X-Men: Apocalypse

 

The Jennifer Lawrence era of X-Men movies take us on field trips back into time, diving into the origins of the X-Men. This matches perfectly with the older Hugh Jackman X-Men movies which take place in the present day, as this approach explains the backstories on how the X-Men became who they are currently. Apocalypse is no different, taking place in the 1980s when ancient mutant Apocalypse surfaces, intent on ridding the planet of its national superpowers and enhancing mutant's powers to control the world. With that setup, let's dive into this good, but not great, movie.

We have to start with the antagonist villain Apocalypse, a character I had never heard of prior to this movie. From what I've read about the character, the movie did a good job explaining who he is and portraying his power. I was into the character at the beginning of the movie, but as the movie progressed, I thought he became a bit annoying, especially with his demonic, vibrating voice. It makes me wish that I had less speakers. I think Apocalypse was the weakest part of this movie. While he looked cool and his blip-like powers were awesome, there just wasn't the emotional connection with this villain as there was when Magneto or Mystique were the bad guys. In those circumstances, you wanted everyone to get along and be friends. For Apocalypse, I was happy to see him go. Maybe that was the point?

I was excited to see Olivia Munn in this movie. I've liked her since way back in the days of Attack of the Show, but have never seen any movie she's been in until now. Unfortunately, she spent most of her screen time standing in the background as we listened to Apocalypse talk. She did get some decent fighting action in the final scene, however. Her character Psylocke was also unfamiliar to me. The movie didn't do anything to develop or explain her character, she just seemed to be there as one of Apocalypse's henchmen. She could have been substituted with any random mutant, which was a bit disappointing.

Below are some additional, random thoughts I had about the movie.

• Seeing Erik live a life incognito, trying to raise a family and be "normal" is touching. After seeing what happens to his family, you really feel bad for the guy. He is a complicated villain, creating emotional confusion about whether he should be liked or not. This is a good thing.
• Sophie Turner was a good choice to play a young Jean Grey. Based on the title of the next film, I anticipate seeing more of how Jean turns into Dark Phoenix. It's hard not to think of Sansa Stark when seeing Sophie, however.
• The SR-71 Blackbird is shown on screen but not while flying. This is a bummer.
• Storm is discovered by Apocalypse and spends most of the movie on his side, before joining Xavier's side at the very end without much explanation. When Storm was a teen, she apparently was living in Egypt and working as a thief, as the movie portrays. Xavier is transported to Africa by Apocalypse, and that is when Storm joins his side. This is similar to how her comic character is portrayed, though there is no mention of an affiliation with Apocalypse. Apparently Storm marries T'Challa in the comics, and becomes queen of Wakanda. Maybe we will see Storm in the MCU at some point?
• Who is Peter's (and also Wanda's) father? In the movie, Peter/Quicksilver believes Magneto is his father. I've read that Wanda shares this belief as well. Unless I missed something, the MCU does not discuss this, but the story of the twins' mother fleeing Magneto while pregnant occurred prior to the twins appearing in the MCU. The adoptive parents are shown on screen in the MCU in both the movies and WandaVision, without much discussion of who the actual parents are. Upon doing some internet research, it seems as if there is some confusion/debate on who their father actually is. Some storylines cite Magneto, others cite another father. 
• At one point during the movie, Stryker captures some of the X-Men while they are trying to rescue Xavier. They are released by Jean, Scott, and Nightcrawler. In the process, a newly transformed Wolverine is also released from the X Factory in an awesome scene which shows how powerful he has become. Jackman once again plays Wolverine, but is uncredited in the movie.
• 1980s Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler dresses and looks like Michael Jackson from Thriller.