Saturday 21 July 2018

Revisiting X-Men 2k18: X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)


Directed by: Bryan Singer 
Written by: Simon Kinberg (screenplay) & Bryan Singer, Simon Kinberg, Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris (story) 

The world's first mutant En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac) awakens, and wants to cleanse the world by destroying it first and letting the strong survive. The X-Men must stand united against En Sabah Nur and his four horsemen of apocalypse - who include some very familiar faces.


I've only seen X-Men: Apocalypse four times, two of them at the cinema, two of them at home. My opinion of it hasn't changed: it's still awesome with so many powerful, well-paced, breath-taking scenes that are so incredible they melt my brain and actually made me sometimes shed a tear because, holy shit, it just is that awesome!

I think I've made clear what I love about the X-Men, and it's mostly how ethically complex they can be, especially when Magneto is the villain. Here however En Sabah Nur or Apocalypse is a typical villain, but still interesting. His motivation isn't complex, yet he isn't as bad as Stryker or Trask who are really easy to hate. He does few interesting things that really make you question if he actually did the world a service, and he's portrayed by Oscar Isaac, who is very charismatic, even with all that make-up (or CGI?) on his face. I actually have a friend who was on Apocalypse's side but I'm pretty sure it was only because of Oscar Isaac.

Still, when it comes to villains, En Sabah Nur had his four horsemen of the apocalypse. These are the more interesting characters. None of them are just "evil". Think about Ororo, who idolizes Mystique (she seriously is a really weird choice for a hero but I blame the movies and not Ororo) and probably thinks she's doing the right thing. Think about Erik, who once again has lost everything and feels like there is no other way. Think about Angel who was broken, physically and mentally too, and was restored by En Sabah Nur. The only one I can't really figure out is Psylocke. Still, these four are the ones who make the situation more complex.

Same things still annoy me to this day. Especially the way Charles Xavier first acts around Moira. Sure it makes him more human than just a typical mentor but also it's just ridiculous. He's a grown man, and this is just off-putting.

Another thing that I kind of feel like might be a plothole is that I always think that in the end of First Class Xavier doesn't erase everything from Moira's memory. From the way she talk at the end of that movie it feels like she remembers parts. I'd at least think she'd remember Charles. She remembers a kiss but doesn't remember the man who kissed her? This is why it feels so weird when she doesn't really know him, but still has read about him... What the hell?

I could go into detail why all those amazing scenes are so amazing, but instead I'll just tell you to watch this movie and really feel those powerful scenes. Alongside with X-Men; First Class, X-Men: Apocalypse is probably my favourite X-Men movie.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
9 / 10

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