X-Men: Apocalypse (12A.)
Directed by Bryan Singer.
Starring Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Taylor, Rose Byrne and Oscar Issacs. 144 mins
With the X-men, everything changes yet everything stays the same. We're well into the second decade of X-Men movies and if they were a band I think we'd be remarking on how they have managed to stay so consistent despite numerous changes of personnel. Sure, some of the solo albums have been underwhelming, and their third album dipped badly on the second side, but for most part the quality has remained remarkably steady. They keep reinventing themselves and yet somehow sounding pretty much the same but always with enough big hits to make each album worthwhile. It's difficult to pick a favourite – if pushed I'd go for the light-hearted 60s pastiche of First Class. The problem with consistency though is that it gets taken for granted which may have happened here as Apocalypse has been hit by the proverbial critical backlash.
(I don't know if the music analogy really worked: the alternative was a football club whose manager was always able to replace departing players with as good or if not better replacements so that the style of play never changed.)
Knowing it had been received negatively in the states I have to admit I watched it in the way you watch X-Men 3: dreading the moment when it becomes rubbish. In Last Stand that was around the hour mark but here it never comes.
Apocalypse is a begin again effort, featuring none of the cast of the first installment, though with the same director. It is set in 1983 and has various new faces as the younger versions of characters from the first trilogy. All the originals are gone, though the original director is still in charge. You see that's how you do a prequel trilogy, you don't tell anyone you're doing it, you just get on and do it. The new kids all do pretty well – Tye Sheridan and Kodi Smit-McPhee are particularly impressive as Cyclops and Night Crawler. I have to say I wasn't so taken with Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, but I think that's because she is still too closely associated with the role of the dopey princess on Game of Thrones. It needs the fresh blood really as some of the longer lasting cast members are being to look a little bit antsy. McAvoy as Professor X, has at last been persuaded to get into the wheelchair, though he's hanging on to the hair, just like Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique has definitely been putting her foot down with regards to the amount of time she's prepared to prance around nude in blue skin paint.
The Marvel world can be a bit too soap opera at times but I think I've grown to like their convoluted family tree. I also like that these superheroes never seem to get to do any super heroics, spending the whole time bickering with each other. McAvoy is very good as Professor X, (better than in Days of Future Past, where the character seemed a bit off) but even as a member of the human race I am beginning to tire of his unfailing faith in us.
You always get the impression with X-men films that the special effects are taken from the draw one down from the top. The best moments here are the ones that exhibit a bit of invention and thought. Evan Peters returns as Quicksilver and he has an inspired set piece; the finale though is overlong and jumbled and involves too many psychics thinking hard at each other. The film's villain, a Mr Apocaylpse (Isaacs), is a bit of a dullard. An original mutant dating back thousands of years, he has God-like powers which he wants to employ to destroy the Earth. That's very unimaginative of him but I suppose if you're called Apocalypse you're gonna succumb to the nominative determinism of it all.
There are plenty of holes to pick in Apocalypse, but it's biggest problem is being the fourth major superhero film in just over three months. Yes, I think we're all a bit sick of them: we've seen it all before, and we've seen it all before in other X-Men movies. Still, I'd say the X-Men movies represent something close to the best of the comic book genre: they're inventive, heartfelt and funny. If you're going to start to look down on them then I think we've all been a little bit spoilt.
X-Men: Apocalypse (12A.)
Directed by Bryan Singer.
Starring Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Taylor, Rose Byrne and Oscar Issacs. 144 mins
With the X-men, everything changes yet everything stays the same. We're well into the second decade of X-Men movies and if they were a band I think we'd be remarking on how they have managed to stay so consistent despite numerous changes of personnel. Sure, some of the solo albums have been underwhelming, and their third album dipped badly on the second side, but for most part the quality has remained remarkably steady. They keep reinventing themselves and yet somehow sounding pretty much the same but always with enough big hits to make each album worthwhile. It's difficult to pick a favourite – if pushed I'd go for the light-hearted 60s pastiche of First Class. The problem with consistency though is that it gets taken for granted which may have happened here as Apocalypse has been hit by the proverbial critical backlash.
(I don't know if the music analogy really worked: the alternative was a football club whose manager was always able to replace departing players with as good or if not better replacements so that the style of play never changed.)
Knowing it had been received negatively in the states I have to admit I watched it in the way you watch X-Men 3: dreading the moment when it becomes rubbish. In Last Stand that was around the hour mark but here it never comes.
Apocalypse is a begin again effort, featuring none of the cast of the first installment, though with the same director. It is set in 1983 and has various new faces as the younger versions of characters from the first trilogy. All the originals are gone, though the original director is still in charge. You see that's how you do a prequel trilogy, you don't tell anyone you're doing it, you just get on and do it. The new kids all do pretty well – Tye Sheridan and Kodi Smit-McPhee are particularly impressive as Cyclops and Night Crawler. I have to say I wasn't so taken with Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, but I think that's because she is still too closely associated with the role of the dopey princess on Game of Thrones. It needs the fresh blood really as some of the longer lasting cast members are being to look a little bit antsy. McAvoy as Professor X, has at last been persuaded to get into the wheelchair, though he's hanging on to the hair, just like Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique has definitely been putting her foot down with regards to the amount of time she's prepared to prance around nude in blue skin paint.
The Marvel world can be a bit too soap opera at times but I think I've grown to like their convoluted family tree. I also like that these superheroes never seem to get to do any super heroics, spending the whole time bickering with each other. McAvoy is very good as Professor X, (better than in Days of Future Past, where the character seemed a bit off) but even as a member of the human race I am beginning to tire of his unfailing faith in us.
You always get the impression with X-men films that the special effects are taken from the draw one down from the top. The best moments here are the ones that exhibit a bit of invention and thought. Evan Peters returns as Quicksilver and he has an inspired set piece; the finale though is overlong and jumbled and involves too many psychics thinking hard at each other. The film's villain, a Mr Apocaylpse (Isaacs), is a bit of a dullard. An original mutant dating back thousands of years, he has God-like powers which he wants to employ to destroy the Earth. That's very unimaginative of him but I suppose if you're called Apocalypse you're gonna succumb to the nominative determinism of it all.
There are plenty of holes to pick in Apocalypse, but it's biggest problem is being the fourth major superhero film in just over three months. Yes, I think we're all a bit sick of them: we've seen it all before, and we've seen it all before in other X-Men movies. Still, I'd say the X-Men movies represent something close to the best of the comic book genre: they're inventive, heartfelt and funny. If you're going to start to look down on them then I think we've all been a little bit spoilt.
