I know I’m a bit late to the party, but I finally saw X-Men: Apocalypse. I’ve been a fan of the X-Men series since 2011 when X-Men: First Class came out. So no, I haven’t been a fan since the originals came out with Sir Patrick Stewart. However, I have seen all the X-Men movies since 2011 and have become an avid fan of the franchise.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Now, I went in to the movie expecting a lot of things – many deaths of beloved characters being chiefly the main expectation of mine. However, I was proven wrong. There were things I was impressed with and others not so much.
The Bad
Namely, the biggest problem I had with this movie was that Havok died such a meaningless, quick, and emotionless death. I was shocked when he died. He died because of his own power that seemed to backfire on him. There was no real lead up to it, it had no effect on En Sabah Nur or his followers, and you left feeling nothing after his death. I half expected him to be in the desert where En Sabah Nur and his followers took Charles. Havok was such an amazing character and an integral part of X Men: First Class, I am so disappointed they ended his story the way they did.
I didn’t quite understand why Storm, Psylocke, and Angel joined En Sabah Nur. Their reasons for becoming three of the four horsemen of Apocalypse didn’t add up to me. While yes, En Sabah Nur strengthens their powers, none of them had a clear background motivation to join him. The three of them, unlike Erik, had all the reason in the world to join En Sabah Nur and his cause of cleansing the earth of mortal humans. I was left wanting more of a reason why they believed in En Sabah Nur and his words when he says, “Everything they built will fall! And from the ashes of their world, we'll build a better one!”
The introduction of everyone took too long, while yes, it was cool to see what all the mutants were up to 10 years after D.C, I wanted more action between En Sabah Nur and the X-Men.
I still want to know why there’s no Scarlet Witch in the series.
The Good
The character development of Erik was fantastic. Not only did he learn how to control the metal in the earth, he wasn’t a complete douchecanoe like we all thought he was going to be. While it felt a bit took similar to Star Wars with the whole “there’s still good left in him,” I think it was a good route to go. Although, I think they could have killed Erik by having him sacrifice himself to defeat En Sabah Nur and it would have had the same result – the audience seeing and believe that Erik isn’t a total wanker. I also loved how Erik had settled down and began a family. And his daughter had the ability to control animals – that is one amazing power that I wish they had explored further.
Nightcrawler was awesome. He was the lighthearted relief that the audience needed at times. I loved his personality and how much he was in the movie since he is one of my favorite characters from the original timeline.
Quicksilver was also fabulous. I loved him in X-Men: Days of Future Past and was left dying for him to have more screen time. I am glad they made it canon in the movies that Erik is Quicksilver’s father. Quicksilver is one of my favorite Marvel characters, so I’m happy they chose to give him a more in-depth story in X-Men since the Avengers series killed him off.
En Sabah Nur was rather terrifying. Oscar Isaac did a wonderful job playing one of the most iconic X-Men baddies. Being able to be so ferocious with your facial expressions is difficult at the best of times even when you are not completely covered with blue makeup and prosthetics.
Sophie Turner as Jean Grey is about as fabulous as it gets. That girl has serious talent. Young Jean was everything I had hoped she would be – absolutely badass. Jean’s explosion of incredible power was wonderful and completely raw, but I also think it may foreshadow a Dark Phoenix movie (let’s hope!)
My hope is that there will be more X-Men movies with the new cast that was introduced in this film because they had great chemistry and there are so many great directions they can take the character in. Also, I don’t think the world is ready to see these characters leave the silver screen.
