[SPOILER THREAD] X-Men: Apocalypse
- Thread starter George Oscar Bluth II
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DOFP set it up so they could basically retcon whatever they want, but still keep whatever they want from the original X-men movies. they can pick and choose because fuck it maybe something happened eventually but slightly differently.
The only thing that gets iffy at this point are the characters ages
The only thing that gets iffy at this point are the characters ages
Well, it was strongly rumored and then Patrick Stewart tweeted about Wolverine 3, calling it the "worst kept secret".
TransTrender
Gold Member
Any estimates on how many millions of people Magneto killed?
Why was he allowed to live or even walk away after all that went down?
Why was he allowed to live or even walk away after all that went down?
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
It's like people forget Simon Kinberg wrote X3.
Suspension of disbelief. Comic books man
TransTrender
Gold Member
Well I forget how that movie ended (only saw it one dreadful time) so I'm guessing the Magneto character walked away in that one too?
TransTrender
Gold Member
It was rather ludicrous. At a bare minimum his mind should have been wiped clean and then brainwashed into being a good guy so he can try to do some good. Another thought is that he shouldn't be able to live with himself and just kills himself. The last way is that he gets killed.
He is now the worst person that ever existed and he walked away from it all.
FUBAR McDangles
Member
He was injected with the serum that took away his powers. Let go after that because he is a frail old man without powers.
Last shot is him reaching toward a metal chess piece and it shaking a bit when his hand got close.
Which is idiotic...
"Hey he doesn't have powers anymore. Do we still arrest him?"
"Why would we do that?"
"To, y'know, pay for his crimes?"
"What a silly notion. Let him go!"
Reptars Revenge
Member
The scenes with quicksilver are amazing. By far the best live action speedster scenes. Glad to see they are bringing up the Phoenix again so soon and fix what went wrong with X Men 3 and that story arc.
roflwaffles
Member
So it's basically a comic book.
Btw I agree with you - they kind of redeemed him too fast and having him and Professor X on such good terms at the end of the movie was a bit jarring. There's like no animosity at all between them at the end of that scene.
Then again, what could they really do? Xavier isn't gonna fuck with his brain because he's Erik, prison is lulzworthy with how powerful he is, and assuming that he didn't kill mutants, he probably doesn't feel that much grief over his act.
Man of Steel got torched for that (and rightfully so),
This movie was ass. Totally airless.
Did Olivia Munn have even a single line after she got recruited? Why was she there, what does she want, am I supposed to be worried about her escaping at the end?
Also Apocalypse was an idiot. Went to recruit the four most powerful mutants and settled on literally the first mutant he met, and then the not-even-undefeated champ of an underground wrestling ring? Embarrassing.
I cringed so fucking hard at that Star Wars bit.
Or she just bought some bleach.
Did Olivia Munn have even a single line after she got recruited? Why was she there, what does she want, am I supposed to be worried about her escaping at the end?
Also Apocalypse was an idiot. Went to recruit the four most powerful mutants and settled on literally the first mutant he met, and then the not-even-undefeated champ of an underground wrestling ring? Embarrassing.
I cringed so fucking hard at that Star Wars bit.
Or she just bought some bleach.
broncobuster
Banned
I like First Class and love DoFP. Apocalypse is so-so, below both, and with strangely wheels-spinning plotting. It shares many of the problems of Age of Ultron, although this is the better and more entertaining of the two. Disappointing coming from Singer and as an entry in this "new" trilogy.
Assorted thoughts. Quicksilver continues to be a very fun character but dragging out the Magneto's son angle is strange. Two of the four horsemen are...there, other two are Magneto and Storm, who is also sort of there. Honestly, the horsemen from the prologue made a greater impact. Stryker/Wolverine subplot is fun to watch but random. Ending it in the danger room with the costumes is weak. Havok looks like the younger brother, and he's nearing 40 by now. Apocalypse taking on everybody at the end was novel and fun.
Assorted thoughts. Quicksilver continues to be a very fun character but dragging out the Magneto's son angle is strange. Two of the four horsemen are...there, other two are Magneto and Storm, who is also sort of there. Honestly, the horsemen from the prologue made a greater impact. Stryker/Wolverine subplot is fun to watch but random. Ending it in the danger room with the costumes is weak. Havok looks like the younger brother, and he's nearing 40 by now. Apocalypse taking on everybody at the end was novel and fun.
broncobuster
Banned
It was something like 99% successful, thanks to his telekinesis horseman. In the '80s the sun hitting the pyramid finished the process. Healing factor bloke is Oscar Isaac. OG Apocalypse is another actor.
roflwaffles
Member
This feels incredibly like Age of Ultron, but I thought this was worse by a fair margin. I don't even like AoU.
