah. It was clear to me, that from First Class to this movie, that they wanted to make her the "hero" if you will. I'm not buying it and I hated it. Charles's foster sister? Riiiight.

Because everything had to be about her; what she did, what was done to her, which led to the Dystopian/Apocalyptic future in Days of Future Past. What the fuck ever. Logan/Wolverine and Scott/Cyclops are my two favorite X-Men, followed closely by Rogue, Jean and Gambit and Nightcrawler. The fact that I love Hugh Jackman guarantees I will never get sick of seeing him (Logan) on my screen.

I really don't think there's a right or wrong way to feel about the characters. Hate Mystique. Always have, always will.

Then there's the fact that I just don't like Jennifer Lawrence.

[Jeebus Cripes]

This was underwhelming to say the least. I was reminded of First Class in terms of script and that's not a good thing. There were some cringe-worthy moments and bad acting strewn about. JLaw, Byrne and Hoult are ill suited to deliver this type of dialogue, and what I mean by that, is bad dialogue. Fassbender and McAvoy can get away with it because they somehow make the rubbish coming out of their mouths sound believable; bless them. 

Apocalypse looked so damned awkward most of the time. I couldn't get past how puny he seemed with that big ass California Raisin head and the wee body. The decision to not make him bigger was a mistake. I really like Isaac but as many have stated, he wasn't given much to work with. The Ancient Egyptian Four Horsemen seemed far more competent and formidable than his choices later on. I mean, given that Storm just stood there for most of the battle and Psylocke and Archangel sucked. 

Yet again, I'm wowed by how little these filmmakers seem to care for these characters. Have any of them any interest in comics at all? Have they ever even bothered to read a few? Again, we're treated to one-dimensional characters that only reflect their comic-counterparts in the most superficial ways. Ooooh, the guy playing Warren had his blonde curly hair and wings! Oh, and Psylocke got to wear a glorified bathing suit just like in the comics! How exciting! Jubilee got to wear her yellow leather jacket and stand around the cool kids with dialogue again! Joy! **facepalm** I love Nightcrawler and the kid playing him was charming, but was he necessary? He was actually well done in X2. Why not use a character that never got a chance to properly shine, or one that's never been shown before? 

Why do they only seem to care about Wolverine, Magneto, and the Professor's backstories? Oh, and for some weird reason, Mystique... who they jacked up in any case. Why is Scott's tragic history consistently ignored? Why the hell is Beast running around in human form? What's so tragic about his condition if he can turn it off and on? So they make a film about Apocalypse and use Archangel as a Horseman, and I'm thinking, "Cool, actual comic canon for once." Then they buggered it all up by giving Warren no backstory, no pathos whatsoever. They made him screw his wings up in a cage fight? WTF? Why? Why is Singer obsessed with these stupid cage fights, for one, and also, why wouldn't you somehow refer back to how he tragically lost them in the comics? Doesn't have the be the exact circumstances but something similar to make me actually give a crap. Could we maybe lose Mystique for one god damn film, and use some of that time to actually develop another character? Ugh, it's so frustrating. They made a half-assed attempt at Storm, but again, it falls short because there is simply no time for anyone who isn't Mystique, Charles, or Magneto. I love Charles and Eric, but the argument stands.

Singer treats these films like someone who hates comics, and that's a shame. He's taken a shine to a few characters and he somehow managed to stay faithful to who they are, yet the vast majority of X-Men get handled like afterthoughts. Oh, just give those guys the powers from the comics and a few lines here and there, that'll appease the fans. Who cares if they have no fucking soul or personality? I do.

Edited June 17, 2016 by Jeebus Cripes

[benteen]

Singer's inability to develop the great female X-Men characters is definitely one of his biggest weaknesses. 

[Wiendish Fitch]

24 minutes ago, benteen said:

Singer's inability to develop the great female X-Men characters is definitely one of his biggest weaknesses. 

Case in point: Rogue, who not only contributed nothing, never learned how seat belts work (seriously, how did she make it to adulthood?).

[Jeebus Cripes]

17 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Case in point: Rogue, who not only contributed nothing, never learned how seat belts work (seriously, how did she make it to adulthood?).

Heh. I can never decide who Singer screwed up worse between Rogue, Bobby, and Storm. 

