Another year means another X-Men movie. With the success train of X-Men: Days of Futures Past still rolling in hot, many people spectated that X-Men: Apocalypse would be a great successor of the newly revised franchise and in short, it was. I’ll even go as far as to say this movie COULD have been better than Captain America Civil War. Now before you guys come knocking through my door with pitch forks and torches for saying something like this, let me explain what I understand so far about the new X-Men movie universe.
X-Men Movie Timeline
I remember walking out of Days of Futures Past thinking to myself
how I wasted hours of my life watching all the other X-Men movies prior to this
one (except X-Men: First Class) only
to have Bryan Singer (Director of Days of
Futures Past) slap me in the face and say “Yo! I’ve rewritten history
because I can, so suck it!” I have never
walked out of a movie theatre enjoying an X-Men movie so much yet feeling
betrayed and loving the fact that it was done so well. It also left me thinking how this cinematic
universe worked, seeing as everything was linear until the past was rewritten in
the aftermath of this movie. The
official CASUALties timeline shown below is what we thought was going to exist
after Days of Futures Past.
This new timeline is supported
primarily over the fact that Jean was seen to be discovered by Xavier at an
older age while X-Men Apocalypse shows
us that Jean was already at the School for the Gifted long before Xavier lost
his gorgeous long locks. Should this new
timeline bother anyone? In all honesty,
no because it gives way to a possibly better built X-Men universe 20th
Century Fox needed to be able to compete with the Marvel Cinematic
Universe.
Does this new timeline bother
me? Naaaaahhhhhh *cries internally because wasting my life watching every other
X-Men movie was so worth it.
It is worth noting that just because the old timeline is labeled as "not relevant" does not mean that they can not still be enjoyed. They are labeled as such because the new timeline does not support their existence at all, at this moment (Singer may possibly do something else later on or someone else may bring these events up again).
X-Men: Apocalypse Thoughts
The movie as a whole was not
terrible but suffered to get me invested as a whole like Days of Futures Past did.
When you compare these two movies side by side, the obvious flaw becomes
that the story of the character we follow in DOFP is given more detail and makes us care for the cause of his
journey while Apocalypse makes us
follow a group of young heroes who we don’t begin to care about till about half
way towards the movie. Many components
of Apocalypse work in their favor,
such as plot development, character build up, a great supporting cast and a
reason to care deeply for a suppose villain but suffers from holes that mainly
ruin the pacing and tone of the movie.
What Works
Before I begin to praise the
exception work they did with Magneto, let me begin by praising its character
development found elsewhere. The rest of
the main cast was given unique personalities that borrowed from the comics
(Young Scott being a rebellious kid trying to appeal to Jean Grey) giving fans
a very appropriate nod from the days of X-Men:
Evolution. From Scott Summers, to
Kurt Wagner everyone shined when it came to moving the plot forward and
interacting with one another. Serious
scenes were also given darker textures and the movie did not shy away from
starting out violently and carrying it throughout the movie (I understand there
are much harsher punishments out there but having people suffocate after being
engulfed in cement is uncomfortable to say the least). The movie shined brightest when it dealt with
the contents of Apocalypse’s plan, giving us details of why things progressed
the way they did in an evenly distributed manner. Every action connected itself to another well
enough that it felt like everything felt appropriate. Xavier sense a disturbance, we are then sent
back to Egypt and see Apocalypse learn of the new word, then sent back to
Xavier where he meets up with an ex-lover to gather information about the
disturbance and how Apocalypse plans to rally “the 4 horsemen” and then sent
back to Egypt where we see Apocalypse’s first follower. For the most part everything flows well
enough into the next scene giving the audience enough of a reason to stay
invested into the plot (this is more up to taste seeing as how some individuals
may not actually like how the story progresses). The biggest and most unique aspect of the
movie came in the form of Magneto’s development.
