X-Men Apocalypse

Foxtrol

Hercule Poirot wrote: »

This is a problem with superhero franchises in general, in order to make the villain villainous they bring in a minor character just for that film, have them killed off by the villain but the main cast remains untouched - like, Hawkeye left to be with his family, they could have killed him off so that Ultron would have had a lasting effect but no, the city comes down from the sky and the only hero to die is someone who we only met at the beginning of the film.

Given the aggressive foreshadowing of Hawkeye dying, I actually enjoyed the death of Quicksilver. Not only was it surprising but I think it helped the character development of Scarlet Witch. I don’t think there needs to be deaths for the sake of death, they need to help the narrative. I think the late death of Quicksilver has a much greater knock on to the ongoing story than Hawkeye would have.

When there is a death to cause menace it needs to be just that, menacing. For example, Apocalypse taking out Havoc should have been a lot more direct, rather than him being caught in his own explosion it should have been by Apocalypse’s own hands.

Hercule Poirot

Foxtrol wrote: »

Given the aggressive foreshadowing of Hawkeye dying, I actually enjoyed the death of Quicksilver. Not only was it surprising but I think it helped the character development of Scarlet Witch. I don’t think there needs to be deaths for the sake of death, they need to help the narrative. I think the late death of Quicksilver has a much greater knock on to the ongoing story than Hawkeye would have.

When there is a death to cause menace it needs to be just that, menacing. For example, Apocalypse taking out Havoc should have been a lot more direct, rather than him being caught in his own explosion it should have been by Apocalypse’s own hands.

I can't agree about Hawkeye, they had made such a point of all that he would lose that I never feared for his life - they went overboard with the forshadowing that it wasn't going to happen. I agree that Quicksilver's death wasn't completely pointless but I'm constantly underwhelmed with the fact that the heroes very rarely suffer the consequences of repeatedly saving the world, Iron Man's paranoia after the Avengers for the duration of one film and was suddenly forgotten about, there are no lasting consequences for any of the big guns

BMMachine

they are afraid to lose any of their stars in that film.
The best story they could make would have been Mystique getting killed by Apoc in that film BUT YOU CAN'T KILL JENNIFER LAWRENCE WHAT WILL PEOPLE THINK.

Limp

Foxtrol

Hercule Poirot wrote: »

I can't agree about Hawkeye, they had made such a point of all that he would lose that I never feared for his life - they went overboard with the forshadowing that it wasn't going to happen. I agree that Quicksilver's death wasn't completely pointless but I'm constantly underwhelmed with the fact that the heroes very rarely suffer the consequences of repeatedly saving the world, Iron Man's paranoia after the Avengers for the duration of one film and was suddenly forgotten about, there are no lasting consequences for any of the big guns

I agree consequences are an issue with the X-men universe (as I’ve said repeatedly on this thread, there seems to be no bigger picture plan between this trilogy) but you cant say that about MCU (aside from them not killing the big names).

I don’t want to totally drag the thread off topic but we see Iron Man’s paranoia in IM3 (all the suits), it drive him to build Ultron in AOU, which leads to his positioning and the events in Civil War, when he realises the damage his paranoia has done. It’s that building over movies which I appreciate and where X-Men sorely lacks (they cant even sort out the most basic continuity)

Penn

Just watched it there. Not a good film. Not terrible, but not good. Just... okay.

The JLaw pushing was ridiculous. From the trailers it was clear she'd be a big part of it, but f*ck me, mutants worshipping her as a hero? Nonsense.

Sophie Turner was weak as hell. Still don't like Quicksilver. Cyclops/Angel/Psylocke/Storm were all just so bland, both in terms of character and use of powers. Beast is good when he's actually Beast, just boring otherwise. Apocalypse was disappointing. Never felt too menacing. The introduction and death of Magnetos family was poorly done. And the insane amount of destruction caused by Magneto... why? Why not just keep the damage located to where they were? It added nothing to the story or film to show the Sydney Opera House or Golden Gate Bridge. And Stryker... f*ck sake have we not had enough of Stryker by now?

Then we have, once again, complete abandonment of continuity. Nobody has aged even slightly in 20 years (and Quicksilver has seemingly done absolutely nothing in 10 years, which given how slowly he perceives time must have felt like 100 years). Cyclops just gained his power (I guess he forgot about having destroyed his school with his powers and being rescued from Stryker by Prof.X and Wolverine back in the 70's). Even if we take it that DOFP changed the future enough that that didn't happen, still throws Cyclops' age and when he got his powers way off. Same with the ages of Angel and Nightcrawler.

There were some positives. I quite liked Nightcrawler surprisingly. McAvoy and Fassbender were good (though not a patch in their first class performances in First Class). Some of the action was well done and the final blast with pretty much everyone hitting Apocalypse with their powers was pretty cool.

But yeah... disappointing, and very slow for the first hour.

If they're going to do more X-Men films, they'd be better off ending continuity with Wolverine 3, rebooting the whole thing, and keep Deadpool as is so he can make jokes about the reboot.

SimonTemplar

Just saw it having rewatched DOFP yesterday. I don't think it is the disaster some reviews are saying but it is a significant drop in quality from the previous movie and definitely the worst of the Singer directed movies. There are some good individual scenes, such as Erik in the forest or Quicksilver's mansion rescue, but overall the film felt very plodding and lacking focus.

I haven't read the comics so I don't know Apocalypse's comic-book portrayal, but he had zero presence or charisma in this movie despite his seemingly unlimited power. I also didn't like how Magneto effectively became Apocalypse's henchman. Magneto, in the films anyway, was always either a lone wolf or a leader, so seeing him essentially serving the needs of another villain seemed a little off to me.