[Bruinsfan]

I thought Bobby actually got a lot of respect for the character's relative importance to later-era comics. In the second and third movies he got more focus than anyone other than Charles, Erik, Logan, or Jean.

[Jeebus Cripes]

5 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

I thought Bobby actually got a lot of respect for the character's relative importance to later-era comics. In the second and third movies he got more focus than anyone other than Charles, Erik, Logan, or Jean.

It's not a lack of attention but how completely bland the character is. He's portrayed as such a dullard. I'm not saying Bobby was a clown 24/7 in the comics, but he often made me laugh and was witty.

That battle between the Prof and Apocalypse on the astral plane was a pleasant surprise. I mean, I had to give it a hard eye-roll that Charles was losing said battle, but I enjoyed it anyway. Reminded me of The Shadow King --who probably would have made for a more interesting villain, IMO. Seems like they ripped a few aspects from that storyline and gave it to Apocalypse with the taking over bodies BS.

Edited June 19, 2016 by Jeebus Cripes

[benteen]

7 hours ago, Jeebus Cripes said:

It's not a lack of attention but how completely bland the character is. He's portrayed as such a dullard. I'm not saying Bobby was a clown 24/7 in the comics, but he often made me laugh and was witty.

That battle between the Prof and Apocalypse on the astral plane was a pleasant surprise. I mean, I had to give it a hard eye-roll that Charles was losing said battle, but I enjoyed it anyway. Reminded me of The Shadow King --who probably would have made for a more interesting villain, IMO. Seems like they ripped a few aspects from that storyline and gave it to Apocalypse with the taking over bodies BS.

Kind of like how Kevin Bacon's played Sebastian Shaw but his character was basically Mister Sinister.

[romantic idiot]

In general I find the X-movies to have less humour than MCU. They have good set pieces (like Quicksilver), but humour isn't intrinsic in the dialogue and story, like it is in the MCU - especially the Whedon penned ones. 

Excluding Deadpool, of course. 

Edited June 19, 2016 by romantic idiot

[Jeebus Cripes]

16 hours ago, benteen said:

Kind of like how Kevin Bacon's played Sebastian Shaw but his character was basically Mister Sinister.

I really wish he had played Sinister instead. 

[benteen]

7 hours ago, Jeebus Cripes said:

I really wish he had played Sinister instead. 

It would have made a lot more sense.

[DollEyes]

My verdict: I liked it. X-Men: Apocalypse is no DOFP, but it's not The Last Stand, either. I was entertained. As Apocalypse, Oscar Isaac was pretty good. His line delivery was cheesy at times, but for the most part it was convincing, especially during the astral plane battle with Charles, when he went full giant. As for the other newbies, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan and Kodi Smit-McPhee were much better than Alexandra Shipp, Olivia Munn & Ben Hardy. As Jean Grey, Cyclops and Nightcrawler, Turner, Sheridan & McPhee gave their characters the depth, the vulnerability and the personality that Storm, Psylocke and Angel lack. Storm is definitely one of the weakest links. Alexandra Shipp may be younger than Halle Berry, but she's not a better actress by a long shot, as her performance here and in Lifetime's Aaliyah biopic proves. As for Olivia Munn, the only exciting thing about her performance was the costume-what little there was of it, that is. About Angel, yawn. His wings were more memorable than he was. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are supposed to be badasses and the only one there was Magneto, so as far as I'm concerned the Four Horsemen were just Magneto & the Pips. 

  Speaking of Magneto, Michael Fassbender is incredible. He's one of the best things about the X-Men reboot and here is no exception. Fassy made lemonade out of lemons in the family scenes. I knew that Erik's wife and child-well, one of them-were doomed from the start but Fassy's performance moved me anyway, railing at God and all. Given Erik's grief, his joining the Horsemen was understandable, but as usual, Erik's anger clouded whatever good judgment he had and Charles got hurt again because of it. However, Erik did eventually help to save Charles and stop Apocalypse, to his credit. James McAvoy is great as well. His Charles/Professor X is equally convincing, whether he's smart, snarky, strong in his own way, like his confrontation with Apocalypse or flirty, as he was with Moira,who IMO he's never had chemistry with and never will. Re Mystique, Jennifer Lawrence was in Katniss mode so much I expected her to be using a bow & arrow.  Nicholas Hoult makes a much better big-screen Beast than Kelsey Grammer. 

