I don't quite understand why X-Men: Apocalypse isn't getting better critics' reviews. Is it truly the Jennifer Lawrence effect or is it genre fatigue or maybe comparison with Captain America: Civil War - which came out not a month ago from Apocalypse.
I don't quite understand because I found very little to complain about this movie, and applaud once again what Bryan Singer has done for this franchise. He can stay in this universe for as long as he wants in my opinion.
I believe one thing to really keep in mind while watching this movie is that the characters and stories are very separate from the source materials. For example, the character Apocalypse in this movie is more mortal than in the comic books as, right from the opening sequence in Egypt, he has been searching for immortality. After all, he was born human.
Also, some other iterations like the Summers brothers. In the comics, Scott was the elder one but in the movie, it's Alex.
But once again, the opening sequence action scenes set up the tone and pace for the movie. It's another brilliant fight sequence that was reminiscent of Days Of Future Past (nothing will ever beat that opening sequence for me).
And what I also immediately noticed from then on was the pacing. Singer knows how to pace these movies, cutting from one scene to the next. Things were always moving and always furthering the story.
The introduction of Storm was great as we now have a proper back story to the character that is very much like the comic books too. Nightcrawler was also very loyally represented. Psylocke as expected was the complete badass - something which I wished Mystique was in this franchise. But I would have liked to see more badass fight sequences with her.
Cyclops and Jean Grey were great addition and this being their first mission, they were treated very well. I also liked how Cyclops never got his code name in this movie because he was never a "cyclops". Perhaps only Angel that I wished had more to do in this movie. He didn't quite have that big of an impact after the dust has settled. Also, why didn't Singer just name him Archangel as we've already gotten another Angel in First Class.
Going in, I was also very hesitant about how Jennifer Lawrence was used because it looked like she was being pushed to the leadership role just because of the brand name of Lawrence. I was afraid her character development would be forced and uneven. But the way the story carried on from Days Of Future Past, I was very onboard with how Mystique turned out this time. As a character in this movie, I accepted who she was. If you were to compare her to the comic books, then no, it's a horrible turn of events.
There were a couple of things which didn't sit well with me. One was when Apocalypse started creating armour for his Horsemen, a scene which I didn't need to see. Another was what Magneto was doing up in the sky, which didn't quite make sense for him to be up there for so long instead of with Apocalypse.
And the last scene with Apocalypse as well was too quick and too convenient. I would admit that it would be difficult to defeat someone that powerful but I guess this was the next best way to end the movie.
And 20th Century Fox always messes up continuity issues and this was a big one. At the end of Days Of Future Past, it was Mystique that scooped Wolverine up from the river. Then why or how did Wolverine ended up with Stryker?
But my biggest problem came in the ending and here is where I need to go into SPOILER territory for a little bit.
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Magneto was set up so well in that his whole life he kept losing his family. I would have liked to see him not verge on the side of good again at the end.
Also, I did not like seeing Mystique taking up a teaching role in the school. She should not have been the last person we saw before rolling the credits. That, I believe, was the studio's horrible decision at shoving Lawrence down our throats.
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I really thought the trilogy finished strong. The storytelling didn't let me down, which I think is the most important when you decide to create this X-universe that is vastly different from the comic books. Everything that needed to make sense did. And that's all I'm asking for from the X-Men.
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