X-Men Apocalypse

The X-Men movie franchise has been a mixed bag up to this point, with nine films that have ranged from bona fide hits (Deadpool, X-Men: Days of Future Past) to projects that fans would probably rather forget (X-Men Origins: Wolverine). The majority, however, rest somewhere between the two extremes, offering a balance of good and bad that can differ wildly depending on who you ask.

It’s in the latter category that X-Men: Apocalypse, the latest installment of the franchise, seems destined to end up.

Directed by Bryan Singer, who has helmed four of the six films that make up the original X-Men trilogy and the recent, rebooted trilogy, X-Men: Apocalypse pits the popular mutant team against one of its greatest foes, En Sabah Nur — a mutant villain known as “Apocalypse.” Possessing the power of countless other mutants who sacrificed their bodies and abilities to him ages ago, Apocalypse wakes from entombment beneath Cairo in the 1980s, and after seeing the world as it is, decides that it’s time to burn it all down and start over. Bummer.

Cast in the role of Apocalypse is Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Ex Machina actor Oscar Isaac, who does a surprisingly good job of being over-the-top sinister without becoming outright silly, which is no small feat given how easily the character could slip into the latter. Apocalypse is joined in his destructive crusade by the master of magnetism, Magneto, played once again by ever-reliable franchise actor Michael Fassbender. Assisting them are three newcomers to the rebooted franchise, including The Newsroom actress Olivia Munn in the role of telekinetic ninja Psylocke, Alexandra Shipp as the weather-controlling Ororo “Storm” Munroe, and Ben Hardy as the winged mutant Angel.

Apocalypse and his “Four Horsemen” are opposed by returning franchise characters Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), Hank “Beast” McCoy (Nicholas Hoult), Raven “Mystique” Darkholme (Jennifer Lawrence), and Peter “Quicksilver” Maximoff (Evan Peters). They’re joined by a group of new, young mutants familiar to X-Men fans, with Tye Sheridan as Scott “Cyclops” Summers, Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner in the role of Jean Grey, and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the teleporting mutant Nightcrawler.

X-Men: First Class actress Rose Byrne also reprises her role as CIA agent (and non-mutant) Moira MacTaggert.

While the film takes some dark turns, X-Men: Apocalypse does a nice job of striking a relatively consistent tone in the sweet spot somewhere between the brighter, more lighthearted Marvel Studios movies and the dour, dark vibe of Warner Bros.’ live-action DC Comics universe. It’s a tone that has served the franchise well so far (with occasional exceptions for spinoff projects like Deadpool) and allows the films to explore the sort of serious themes the X-Men comics were known for dealing with — prejudice, civil rights, etc — while retaining the fantastic elements that make the team’s adventures so entertaining.

Although Apocalypse opts to focus on more simple, well-worn themes — revenge and redemption — it avoids being too heavy-handed, and lets the characters and the action drive the story forward rather than lecturing the audience.

Of the newcomers not named Oscar Isaac, Sophie Turner offers the most compelling performance of the bunch as Jean Grey. Along with shouldering the weight of what seems to be some big storylines to come, she also holds her own in scenes that pair her with McAvoy, Lawrence, and some of the other, high-profile cast members. Sadly, neither Olivia Munn or Ben Hardy do much to elevate their characters beyond background players, and despite getting plenty of opportunity to shine, the other newcomers don’t offer a whole lot, though it’s exciting to think of their potential in future films.

Much like in X-Men: Days of Future Past, the real standout in Apocalypse is Peters’ fleet-footed mutant Quicksilver, who’s given another memorable sequence that showcases not just his superhuman ability and sense of humor, but also some brilliant cinematography and visual-effects work from the film’s behind-the-camera team. Clearly, Singer set out to up the ante after the clever “Time in a Bottle” sequence from Days of Future Past received so much praise, and the result is an even more complicated sequence that begs to be watched a few times over.

Although McAvoy, Fassbender, and Lawrence continue to anchor the rebooted franchise (and do as good a job of it as one would expect from actors that have one Oscar win and six nominations between them), Apocalypse goes out of its way to indicate that this might not be the case for long. Even more than it explores themes of revenge and forgiveness, Apocalypse seems intent on letting its audience know that the franchise is passing the torch — to the point where it occasionally doubles back on plot points just to hammer home that there’s a new class of X-Men.