I actually really liked Lawrence's Raven in DOFT and felt she had a good story in that movie, but I definitely felt she was shoehorned into this movie just for the sake of it. I also think they could have developed the Jean/Phoenix storyline a bit more rather than the 'tick-the-box' expositional scenes we got before the final battle. When Jean finally did release her full potential, it should have been a great cathartic moment, but instead it just came across as another mutant using her powers and nothing more.

The greatest strength of this series, both the original and the prequel trilogies, has been the relationship between Charles and Erik. I wish this movie had less meaningless CGI destruction and focused more on that dynamic. The ending of Civil War had a more personal climax and I wish the same was true for this movie too.

razorblunt

pixelburp wrote: »

An all-powerful anybody is next to impossible to portray properly in a commercial-driven franchise; they can't put the heroes in any real peril thanks to the power and pull of the lead actors, so all those superpowered beings can do is stomp around and make grandiose threats. Thanos might look more imposing sure, but unless Marvel breaks the habit of Phases 1 & 2, I don't expect things to be any different in the MCU.

This sums it up very very neatly for me.
I'm not a comic book fan at al but I enjoy the "disengage brain, eat popcorn" nature of these movies, so I'm not tied to any character in any comic book movie really, but I'm sitting there waiting to be entertained as I already know that none of the "important" folk will be killed off.

I actually thought at one point we were going to see that in this movie I have to say.

I haven't seen DoFP, so this was my first time seeing Quicksilver and I have to say I liked him, not a huge fan of the actor but he was well suited to this.

Also fair dues to the fella from Eastenders.

allibastor

Saw this also,

Found it poor. Apocalypse was just wrong in every way. He never did the body swap in comics, and as powerful as he was he made sure he had people who had the skills he lacked. Here he just kind of pulled powers from his backside.

I thought the best bit was quicksilver, he was funny and scene was good.
I like Jlaw but fel the shoehorning was a bit much, much like wolverinehampton in the first few films.

The aging thing also is a bit of a let down, magneto must be 50+ in this one, considering he was what, 10-14, in first class?

Overall, not great!

Brief_Lives

Just watched it in an empty Madrid cinema last night..
Entertaining...surprisingly stronger end than start...
Fox really don't give a **** about the comics...

I hope McAvoy and Fassbinder continue their roles...

I hope Fassbender leaves to be honest. Magneto needs to not be in any for a while.

There was no need for him in the Apocalypse storyline, nor will there be in Sinister's (except maybe at the end with potentially

Savage Lands

Leave him out for an arc and return with House of M

pixelburp

pixelburp wrote: »

An all-powerful anybody is next to impossible to portray properly in a commercial-driven franchise; they can't put the heroes in any real peril thanks to the power and pull of the lead actors, so all those superpowered beings can do is stomp around and make grandiose threats. Thanos might look more imposing sure, but unless Marvel breaks the habit of Phases 1 & 2, I don't expect things to be any different in the MCU.

Given the contract expiration and likes of Evans wanting to retire I can see Infinity take its toll on the roster

CINCLANTFLT

I'd like to see more of Olivia Munn... mmmmmmm

CINCLANTFLT

CINCLANTFLT wrote: »

I'd like to see more of Olivia Munn... mmmmmmm

Google and you'll see plenty.

Don't know how she got an acting job, regardless of how she looks

CINCLANTFLT

Deleted User wrote: »

Google and you'll see plenty.

Don't know how she got an acting job, regardless of how she looks

I did...

Nervous Wreck

Deleted User wrote: »

Google and you'll see plenty.

Don't know how she got an acting job, regardless of how she looks

Munn is fantastic. The problem with Apocalypse was a shît script, poor direction, a lack of creative vision and a lazy approach to the genre.

BoJack Horseman

Forgive the resurection, Seen in the Gawkerverse a deleted scene that would have been fun to see in the slog that was the film

http://io9.gizmodo.com/deleted-mall-scene-shows-x-men-apocalypse-couldve-been-1786500550

There was fun to be had in this film, aside from Quicksilver we didn't get any.

pixelburp

While arguably it didn't add anything to the actual plot, that's a neat little scene that would have added tonnes of character, charm and pretty useful world-building into the film. The apathy / acceptance of the 80s teens towards Nightcrawler was a nice touch. A real shame it wasn't in the final cut because the theatrical version was utterly weighed down by an excess of PLOT.

constitutionus

that was actually fairly cracking.



and i agree, the film needed a bonding scene like that badly. i'd a rather that stayed in than some of the magneto stuff.

My personal favourite part was when Nightcrawler spun around on his tail.

isntlee

Let the franchise die, 20th Century Fox!

6 films and 2 duds, not the worst return.

helimachoptor

Watched this last night, awful.

Olivia Munn was the best part tbh

Raven Runner

helimachoptor wrote: »

Watched this last night, awful.

Olivia Munn was the best part tbh

She had no muscle definition what so ever

homerun_homer

Deleted User wrote: »

6 films and 2 duds, not the worst return.

I vote there are more than 2 duds. Last Stand is obviously the worsth but I've not been a fan of the prequel films but at least can leave my brain at the door and just enjoy it for what it's worth. But from a standpoint that X2 is the best X-Men movie, and continuity wise, the rest are pants. Also, don't forget the origins movies that were awful. They'd count as further duds.

helimachoptor wrote: »

Watched this last night, awful.

Olivia Munn was the best part tbh

She looks great but she barely features, and her instagram posts had more action on her part in practicing than she had in the whole film. Very disappointing that.