This year has been a host to multiple superhero movies, from several different studios. If you're reading this, you probably say Batman Vs. Superman, and Civil War. I am making a rather bold statement that X- Men Apocalypse is an all around better movie than both of those pictures.
Our story begins in ancient Egypt, with an altogether menacing scene. I don't really know what it was, but Singer & Co. did an excellent job portraying Apocalypse's power and menace through the cold open. Apocalypse is ultimately buried alive, by a collapsing pyramid, and the movie moves on.
What follows is one of the most engaging opening credit animations I have ever laid eyes on. The camera moves down a tunnel or vortex of some sort, while passing landmark references to important historical events. A swastika here, a sickle and hammer there, and TADA! we are now at present day.
One really enjoyable thing about this movie was its rising action, which may have been more enticing than the film's finale. Much of this hour long period was spent recruiting. Mystique finding heroes, and apocalypse finding his four horsemen. Something distinctly magnificent about this leg of the story is how diverse the heroes backgrounds are. You have Scott Summers, a High School student, Angel and Night- crawler, enslaved cage fighters in Germany, and Storm, a young Egyptian street thief. While not every character has an equally progressive development, you do get a good sense of who they are, and where they come from.
Angel, who is more or less silent throughout the film, undergoes an astonishing transformation at the hand of Apocalypse; metal wings erupting from his back, while "Four Horsemen" by Metallica plays powerfully. This was a stylistically brilliant scene.
Another such instance, is Apocalypse's seizure of cerebro. The Credit for this goes to James Mcavoy, who expertly broadcast through dialogue, but mostly facial expression just how powerless he was. The world's strongest psychic, with a computer amplified ability, is still nothing against the mighty El Shabah Nur.
These scenes are all spectacular, but what really ties the movie together is the underlying political tone. This is not as strong as those of "First Class" which centered around the Cuban Missile crisis, and Days of Future Past, which centers upon Nixonian America, and even explains the issue behind the famous Watergate tapes. This time around the subject is "superpowers", the global kind that is. Ironic, I know, considering the franchise's subject matter. Early after his reawakening, Apocalypse discovers how the world has come to be dominated by a few extremely powerful countries, and the state of Mutually Assured Destruction that the population now lives in, because of he existence of nuclear weapons. Interestingly, instead of launching them into earth which would indubitably complete his goal of tearing down the current world order, he launches them into the stratosphere.
If there is a drawback to "Apocalypse" then it would be the lack of character development. Many heroes are brought into the equation, and the movie is unable to address a subplot for all of them. Personally, this isn't a big deal, because Magneto's backstory is extremely powerful, but I understand why this will turn some people off to the movie.
While shirking on some storytelling aspects, Singer completely nails what I believe to be the most important aspect of film making, especially in this genre: Aesthetic. While not necessarily well combined this movie is a collection of decidedly epic scenes, that make it a cinematic force to be reckoned with.
Our story begins in ancient Egypt, with an altogether menacing scene. I don't really know what it was, but Singer & Co. did an excellent job portraying Apocalypse's power and menace through the cold open. Apocalypse is ultimately buried alive, by a collapsing pyramid, and the movie moves on.
What follows is one of the most engaging opening credit animations I have ever laid eyes on. The camera moves down a tunnel or vortex of some sort, while passing landmark references to important historical events. A swastika here, a sickle and hammer there, and TADA! we are now at present day.
One really enjoyable thing about this movie was its rising action, which may have been more enticing than the film's finale. Much of this hour long period was spent recruiting. Mystique finding heroes, and apocalypse finding his four horsemen. Something distinctly magnificent about this leg of the story is how diverse the heroes backgrounds are. You have Scott Summers, a High School student, Angel and Night- crawler, enslaved cage fighters in Germany, and Storm, a young Egyptian street thief. While not every character has an equally progressive development, you do get a good sense of who they are, and where they come from.
Angel, who is more or less silent throughout the film, undergoes an astonishing transformation at the hand of Apocalypse; metal wings erupting from his back, while "Four Horsemen" by Metallica plays powerfully. This was a stylistically brilliant scene.
Another such instance, is Apocalypse's seizure of cerebro. The Credit for this goes to James Mcavoy, who expertly broadcast through dialogue, but mostly facial expression just how powerless he was. The world's strongest psychic, with a computer amplified ability, is still nothing against the mighty El Shabah Nur.
These scenes are all spectacular, but what really ties the movie together is the underlying political tone. This is not as strong as those of "First Class" which centered around the Cuban Missile crisis, and Days of Future Past, which centers upon Nixonian America, and even explains the issue behind the famous Watergate tapes. This time around the subject is "superpowers", the global kind that is. Ironic, I know, considering the franchise's subject matter. Early after his reawakening, Apocalypse discovers how the world has come to be dominated by a few extremely powerful countries, and the state of Mutually Assured Destruction that the population now lives in, because of he existence of nuclear weapons. Interestingly, instead of launching them into earth which would indubitably complete his goal of tearing down the current world order, he launches them into the stratosphere.
If there is a drawback to "Apocalypse" then it would be the lack of character development. Many heroes are brought into the equation, and the movie is unable to address a subplot for all of them. Personally, this isn't a big deal, because Magneto's backstory is extremely powerful, but I understand why this will turn some people off to the movie.
While shirking on some storytelling aspects, Singer completely nails what I believe to be the most important aspect of film making, especially in this genre: Aesthetic. While not necessarily well combined this movie is a collection of decidedly epic scenes, that make it a cinematic force to be reckoned with.