Of the three films that make up the rebooted franchise so far, X-Men: Apocalypse manages to feel like the most self-contained story of the bunch. Still, despite having the freedom to to take its characters in new directions without the obligation of supplying origin stories or resolving conflicting continuities, it doesn’t seem inclined to make any major changes to the status quo beyond adding some new faces to the team’s roster. When the dust finally settles, it feels as if narrowly averting the end of the world has simply been business as usual for the characters.

In this and so many other ways, Apocalypse feels the most like the comics that inspired it than any of the X-Men movies so far. The players in the story — good and bad — are assembled, the conflict ensues, and disaster is only avoided with the help of some moral heel-turns from conflicted characters and heroes tapping into reserves they never knew they had. When the villain is finally defeated, all the pieces of the story reset in preparation for the next adventure.

It’s a narrative formula that has worked for countless comic-book story arcs over the years, and when it’s done well  — as it is in Apocalypse — it serves the movies based on them just as successfully.

In a franchise that has remained reliably entertaining — though not always great — over the course of the previous eight films, X-Men: Apocalypse does nothing to buck that trend, offering a compelling story that moves along at a good pace with some unique, exciting sequences that set it apart from its peers. It doesn’t live up to the epic, nothing-will-be-the-same promise of its title, but it does right by the series in giving fans an adventure inspired by the comics in many of (if not all) the right ways.

Grade - A-

Captain America: Civil War - O.o

When the Avengers first assembled four years ago, it felt like a grand culmination, the ultimate Marvel superhero event: its Big Four characters united (well, eventually) against a colossal planetary threat. Since then, the studio’s ever-expanding Cinematic Universe has delivered sequels of varying quality and introduced new heroes in stand-alone movies (well, as close to stand-alone as Marvel can ever get), but it’s never quite matched the ensemble-balancing finesse and Earth-quaking action scale of Joss Whedon’s initial assembling. Certainly not in his clunkier, team-gathering follow up, Age Of Ultron. Not until now.

Captain America: Civil War is the best Marvel Studios movie yet. There, I said it. First, and most importantly, it does what the best Marvel films do: juggling multiple characters so each is allowed its moment in a story that pushes forward the series’ overall continuity, while also forming and concluding its own cogent plot. So here Scarlet Witch (Elisabeth Olsen) wrestles with the consequences of her immense power; Vision (Paul Bettany) starts getting to grips with being ‘human’; Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) finds herself torn when the battle line is drawn; and supposed retiree Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) just can’t stay out of the fight.

Then there are the new recruits: Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman, playing it gravelly and furrow-browed), nimble protector of a secretive African nation who has his own beef with Bucky; and a quippy kid from Queens (Tom Holland) who crawls up walls in a red-and-blue outfit and can shoot webs at people. His introduction to the action is resoundingly joyous, the reboot the character truly deserves. (“I don’t know if you’ve been in a fight before,” he’s told by one opponent, “but there’s not usually this much talk.”) Even Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man receives more than a tokenistic ‘hey it’s him!’ cameo, and in spectacle terms at least, is given the film’s biggest scene.

At its not-so-soft-and-gooey centre, though, is the friendship between Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), two war buddies out of time, one of them out of his mind. Stan remains, for the most part, as blank and frosty as he was in The Winter Soldier, allowing only the occasional warm glint of ’40s sidekick Bucky. Evans, meanwhile, further hones a role he’s effortlessly owned for five movies now, pushing Steve to impressive new depths and reminding us that his straight arrow still has a dangerous edge. The Steve/Bucky thread stretches back to the first Captain America, and is what makes this Cap Three rather than Avengers Two-and-a-half. But built around that is the bigger conflict that, despite the title, does place it as a direct sequel to Age Of Ultron.

In a similar way that Zack Snyder’s DC-world reacted to Superman’s ascension and the emergence of its “metahumans” — though here it is more lightly and elegantly handled — the world of the Avengers has had enough of these “enhanced” agents wreaking collateral havoc and decided, not unreasonably, to bring them to account. So US Secretary Of State William Ross (reappearing for the first time since he was just a monster-chasing General in The Incredible Hulk) presents the Sokovia Accord, signed by 117 countries, which states the Avengers should be answerable to the United Nations. Wracked with guilt over his Ultron faux-pas, Tony Stark’s all for it, and Robert Downey Jr burdens the still occasionally glib hero with a weight-of-the-world weariness that is well matched by his own MCU mileage. But stubborn Steve, distrustful of the post-war world’s version of ‘authority’, refuses to sign on the dotted line.