  Loved the Wolverine cameo, but the scenes with Jean squicked me out too. At least they didn't kiss. Quicksilver was hilarious. That scene of his rescuing students and Lockjaw from the school explosion to "Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This" stole the show, but I hated the kids' response-or rather, the lack thereof. If someone had just saved my life, I would have at least tried to thank them. However, I do wish that Quicksilver had told Erik the truth because that might have given Erik some much-needed hope for the future and another incentive besides Charles to stop Apocalypse. Speaking of Charles, for me, this film, like the whole X-Men saga in the big-screen MCU, is all about Cherik. It was losing part of his family that made Erik want to destroy the world, but it was his memories of Charles in X-Men: First Class that made Erik start to change his mind. As for Charles, he didn't lose his faith in Erik despite his joining the Horsemen because he knew Erik was hurting and believed in him too much to give up on him. As far as I'm concerned, X-Men is Cherik's story. Always has been; always will be. 

Edited July 10, 2016 by DollEyes
To add stuff.

[Enero]

We saw this last night. It had its moments, but overall it was just okay and was way too long. They could've cut about an hour and still been able to tell their story. The villian seemed like nothing more than a repeat of Imhotep in The Mummy, minus the love story. I found Mystique pointless. JLaw's acting wasn't helping. 

The best thing about this movie was Jean, Storm, Quicksliver - loved him rescuing people to Sweet Dreams, one of my favorite songs, :) and of course Magneto and Charles. McAvoy and Fassbender have wonderful chemistry. They would smolder just sitting in a scene reading the phone book to each other. That's one thing the producers for the X-men reboot got right, the casting of these two. 

I had to laugh when Wolverine showed up looking old enough to be everyone's father in the movie. I know, he is old enough to be all of their fathers but that still doesn't make it look good onscreen.  I feel like he wasn't needed here.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Enero

[Wiendish Fitch]

Here's how I wish X-Men: Apocalypse had ended:

Erik: Hey, Charles, sorry I dragged your crippled body, which I'm responsible for crippling, halfway around the world and sitting idly by while some megalomaniac god-mutant attempted to use you physically and mentally to take over the world. No hard feelings?

Charles: (expressionless, touches fingers to temple)

Skip ahead six hours, Erik nearly drops dead from dancing on his tippy toes and clucking like a chicken.

Erik (panting): Now do you forgive me?!

Charles: I guess so. 

Pause, then Charles makes Erik imitate all Three Stooges for another six hours.

Edited August 2, 2016 by Wiendish Fitch

[JessePinkman]

So I finally saw this living breathing garbage.

Why does this movie look cheaper than Deadpool? I'm pretty sure The Flash has a bigger budget than whatever this was. The final fight in Cairo looked like it was filmed on a backlot (it obviously was but that doesn't need to be so apparent). I'm pretty sure I saw the Hulk rollercoaster in the background. The costumes looked cheap, the sets looked cheap, the whole affair screamed budget.

Storm (STORM) is infatuated/influenced by MYSTIQUE of all people? Get the fuck out of here with that nonsense. Why did they turn Mystique into Katniss? Why is Jennifer Lawrence the weakest link in the entire cast (and I mean across all of the movies, Halle Berry your reputation has been saved)? Why have they warped the X-Universe to cater to this character? It's just so infuriating. At least with Wolverine we never had other characters constantly praising him, in fact, some people actively disliked him. But not Raven, she's special and unique and a savior to all mutant kind. God.

I will never forgive the fucked up aging in this movie since First Class. Charles and Erik should be in their late 40s at the very least. Erik's gotta be 50 something, doesn't he? 

"Haha Moira hasn't aged a day". Shut up, you stupid, stupid movie.

The biggest crime this movie committed was being boring and rudderless. Apocalypse has to be one of the lamest villains I've ever seen. He just struts around calling everyone weak. I mean, okay dude, you're like 5'8" and wearing rubber. There was so much focus on him, at least in screentime, but not once did he feel threatening. His name is Apocalypse and all he did was throw people into things and turn nameless characters into sand.

