Sunday, February 12, 2017

X-Men: Apocalypse (Singer, 2016): Mini-Film Review

In the spring and summer of 2016, Marvel released two tent-pole films: Captain America: Civil War (Russo brothers, 2016) and X-Men: Apocalypse. Why was Civil War released first? It makes sense for a couple reasons: first, the theme of civilian casualties in Civil War goes over better when considered in light of the previous Avengers film, Age of Ultron. Tony and Steve have to deal with the repercussions of the battle at Sokovia, rather than the near-destruction of the entire planet in Apocalypse (I understand why we'll "never see the X-Men and the Avengers sharing a screen" but releasing Apocalypse before Civil War could still inflect audience response).

Second, X-Men Apocalypse is the better movie of the two--it would have upstaged Captain America. From the heroism of Mystique, the anguish of Magneto, the spirituality of Nightcrawler, to the point of view of Charles Xavier: "A gift can also be a curse...give them powers beyond imagination, and they may think they're meant to rule the world." And of course, multiple campy sequences, ridiculous and entertaining.

X-Men Apocalypse

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