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Thursday, June 2, 2016

X-Men Apocalypse - a movie review - warning spoilers

A little disjointed but overall I liked it.

It is solidly the middle ground between Avengers: Civil War and Batman verses Superman and has features of both.

1. no X-Men movie has started weak and this movie continues this tradition.  I loved the Stargate homage and yet again, you kind of wish this movie would have been the rise of apocalypse.

2.  Apocalypse:  This incredibly powerful character felt like a worldbuster even before he seduced Magneto and captured Xavier.  He was 2-dimensional, but that's hardly a surprise (honestly his best showings are in the fox x-men cartoon and the AoA storyarc of the 90's).  His main purpose was to be a planetary threat and he did it well.  and if you didn't hate him enough, he used the rage of Magneto's childhood to turn him.  My only complaint is he needed his pheromone control spelled out more and how it takes a very strong will to resist (which explains why Charles didn't fall in line and Magneto eventually turned back).

3. Quicksilver.  This is one of the good things that came out of the bitter divorce between Disney and Fox.  He has been established as a loser big brother to the team, and combining it with magneto being his father allows him to have a mentor role in the field despite being horribly unsuitable for it.  Plus he has great comedic timing even when he channelling his insane speeds effects.  They could easily do this on the cheap by having stuff move around him when they cut away if they want to show his super speed.

4. Charles and Erik:  These characters are arguably the heroes of the first class trilogy and it shows.   Erik has the absolute worst luck and makes bad choices, but he rallies (and seriously hoping he takes over his Michael Xavier role if Fassbender returns).   Charles is in a similar role.  Trying to keep his cynicism at bay while remaining optimism after what has happened really built up the character.  Plus kinda liked why Charles is Bald. :p.

5. Scott Summers:  I like Scott as the younger brother with a chip on his shoulder.  Alex worked better as an older character and his death hit a nerve with me.  plus he finally got a chance to show off why he's one of the better blasters in the x-universe.  Please do not mess t his up as you did with Rogue in the original trilogy. :(

6. Jean Gray:  Can we send the phoenix to Westveros and destroy it.  I am now completely convinced Sansa deserves better because her Jean Gray was phenomenal?

7. The Mutant Congaline:  One of the problems with this franchise is there is an embarrassment of riches.  Somebody is always going to be sidelined, even in a 2.5 hour movie.  Despite minimal screen time, Beast, Jubilee, Kurt, Storm and Psylocke were presented well.  Heck I liked their version of Caliban despite being nothing like the original character.

They needed to setup the core, and they did it successfully.

What I want in the future is an 80's type Goonie type adventure done where Scott, Jean, Kurt, Jubilation and Storm while big brother Pietro tries to keep them out of trouble in the Morlock tunnels.

Honestly, any future movie needs to do what the Steve Correll's Get Smart movie did.  Namely make a straight to dvd movie at the same time that tells a different story with the same cast.  It's a way to get away from the "Charles and Erik show" and to highlight other mutant characters.

Either that or do what marvel did and use the tv universe to enhance the movies and to allow different stories to be made.  It has recently come to my attention. that FX is doing a proteus movie.  While not  technically connected to the main universe, it has serious potential for future world building.

Heck youtube is also a place to expand the cast.  Recently they did two online clips.  one based on a 80's promotional video starring Jubilee that was point perfect and then an mtv therapy session where the kids talked about their issues and both were awesome.  If they released regular monthly vids on a shoestring budget to increase hype for their eventual movie release, it would improve box office bank.

Both Deadpool and Muppets have done so successfully and both have led me well. :p

Ultimately it's a fun romp that hopefully will lead to bigger and better things.

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