There are hundreds of mutants they could pull from, hundreds, and somehow we are on our third incarnation of Angel. THIRD! The guy has wings, he's just some blonde dude with WINGS. They had to torture him, turn him blue and give him metal wings in the comics to make him remotely interesting. And then here they kill him! 

And that stinger was just plain dumb, you have to well-versed in X-Men lore to get that Essex Corp has to do with Mr. Sinister, they didn't even give us a cool visual! I love the X-Men and I have zero interest in seeing Mr. Sinister's weird fucking obsession with the Summers family or Wolverine or whoever played out onscreen.

The Quicksilver scene was cool though. That's all I got.

Edited September 9, 2016 by JessePinkman

[VCRTracking]

God, why did they delete this scene? When are studios going to realize audiences love the cute and funny character interactions in these superhero movies just as much if not more than the big battle scenes with actors screaming in the wind?

[SeanC]

1 hour ago, VCRTracking said:

God, why did they delete this scene? 

From what Singer said, because its placement in the narrative really didn't fit (and, one imagines, because the movie was already quite long).

[JessePinkman]

Of ALL the scenes to cut from that stupidly boring movie they cut the only one that justifies setting it in the 80s? Dumb.

[xaxat]

Between Fassbender/McAvoy and McKellen/Stewart, how many times has Charles given his "Eric! I can help you/you are better than this!" speech.

I swear it feels like every other movie. Good Magneto, Bad Magneto, Good Magneto. . . 

[KatWay]

True and in the prequels IMO Erik is often less of a noble extremist cult leader and more of a deranged serial killer, so the "you're better than this" doesn't ring that true. How often does Erik have to almost kill Charles/let Charles get killed before he gives up on him.

At least he was rewarded for all his fairly one-sided friendship efforts with Erik's Charles-only flashback when thinking about things to live for (I'm paraphrasing here).

[benteen]

On ‎9‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 3:39 PM, VCRTracking said:

God, why did they delete this scene? When are studios going to realize audiences love the cute and funny character interactions in these superhero movies just as much if not more than the big battle scenes with actors screaming in the wind?

They definitely shouldn't have deleted it.  It's a fun scene that makes the Scott and Jean characters a little more likeable.  It's definitely a very 80s type scene.  Not only that but it reminded me a little of some of the "downtime" issues and moments that Chris Claremont would occasionally do during his run.  In the second issue of The New Mutants, the kids go to the mall and end up getting attacked by Sentinels.

[JessePinkman]

The first episode of the X-Men animated series involved Sentinels attacking Jubilee at the mall! It was incredible! #90skid

[Dandesun]

11 hours ago, xaxat said:

Between Fassbender/McAvoy and McKellen/Stewart, how many times has Charles given his "Eric! I can help you/you are better than this!" speech.

I swear it feels like every other movie. Good Magneto, Bad Magneto, Good Magneto. . . 

Take whatever that number is and multiply it by a thousand and you'll have an idea of how things go in comics continuity. Charles and Erik are the most extreme lovers ever. They're either trying to convince the other to join them and fight by their side (it's always by their side, it will never be 'we're going to take two teams and lead them on opposite sides of the world') or they're actively trying to kill each other because they WON'T join up and fight by their side.

It's all very 'if I can't have you, no one can!' I mean, it's fucked up but so are they.

32 minutes ago, JessePinkman said:

The first episode of the X-Men animated series involved Sentinels attacking Jubilee at the mall! It was incredible! #90skid

Jubilee's first appearance in the X-Men was at a mall. She ducked mall cops then followed the X-Women around as they got their hair done at the mall, got new outfits at the mall and then went to a strip club at the mall before Jubilee got attacked by some Ghostbusters knock-offs. It's exactly as 80s as it sounds.

[Wiendish Fitch]

All this talk about Erik's gift for getting second/third/fourth chances brings to mind another famous, fictional Erik: the Phantom of the Opera. Like Magneto!Erik, Phantom!Erik has a tragic backstory, does terrible things because he feels entitled, nurses grudges and obsessions, and longs to wreak vengeance against society, if not humanity.