Both really only have one good scene - Ultron has the party banter and Apocalypse has Magneto losing his family. The former feels natural while the latter feels like a forced plot device though.
Lights and Waves
Member
I LOVED it! The new X-men were perfect!
When they appeared at the very end with the 90's costumes
When they appeared at the very end with the 90's costumes
Unspeakable Evil
Member
Huh I just realized nobody ever refers to Storm by name. I'm not sure making Storm a Horseman a good call.
MisterHero
Super Member
Charles knows the world may need someone as powerful as Magneto to protect it someday.* Is keeping ignoring justice and keeping Mags alive worth the world's security? That could be an interesting question (this movie doesn't even hint at asking though).
there is an irony in him wiping out concentration camps and being the cause of worldwide death
*I was going to be sarcastic with this response, but he does remember the bad future of DoFP.
TransTrender
Gold Member
That's the thing though. I'm sure millions of mutants also died because his destruction was global and indiscriminate. He should feel like the worst person on Earth because he just did something soo much worse than the Nazis and also murdered millions of the same people he wanted to save at one point.
roflwaffles
Member
Yeah I dunno. Bad writing lol.
godhandiscen
There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
This movie was shit. I regret watching it.
The scene with Wolverine was so bad.
The scene with Wolverine was so bad.
TransTrender
Gold Member
I agree. Didn't like it and probably won't make an effort to see it again. I could make a long post about all the issues but I won't because I'm on mobile and it's a pain in the ass.
Also I laughed out loud and said, "At least he's wearing pants this time" when he bolted out to the forest. Soo awkward, bad, random, campy. Instant flashbacks of the shit Origins movie.
It's a totally fine idea. They just sorta did fuck-all with it. The only bit of character she has is at the start when she meets Apocalypse, and in the final battle. Everything in-between? Total non-character.
I feel like they didn't really do much with any of the characters, though it was nice to see them not do Cyclops dirty, and hopefully it stays that way.
Thinking about it, it's kind of lame that they used Apocalypse as a reason to form the X-Men, versus him being a threat to an established team down the line.
Also fuck Mystique in these movies holy shit. I hate how they shove her down our throats
Thinking about it, it's kind of lame that they used Apocalypse as a reason to form the X-Men, versus him being a threat to an established team down the line.
Also fuck Mystique in these movies holy shit. I hate how they shove her down our throats
Of course. Why wouldn't he be, Jean is stronger than he is and he just woke up for a period Of time where he was the strongest mutant ever.
Oh word I missed that.
How silly was it that Moira just accidentally triggered him waking up tho. How was it that cult just never happened to open the hatch at the right time of day to sun the pyramid up??
Discotheque
Banned
I loved the first half of the film but around when apocalypse is chilling with the 4 horsemen and xavier onwards I wasn't feeling it. The quality of the film kind of plummeted from there on out.
First half though is the x-men movie I expect from singer, which I love. Fassbender got to stretch his chops a bit with the family scenes which was great. I was worried about the new cast members, particularly sansa, but they were all fine. She was awkward as shit in the trailers but they used a different take in the film and she doesn't stand out badly now. Nightcrawler definitely was the best though, dude nailed the alan cumming take on kurt 100%
Seeing all the x-men use their powers was dope but it just got really hokey when they were heading to Egypt. Was not feeling it outside of the magneto/xavier flashback, quicksilver beating on apocalypse (god damn it's like singer pretty much owns speedster action at the moment) and the phoenix scene.
But man the pacing just plummets off a cliff after quicksilver rescues them. Speaking of which it got such a big audience pop in the theaters when you saw the bee flying in slow-mo and all of a sudden sweet dreams starts. Great moment.
Trailers and interviews mislead us all into thinking this was going to be mystique's film but to me it felt like there was no focal character in here. Screentime was spread out pretty evenly for the kids, mystique, magneto, apoc and xavier. So that was nice but still jennifer lawrence is clearly giving no fucks lmao, please drop her from the films.
It's not a bad movie, it's not great either. One thing I noticed big time between this third act, Age of Ultron and Batman v Superman's finale is that they all feel like live action translations of cartoons (this felt like a 90s xmen episode by the end of it, Batman V Superman reminded me a lot of DCAU)
it's a fine direction to take for fans of that but it doesn't make for particularly good action movies imo.
a few other quick thoughts
- holy shit the opening was so good, the 1999 mummy movie with a mutant twist
- singer xmens have such good opening credits (that zoom-in to the credits was such a trip, and that epic music omg), props to him and jon ottman (who brought it big time with the music, loved hearing xavier's theme in here a few times)
- cyclops power is very visceral in here, they've punched up his optic blast compared to the old films
- intro to cyclops and jean was good.