Back in DOFP
we got to see Magneto as a power hungry mutant wanting to show humanity where
they stand among mutants. The fact that
Magneto was depicted here as a human being wanting to right his wrongs and
start anew only to have it all be taken away after doing a good deeds makes me
feel for this misunderstood villain. For
those that may not know, Magneto can be described as the most misunderstood
(popular) mutant in the Marvel Universe, having been not only a persecuted Jew
who lost his parents during the holocaust but also an experimented, used and
persecuted mutant. Looking at him with
all his conflicts and obstacles, you may feel for the guy and begin to
understand why he joined Apocalypse’s side at the beginning. The movie gave Magneto a purpose in this
story, and showed us a better understanding of how mutants are seen in this
society and the effect it has on those that live outside with normal
humans. It is personally my favorite
aspect of the entire movie and one that should not be overlooked.
What Didn’t Work
You’re eating a chocolate chip
cookie. Everything you expect out of one
is in it, warm gooey center, melted chocolate chips and as you tear into one,
you see the long stretch of chocolate split from both halves of the
cookie. You dig into the first bite and
there is no surprise, you are enjoying the crap out of that cookie. You take a second bite…and then you big into
a walnut. You ask yourself, “hang on…when
did this come into the game?” Slightly
disturbed you chomp on a third bite, this time you get a little bit more of the
walnut with the satisfying taste, but you can still enjoy the cookie. Looking back at the movie, the entire
progression of the movie was like digging into this cookie. After enjoying the events of what was DOFP, this movie gave us the same tone
we all wanted to see from an X-Men movie, a side from these individuals that
was troubled and got to see their troubles as mutants first hand instead of
from flashbacks or explanations. Where
it suffered lied in its attempt to make humor where it didn’t belong. As much as people will come after me for
saying this, the Quicksilver scene probably had the worst placement when it
came to tone in the entire movie (although it was enjoyable). Finding out the true potential of Apocalypse
and seeing him topple Xavier and Havoc easily gave a sense of hopeless and disparity. This was ruined after the audience was
treated to a quick musical scene of Quicksilver saving all the students and
teachers from the exploding school after Havoc misfired and blew up the
plane. This isn’t to say the scene was
terrible, it simply did not fit and the movie continuously followed this pattern. Badly placed humor barely gave it enough time
to let the jokes settle in causing for some slightly unsettling moments where I
personally did not know what to feel.
This isn’t to say some of the humor was bad (When Jean admitted that
every third installment was terrible it made me chuckle because it hinted at a
certain something *ahem*) just better
placement and transitions would have been appreciated.
Unfortunately the scene that had
many excited failed to make a great impression (personally). When Hugh Jackman was announced to make a
cameo in this movie, many were excited and speculating him to appear as the
experimental version of Wolverine, hungry for blood and dawning the yellow and
black suit.
The speculation, to my
understanding, also led some to believe that this cameo was going to add to the
story in some sort of way. This wasn’t
the case unfortunately and only part of the speculation was proven true. I am not going to say this scene was terrible
primarily because it is all up to opinion and how people personally like to see
their heroes on screen, but having the Wolverine appear and be so insignificant
in this movie almost made it scene unnecessary.
Yes we got to see some savage kills and blood stained walls but his
appearance seemed to have no effect in the story. Besides helping as a distraction, Wolverine
seemed very insignificant in his appearance which makes this something I see
personally as not fitting within this movie.
Possibly in the future installments we will get an explanation of where
he wants after Jean cleared his mind and was set free.
What it all Means
As inconsistent as it may have
seen X-Men Apocalypse was enjoyable
and a great addition to the new X-Men universe.
We are finally getting a fitting X-Men cinematic universe that goes away
with the “cheese” the original three gave us, and is handing us a very refined
and original universe that is inspired by classic X-Men story lines. As bothered as I was watching DOFP completely alter the original timeline
and give us the “happy ending” they all wanted, setting up the new cinematic
universe is probably the best idea 20th Century Fox has had in a
while, allowing for more installments with a refreshing taste for the
audiences. A new cast, new stories and multiple
other X-Men movies in the works, enjoyed by us while Singer hides the original
timeline like it never happened. Good
Job Singer, if only more people became aware of how mad of a genius you really
are.