The major difference is, Phantom!Erik somewhat redeems himself in the end, forgiveness is his reward... but that's it. He does not get the girl, he does not get to fight another day, he doesn't keep plotting revenge over and over ad nauseum. He still winds up alone, and on some level he knows he deserves to be. We are meant to sympathize with Phantom!Erik, but only to a point. Forgiveness is not synonymous with "free pass". Nothing, be it your dark and tragic past or someone else's forgiveness, gives you the right to keep wreaking havoc on others' lives, demanding that they owe you something. This is why (to my great relief), so many people loathed Andrew Lloyd Webber's toweringly ill-advised Phantom sequel, Love Never Dies. Seeing Phantom!Erik be just as big an asshole as before (if not an even bigger one) but be continually framed as a misunderstood woobie isn't entertaining, it's frustrating.

The X-Men movies, as much as I enjoy most of them, keep revisiting the same theme of trying to redeem Magneto!Erik and conveniently sweeping his horrible actions under the rug. Bear in mind: Magneto!Erik has repeatedly tried to commit genocide against humans. Never mind that all humans haven't hurt him or his own, never mind that a mutant, not a human, killed his mother, never mind that he has no compunction against using/hurting/killing other mutants to achieve his ends. Yet you'd swear all he did was run over a neighbor's mailbox.

The point of that tiresome, rather self-righteous rant is that it's time to give it a rest; yeah, Magneto!Erik is cool and all, but it's just getting ludicrously monotonous how the writers are so willing to just shrug off what he does. If the next X-Men film happens (honestly, I'm sort of hoping it doesn't), either forgo Magneto altogether as the main antagonist, or have Charles finally say, "Fuck this shit, man!" and dish out some well-deserved just desserts against his "old friend".

[benteen]

Shrugging off what Magneto has done is pretty much a stable of the X-Men comics.  They've had so many former enemies join the team.

I just wish Singer would move beyond Xavier and Magneto.  It's been six movies, enough.  The X-Men comics proved decades ago that they didn't need to have Magneto appear in every story.  The two most famous X-Men stories are Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Future Past.  Magneto doesn't appear in DPS and has the smallest of roles in DOFP.  I wish they'd try something different for the X-Men movies.  I always loved a good X-Men in space story for instance.

[FanOfDorks]

Quicksilver stole the show.  Nuff said.

[ketchuplover]

Wish the main baddie had forced everyone to walk like an Egyptian.  

[Lantern7]

Apocalypse gets the Honest Trailer treatment.

[Kel Varnsen]

On 10/07/2016 at 5:44 AM, Enero said:

We saw this last night. It had its moments, but overall it was just okay and was way too long. They could've cut about an hour and still been able to tell their story. The villian seemed like nothing more than a repeat of Imhotep in The Mummy, minus the love story. I found Mystique pointless. JLaw's acting wasn't helping. 

The best thing about this movie was Jean, Storm, Quicksliver - loved him rescuing people to Sweet Dreams, one of my favorite songs, :) and of course Magneto and Charles. McAvoy and Fassbender have wonderful chemistry. They would smolder just sitting in a scene reading the phone book to each other. That's one thing the producers for the X-men reboot got right, the casting of these two. 

I had to laugh when Wolverine showed up looking old enough to be everyone's father in the movie. I know, he is old enough to be all of their fathers but that still doesn't make it look good onscreen.  I feel like he wasn't needed here.

Yea i watched it last night and also felt it was too long. It was super slow at the start, there wasn't any real action  until Apocalypse attacked the mansion. It picked uo after that but the first hour and 20 minutes or so seemed like all boring set up. And the ancient Egypt scene at the beginning looked ridiculous, even by super hero movie standards.

I liked Wolverine showing up, but I had to laugh imagining Jackman basically saying "fine I'll be in your movie but i won't be doing any extra training for it so you get what you get". And thus you had a Jackman who wasn't anything close to the shape he was in in the last movie.

Then again Lawrence probably said something similar like "fine I'll be in your movie but don't get that blue makeup anywhere near me" and thus you had Jennifer Lawrence playing herself (eventhough the blueskin is now mostly CG).

Also wasn't sure the point of jumping to the 80's, the non-aging of everyone was annoying. I mean all the did was give Rose Byrne a middle aged lady haircut.

Edited January 15, 2017 by Kel Varnsen