- 90s xmen franchise has potential with this team, quicksilver and nightcrawler especially.
- kinberg really needs some co-writers. really sucks that you see dougherty and harris' names in the credits for story only. this could have been really tight if they stayed to write too.
if it kept up the quality of the first half i'd put it over first class easily (but well below x2 and dofp), but nah it feels like a poorly written slog by the end of the film. first class wasn't particularly great imo but it was at least consistent.
6/10. jon ottman da gawd
First half though is the x-men movie I expect from singer, which I love. Fassbender got to stretch his chops a bit with the family scenes which was great. I was worried about the new cast members, particularly sansa, but they were all fine. She was awkward as shit in the trailers but they used a different take in the film and she doesn't stand out badly now. Nightcrawler definitely was the best though, dude nailed the alan cumming take on kurt 100%
Seeing all the x-men use their powers was dope but it just got really hokey when they were heading to Egypt. Was not feeling it outside of the magneto/xavier flashback, quicksilver beating on apocalypse (god damn it's like singer pretty much owns speedster action at the moment) and the phoenix scene.
But man the pacing just plummets off a cliff after quicksilver rescues them. Speaking of which it got such a big audience pop in the theaters when you saw the bee flying in slow-mo and all of a sudden sweet dreams starts. Great moment.
Trailers and interviews mislead us all into thinking this was going to be mystique's film but to me it felt like there was no focal character in here. Screentime was spread out pretty evenly for the kids, mystique, magneto, apoc and xavier. So that was nice but still jennifer lawrence is clearly giving no fucks lmao, please drop her from the films.
It's not a bad movie, it's not great either. One thing I noticed big time between this third act, Age of Ultron and Batman v Superman's finale is that they all feel like live action translations of cartoons (this felt like a 90s xmen episode by the end of it, Batman V Superman reminded me a lot of DCAU)
it's a fine direction to take for fans of that but it doesn't make for particularly good action movies imo.
a few other quick thoughts
- holy shit the opening was so good, the 1999 mummy movie with a mutant twist
- singer xmens have such good opening credits (that zoom-in to the credits was such a trip, and that epic music omg), props to him and jon ottman (who brought it big time with the music, loved hearing xavier's theme in here a few times)
- cyclops power is very visceral in here, they've punched up his optic blast compared to the old films
- intro to cyclops and jean was good.
- 90s xmen franchise has potential with this team, quicksilver and nightcrawler especially.
- kinberg really needs some co-writers. really sucks that you see dougherty and harris' names in the credits for story only. this could have been really tight if they stayed to write too.
if it kept up the quality of the first half i'd put it over first class easily (but well below x2 and dofp), but nah it feels like a poorly written slog by the end of the film. first class wasn't particularly great imo but it was at least consistent.
6/10. jon ottman da gawd
Discotheque
Banned
man the gall of that scene. magneto destroying it was a bold move and I thought it was a cool move to take with the character, but seeing a bunch of comic book characters standing behind him as he does it was absurd lol.
unpopularblargh
Member
It reminded me of something Mark Millar would do. So not good.
The way Apocalypse teleported between locations with his colourful entourage reminded me a bit too much of Power Rangers. Came off as very jarring in certain scenes.
This has to be the most inconsistent film Singer has made. Hard to believe this is the same director as DofP or X2.
catashtrophe
Member
I wish they used a different villain completely in this 3rd film, Omega Red, Juggernaut, anyone I dont care or even had Mr Sinister in this setting things up then bring in Apocalypse (fully CGI) later down the line in a 2 part epic Age of Apocalypse movie.
Best X-men villain ever just wasted like that, cant believe Singer basically copied the MCU villain template and shitted on Apocalypse like that.
Best X-men villain ever just wasted like that, cant believe Singer basically copied the MCU villain template and shitted on Apocalypse like that.
TransTrender
Gold Member
Anyone else notice that Psylocke's costume kinda felt out of place compared to the rest of the refreshed-but-still-look-oldschool stuff that everyone else had? The movie had the most badass costumes I have seen in a long time on nearly every character except hers. It's like they did one rough draft and called it a day.
Thanks for posting the link to the podcast.
Listening to his reasoning, I am just sitting here calling BS. It makes no sense to me.
roflwaffles
Member
It reminded me of something Zack Snyder would do, especially with the visuals of the tendrils ripping out of the buildings.
