X-Men: Apocalypse – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Overview

Once again a mutant with a superiority complex shall rise, and Magneto will be a part of it because he is forbidden from having a truly happy ending.

Rating:
TV Viewing

Trigger Warning(s):
Blood (gore) & Body Horror

Characters Worth Noting

Charles Xavier/ Professor X (James McAvoy) | Magneto/Erik (Michael Fassbender) | Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) | Cyclops/ Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) | Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) | Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) | Storm (Alexandra Shipp)| Moira Mactaggert (Rose Byrne)

Main Storyline (with Commentary)

It’s a Marvel movie which isn’t part of the universe, so naturally it is a bit of a rehash of what we have seen before – just with better special effects. We have Charles building up his school, with Cyclops, Scott Summers, being one of his newest recruits, and of course, there is the introduction of Jean Grey. But, while Charles entertains himself with his new recruits, Magneto, Erik, is living in eastern Europe attempting some form of normalcy by trying to have a family. All the while, in Egypt, an ancient mutant named Apocalypse has risen, after being imprisoned since the days of the pharaohs, thanks to the idiocy of special agent Moira Macteggert. Thus setting everything into motion. Which basically leads to damn near everything you saw in the trailers, minus everyone introduced, sans Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), who makes a short appearance, ganging up on Apocalypse. Though until one famous mutant entity is unleashed, it seems even the collective powers of Cyclops, Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Magneto, and Professor X, would not be enough.

Review Summary

Highlights

To say Evan Peters should remain Quicksilver, like Hugh Jackman has remained Wolverine all these years, I think should be under contract. For while I feel like I’ve never really been a fan of Peter’s, it is hard to deny that he is one of the few highlights of the prequel films. Hence why, once again, they give him a slow motion sequence, rather longer than last time, to show off his comic ability and relieve us from the monotony of a sequel which often feels done just to wrap things up.

Though it is more of a “On the Fence” thing to say, I must admit the world of mutant looking at Mystique as Lawrence was looked at when she was Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, I thought was interesting. For while, as noted below, it isn’t executed to its fullest, towards the mid-point, or even end of the movie, you begin to see some depth in Lawrence’s performance and as the new crop of young actors look toward her, you do begin to feel something. In fact, between her, Xavier, and Erik, even with none of the characters really written to their full potential, due to how bloated this movie is, you may get a bit teary eyed.

Low Points

Apocalypse, as a villain, shows perhaps one of the main problems with the Marvel universe, especially in comparison to DC. To me, Marvel puts a strong focus on its heroes to the point where the villains often times seem like dummies just placed to make the hero seem all that more greater. That is in comparison to DC where, to me, their heroes are dull as dirt, but their villains are legendary. So with X-Men: Apocalypse, unfortunately, the villain is the forgettable Apocalypse whose main goal, outside of the destruction of the world, is that of Chucky in Child’s Play. In fact, considering he has others destroy the world for him, or try to, I’d say his main goal would be finding a new host for his consciousness. Which just seems a bit corny to me since here is this multi-millennia old mutant, yet his biggest worry, outside of taking advantage of mutants who are down on their luck, is finding a new host.

On The Fence

Perhaps a growing issue with Marvel films, if not comic book adaptations in general, especially the team based ones, is that they are so bloated with characters. Now, granted, did I like seeing Wolverine, Storm, and etc? Yes, of course. However, there comes a point where you question why are these characters here besides name recognition? In general, with this film, there isn’t a huge amount of development from character to character. One could argue Erik had something going on, since he had a wife and child in the film, but really that isn’t the case. For, at the end of the day, Magneto’s family is solely used, rather cheaply may I add, to give a reason for him turning into a villain once more. Then, with everyone else, there isn’t anything to really take note of. We don’t see anyone train to be X-Men, until the end of the film; yes, Mystique has become an international symbol of the mutant struggle, but we don’t see, over that 10 year jump, all that would make that mean something; and, in general, it seems the time between the last film and this one contains all the flavor and it got cut so the film could focus on Quicksilver having comic relief moments, a slew of mostly CGI action and the movie pretending Apocalypse was an actual interesting villain.