I figured instead of reviewing X-Men: Apocalypse I’d do a rundown of things I enjoyed from the film and what it helped setup for future X-Men films along the way.
To say this article will be filled with major spoilers from the film is an understatement, I know a lot of people hate movies to be ruined for them, so to avoid this I’m giving plenty of warnings here.
IF YOU DON’T WANT THIS FILM SPOILED STOP READING NOW!
LAST CHANCE!
Biggest standout scene in Apocalypse for me was Quicksilver‘s X-Mansion rescue scene, which oddly enough is one of the best sequences I’ve seen in a Marvel film and it kind of echoes things we saw in Deadpool. I’m actually curious how awesome an interaction between Peter and Wade might actually be down the line. It just might be the most comedic scene in a main lineup X-Men movie, and I kind of hope they do more of this.
The new cast is interesting I think Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey is sort of the standout of the newbies, and yes they are setting-up Phoenix big time, as Jean channels her to kill Apocalypse at the end of the film. Big yes, the Phoenix Saga is coming, but the bigger question will aliens and the Shi’ar Empire going to be involved in that film?
Cyclops is a iffy here and there, as there seems to be James Marsden impression at points which made me a bit nervous, as I hated his take on the character. I did like Scott in the end and should make fans of the character a lot happier this time around.
Nightcrawler was a little meek for my taste. I get he’s just getting used to being an X-Men, but I’m kind of regretting we got this X-Men Evolution version of the character. He’ll be around for a couple more films, so there is a lot of room to develop him to be a little more badass like in his solo comics.
My biggest problem is that Jubilee is again relegated to cameo territory, what is Bryan Singer’s problem with her? I would have loved to see her tagging-along to almost getting herself killed, basically the Rogue role in the original trilogy.
When it comes to Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen, the origin introduction sequence might be on par with the sentinels in Days of Future Past. I dug the hell out of it and it’s funny because Oscar Isaac isn’t even doing a thing during these scenes. However, I did seemingly notice that his technology does mimic the look of the Phalanx Covenant, this is most likely the cosmic connection Simon Kinberg had been teasing.
Considering, Josh Boone has confirmed that Phalanx alien Warlock will be apart of his film New Mutants, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine they factor into that film as well. It’s about damn time the X-Men finally tackle their cosmic material.
Apocalypse himself was a little too overpowered for a film like this and they might have been better served scaling back his powers a tad.
Magneto is clearly the best of the bunch, and has more of emotional investment in the film with the death of his daughter and wife. A key element to his further hatred of mankind, but was never explored in the films previously. Likely, yet another element of the David S. Goyer solo Magneto film folded into the First Class trilogy. I’m curious if he’ll be fully converted here or will just revert to default villain for the next film for convince.
Archangel has some interesting introduction scenes, but eventually becomes lost in the background as a character like this does.
Storm is kind of cool because she starts out as this street thief, possibly a nod to her involvement with the introduction of Gambit in the comics. She doesn’t get much to do here either and it’s shame because it’s one of the more interesting X-Men characters.
Psylocke, like Archangel has a cool introduction but is ultimately placed into the background, while I’d love to see a solo film it feels like she’ll have more supporting roles in the future. She’s directly connected to Caliban and the mutant underground, which I assume is The Morlocks. I’m curious if they’ll explore that further in a Gambit film, as there is obviously gangsters involved in the forced mutant cage fights.
The Weapon X reboot has to be the second coolest scene in the film, and Bryan Singer finally got Wolverine right and fans will love it. From his crazy feral 80’s hair to his Weapon X outfit he’s sporting, which might be one of the most comic book accurate things they’ve done since Deadpool‘s costume. We get to see Logan go full-berserker and hints to how brutal Wolverine 3 will potential be with it’s R-rating confirmed by producer Simon Kinberg.
This is my second favorite Wolverine scene, next to him facing the Yakuza in The Wolverine, I’m beyond excited to see what they’re going to do next.
Another interesting nod was the more traditional costumes and the danger room at the end of the film, I hope we get see them training in there in the next movie.
I’ve already talked about the end-credit scenes, so I won’t really go into that, but it’s setting-up films like Wolverine 3.
What did you think about the film, do you agree or have your own highlights or thoughts on characters?