Anyone who follows the X-men franchise would know that “Days of the Future Past” is a tough act to follow. That entry in the franchise rounded up all the most popular actors and X-men in one movie and re-wrote the timeline of the whole franchise to enable it to move on in a separate space. It was more than just an enabler but a resetter for the franchise that involved some of the best actors in the franchise. In my last blog on the “Days of the Future Past” I wrote that I hope there would be no sequel coming out anytime soon as it was a movie to be relished on.
But as Hollywood has it, “Apocalypse” came out two years later.
The thing is, for me, “Days of the Future Past” still has strong lingering feelings in me. There are still scenes that I dare not to revisit but at the same time still stayed vividly alive in my head. So I basically see “Apocalypse” as a palette cleanser for me. Afterall it is a story that is happening in a rewritten timeline with some of the familiar characters exhibiting different personalities because of what happened in the last movie. The director Bryan Singer also took this opportunity to introduce some new characters and set the stage for future instalments. So for his efforts seemed to have gone unwelcomed.
“Apocalypse” was not particularly well received by critics and fans alike. This came as a surprise as “Apocalypse” reintroduced a number of extremely popular characters such as Angel, Psylocke, Cyclops and Jean Grey back into the X-men universe while continue with the current story line involving Professor X, Magneto and Mystique. So what went wrong?
Personally I think “Apocalypse” represented a huge departure of theme from some of the more popular X-men movies. Previous X-men movies emphasised strongly on the discrimination against mutants and how mutants suffered because of this. There were heavy narratives on non-mutants failing to understand them, and trying to control them, to imprison them or to cure them. They were about pride and being socially disadvantaged at the same time. These themes resonated strongly with fans and audience alike as they are real issues both depicted in the comics and in the society we are living in. However, in “Apocalypse” main story was about Apocalypse woke up in the modern age, did not like what the society had become and decided to cleanse it. This change had inevitably rendered the movie into just another action packed comic book adaptation that has no correlations to fans who supported the franchise because of the theme it had carried in the past.
Is “Apocalypse” a bad movie? I personally do not think so but it just doesn’t carry the pack of punches it used to have when it is just a Sci-fi movie and nothing else. I just could not feel what the characters feel anymore as their journeys became just a dramatic plot paving way for a finale and that’s all. In the earlier X-men movies, the discrimination and survival theme made X-men stood out from its pack. Especially in “Days of Future Past” when they were being hunted down for just being who they were, something they could not change at all. I felt that if the movie capitalised more on the coming of age of the younger characters, it might make the film a bit more relevant, but then it had been done in “The First Class” so it makes it hard to repeat that subject again.
Structure wise “Apocalypse” has a pretty concrete structure although I did feel the motivation for Apocalypse was a bit over simplistic. Maybe he represented a force that used to be on the top but now not even part of the food chain. But then that kind of motive did not really sit well with the rest of the movies in the franchise. As for the four disciples, I can understand why Magneto and Angel wanted to join Apocalypse because of their experience, but then for Psylocke and Storm their motives never really stack up. Quicksilver still stole the screen and Evan Peters’ quirky and geeky approach to the character added so much colour to it that he had made it his own. I did like the back story for Magneto in this movie and in fact I think it really did justice for Michael Fassbender as one of the most versatile actors in his generation. As for many of the other characters, they are either not very flashed out or I just felt the characterisations were a bit on the weak side, disregarding the performances of the actors portraying them.
I am not saying “Apocalypse” is a bad movie. I don’t think it could even be considered as bad or even mediocre as I did enjoy every moment of it while I was in the cinema. But I did feel lacking when the credit rolls. I think maybe to a certain degree audiences do try to relate themselves to the stories on the big screen nowadays. If that kind of connection was not there the audience could feel disengaged. X-men is a series that is not just about super power. Super power in the X-men universe was just a means to an end or even a cause to an issue. Without that theme flowing through the vessels, it feels less human and thus less powerful. Nonetheless if you are just looking for an action packed movie with lots of good CGI effects, “Apocalypse” is still a good choice.
