It's actually been a month since I saw this, and I'm totally ready to go see it again. Sorry, I was busy summering it up. But I wanted to get this out there.
This movie is fantastic. Ignore the critics, they're clueless.
I often take the track of ignoring professional film critics where huge blockbusters are concerned, because at their best they ignore stuff that really makes a blockbuster resonate with the general populace. How much fun was it to watch? How emotional was it? How good was the CGI? Stuff like that. At their worst some film critics seem to take the stance that if a movie is fun, stereotypically emotional, and pretty, it is by default a bad movie.
I think that's where Apocalypse landed. The movie is fun, pretty, and emotional. The acting is good. The story has heart. The script is well written. But it's not a completely novel idea, especially landing in the same summer as Civil War and BvS. But you know what? If you want to see a movie telling the story of how the world reacts once it knows superheroes are a thing, this is better than both of those others for many reasons. I'm'a name a few.
First! The action. There's lots of it, and it spans the gamut from exciting to tense to fun to cathartic to downright hilarious. The set pieces for that action are beautifully crafted, and it's all choreographed very well. Perhaps most importantly, THERE'S NO SHAKY CAM. Like, it was actually shot using industry best practices, and the fact that critics didn't give it a pass for that fact alone, among a field that includes puke-inducing entries from stuff like Civil War, really annoys me.
Second! The story. It followed some pretty standard tropes, sure, but in some ways it kept me guessing right up until the climax. If I were telling it, I might have done a few things differently, but there were no glaring issues (okay, maybe that fact that Angel was chosen as one of the horsemen constitutes a glaring issue). Beyond that, there are a lot of solid themes. Forgiveness and repentance, family and love, believing in yourself, accepting differences, free will... the list goes on. And each of those themes is treated with weight and importance such that anyone who wants to see a movie about any one of those will be satisfied.
Third! The characters. If you have ever heard of Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy, you won't be surprised to hear they turn in spectacular performances that really bring their characters to life. But the rest of the cast does not fall apart under the weight of that trifecta. All of the characters are treated with the care they deserved, and the actors sell them really pretty well. I was especially pleased with Storm, Quicksilver, and Jean. Oh, and Apocalypse, but that leads me straight into this next point.
Fourth! The conflict. Have you ever watched a superhero movie and thought that the conflict seemed somehow manufactured? That the villain's motivations didn't make sense, or the whole thing only happened because otherwise supposedly intelligent people made a long series of transparently stupid decisions? Oh, you have? Twice this year already? Weird!
Well, you'll be happy to hear that X-Men: Apocalypse doesn't fall into that trap. The villain, conflict, and motivations for everything are introduced rather organically, and they build to a very satisfying climax that, admittedly, runs about five minutes longer than it probably should have while we waited for Jean to finally just go ahead and DO THE THING THAT...
Fifth! PHOENIX. Anyone who has ever read X-Men comics, watched X-Men cartoons, or even just seen X-Men: The Last Stand, will appreciate the climax of this movie. X-Men: Apocalypse gives us the Phoenix we always wanted, but apparently didn't deserve in 2006.
So go see it. Then buy it. Support this movie because otherwise Hollywood is just going to give us more Michael Bay, and you really don't want to have that on your conscience.
This movie is fantastic. Ignore the critics, they're clueless.
I often take the track of ignoring professional film critics where huge blockbusters are concerned, because at their best they ignore stuff that really makes a blockbuster resonate with the general populace. How much fun was it to watch? How emotional was it? How good was the CGI? Stuff like that. At their worst some film critics seem to take the stance that if a movie is fun, stereotypically emotional, and pretty, it is by default a bad movie.
I think that's where Apocalypse landed. The movie is fun, pretty, and emotional. The acting is good. The story has heart. The script is well written. But it's not a completely novel idea, especially landing in the same summer as Civil War and BvS. But you know what? If you want to see a movie telling the story of how the world reacts once it knows superheroes are a thing, this is better than both of those others for many reasons. I'm'a name a few.
First! The action. There's lots of it, and it spans the gamut from exciting to tense to fun to cathartic to downright hilarious. The set pieces for that action are beautifully crafted, and it's all choreographed very well. Perhaps most importantly, THERE'S NO SHAKY CAM. Like, it was actually shot using industry best practices, and the fact that critics didn't give it a pass for that fact alone, among a field that includes puke-inducing entries from stuff like Civil War, really annoys me.
Second! The story. It followed some pretty standard tropes, sure, but in some ways it kept me guessing right up until the climax. If I were telling it, I might have done a few things differently, but there were no glaring issues (okay, maybe that fact that Angel was chosen as one of the horsemen constitutes a glaring issue). Beyond that, there are a lot of solid themes. Forgiveness and repentance, family and love, believing in yourself, accepting differences, free will... the list goes on. And each of those themes is treated with weight and importance such that anyone who wants to see a movie about any one of those will be satisfied.
Third! The characters. If you have ever heard of Jennifer Lawrence, Michael Fassbender, and James McAvoy, you won't be surprised to hear they turn in spectacular performances that really bring their characters to life. But the rest of the cast does not fall apart under the weight of that trifecta. All of the characters are treated with the care they deserved, and the actors sell them really pretty well. I was especially pleased with Storm, Quicksilver, and Jean. Oh, and Apocalypse, but that leads me straight into this next point.
Fourth! The conflict. Have you ever watched a superhero movie and thought that the conflict seemed somehow manufactured? That the villain's motivations didn't make sense, or the whole thing only happened because otherwise supposedly intelligent people made a long series of transparently stupid decisions? Oh, you have? Twice this year already? Weird!
 |
| Yes, I know, but that wasn't a superhero movie. Also, that was last year. |
Fifth! PHOENIX. Anyone who has ever read X-Men comics, watched X-Men cartoons, or even just seen X-Men: The Last Stand, will appreciate the climax of this movie. X-Men: Apocalypse gives us the Phoenix we always wanted, but apparently didn't deserve in 2006.
So go see it. Then buy it. Support this movie because otherwise Hollywood is just going to give us more Michael Bay, and you really don't want to have that on your conscience.
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