Magneto was long overdue for a visual overhaul (like most things in this series) of his powers, and they tried to do it in this movie but it just didn't look good to me.
Saw it earlier today. It was alright. Not as good as First Class or DoFP, but enjoyable all the same.
Sophie Turner was great as Jean. She was probably one of the highlights of the movie for me, because she was convincing as someone who isn't sure of her own strength but still has courage and temerity when the going gets tough. Going into the final battle, I don't think it was obvious that Jean would be the one to get the killing blow, but as soon as the movie indicated it was going to fall to Jean to save the day, it was obvious that Phoenix was showing up.
Sheridan's performance as Scott was pretty good, as were Smit-MacPhee and Peters as Nightcrawler and Quicksilver (although that mansion explosion scene was too drawn out and just struck me as more stupid than funny). I feel like the younger mutants had good chemistry with one another. Shame they are still of the mind that Jubilee is to be seen and not heard.
McAvoy and Byrne did good work, but Fassbender was definitely not used to the greatest extent. His performance in the first part of the movie is quite strong, for sure, but once he teams up with Apocalypse, the luster fades altogether. The whole "dead wife and daughter, go kill the humans" motivation was pretty transparent as far as plots go. It has hard to stay interested in Magneto's "redemption" when we've been down this road before.
On a related note - Horsemen were LAME. Angel being a pit fighter seemed like an interesting enough premise, and the wounded wing was the right "in" Apocalypse needed, but I would have liked to see him get more aggressive and vicious, to really bring out a darker personality after his transformation. Storm and Magneto were just spinning their wheels, to be honest, and don't even get me started on Psylocke. There was nothing there. Olivia Munn could have been given a lot more to work with, but alas, it was not to be. And Apocalypse was... decent, I guess? I should have more to say about him, but I just do not.
All in all, I think the good outweighs the bad, but I definitely would not go to see it a second time in theaters.
Sophie Turner was great as Jean. She was probably one of the highlights of the movie for me, because she was convincing as someone who isn't sure of her own strength but still has courage and temerity when the going gets tough. Going into the final battle, I don't think it was obvious that Jean would be the one to get the killing blow, but as soon as the movie indicated it was going to fall to Jean to save the day, it was obvious that Phoenix was showing up.
Sheridan's performance as Scott was pretty good, as were Smit-MacPhee and Peters as Nightcrawler and Quicksilver (although that mansion explosion scene was too drawn out and just struck me as more stupid than funny). I feel like the younger mutants had good chemistry with one another. Shame they are still of the mind that Jubilee is to be seen and not heard.
McAvoy and Byrne did good work, but Fassbender was definitely not used to the greatest extent. His performance in the first part of the movie is quite strong, for sure, but once he teams up with Apocalypse, the luster fades altogether. The whole "dead wife and daughter, go kill the humans" motivation was pretty transparent as far as plots go. It has hard to stay interested in Magneto's "redemption" when we've been down this road before.
On a related note - Horsemen were LAME. Angel being a pit fighter seemed like an interesting enough premise, and the wounded wing was the right "in" Apocalypse needed, but I would have liked to see him get more aggressive and vicious, to really bring out a darker personality after his transformation. Storm and Magneto were just spinning their wheels, to be honest, and don't even get me started on Psylocke. There was nothing there. Olivia Munn could have been given a lot more to work with, but alas, it was not to be. And Apocalypse was... decent, I guess? I should have more to say about him, but I just do not.
All in all, I think the good outweighs the bad, but I definitely would not go to see it a second time in theaters.
BassForever
Member
It's weird the film gets a lot right where I look forward to more of these xmen but the film itself is okay at best. This is a segue film that for some reason has a top tier threat level villain in it. Apocalypse needed at least two films, or at least a far better established cast of main xmen and the film to largely focus on him and people constantly failing to stop him.
I can now see this being a thing in X-Men movies. The audience reaction is loving it, so Quicksilver will have his slo-mo action scene like a music video in every movie now.
I think in isolation the Quicksilver scene is fun, but I really dislike how it has become some sort of gimmick formula now. The only reason the scene exists the way it does is because they know the audience liked the one in DoFP and wanted to recreate something similar due to expectations. I feel that's the worst possible way creatively to approach a scene in a narrative work. It's the literal definition of pandering fanservice.
roflwaffles
Member
God I hope they don't.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
Easy to believe it's the same guy as Superman Returns and Jack the Giant Killer, though.
I totally understand where your coming from (nothing wrong with fan service) but I feel like if they did something like this again in the next movie it would be too much.
Bobby Roberts
Banned
I completely forgot it when I wrote my review, otherwise I'd have referenced it.
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