It’s bold of writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to place their title hero in the most obviously dubious position. If the Avengers don’t answer to the UN, who should they answer to? And Steve’s defence of Bucky is questionable: he may be his childhood friend, but now he’s a lethal, robot-armed killing machine forever in danger of being reactivated. It’s fair enough that he should be brought to heel, right? Then again, there are flaws in Tony’s arguments, too, especially the problematic evidence on which he rests them. Who the audience should agree with is hardly a clear-cut matter.

It’s even bolder that the conflict at the film’s heart doesn’t pander to genre convention and become sidetracked by a grandstanding supervillain plot. And this is the second way Civil War earns our ‘Greatest Marvel Yet’ accolade: by rising above the series’ greatest weakness. Too often, the snappy writing and slick action in these films is undermined by flimsy big bads and formulaic final acts. Yet there is no Loki or Ultron (or, for that matter, Lex Luthor) equivalent this time. Not a whiff of Thanos, or any more of those forgettable Marvel sub-baddies with ‘The’ for a middle name. There is a meddling manipulator — of course there is — but, interestingly, their agenda is as blurred as Steve’s and Tony’s. Arguably just as sympathetic, too. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo don’t just want to rocket your heart into your mouth with their action sequences, which have the tight choreography of a Greengrass Bourne, and the brutal flair of a Gareth Evans rumble; they want to keep your brain firmly engaged, too.

Who needs a villain when you have Steve and Tony? Both protagonists. Both antagonists. And drawing other power-people to their cause in surprising ways. The clashes go far beyond the set-up squabbles of Avengers Assemble. Or even that other big 2016 superhero showdown. Forget Batman v Superman. Here you get Ant-Man v Spider-Man, Hawkeye v Black Widow, Scarlet Witch v Vision, The Winter Soldier v Black Panther and (well, duh) Captain America v Iron Man, all rolled into one. And that is what you call the ultimate Marvel superhero event.

Grade - A+ 

Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice - I REALLY wanted to like this movie

In The Lego Movie, Will Arnett’s Batman sang an ode to being glum in Gotham, which included the lyrics, “Darkness! No parents! Continued darkness! More darkness, get it?” But even he’s out-moodied by the iteration in Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice. For those who thought Man Of Steel was too gloomy and navel-gazing, we have some bad news: the addition of Bruce Wayne to the franchise has not lightened the mood any.

Horribly scarred both inside and out, Ben Affleck’s grey-templed Darkest Knight is so morally burned out that he not only subdues foes, but tortures and brands them like cattle. His dreams are plagued by screeching, man-sized bats. Not even the very pleasant water feature in his lakeside cave cheers him up. There’s nothing wrong with a little angst, but here it’s doubled down: pitting him against an insecure and self-doubting Superman, Zack Snyder’s movie is a spectacle that proves heavy on visual pizzazz but markedly light on fun.

As with other ‘versus’ films — Alien Vs. Predator, Freddy Vs. Jason, Kramer Vs. Kramer Vs. Godzilla — the title carries a charge of giddy promise. Two titans of pop culture will, we are assured, rearrange city streets with each other’s faces. And once it arrives, the fight is a tightly choreographed, berserkly overwrought treat. But talk about delayed gratification: Snyder makes you wait, and wait, and wait for the championship bout. As the colon in the unwieldy title suggests, this is really two movies squished into one. Besides another run-through of Bruce Wayne’s tragic backstory (including an odd nod to John Boorman’s Excalibur), Dawn Of Justice strains to both set up a plausible conflict between the two superheroes, and shift pieces into place for future sequels and spin-offs. It’s a film with a lot on its mind.

The main plot starts well enough. A Rashomon-style replaying of Man Of Steel’s finale through the eyes of Bruce Wayne, as he slaloms through Metropolis in a tiny black car in an effort to rescue his employees, helps us buy into his rage when it comes to Superman. (Could it be that Snyder is channelling all the angry comments he got on message boards about his previous film’s destructive finale?) Wayne’s pissed, he’s paranoid, he’s going full Trump. Affleck underplays the role nicely, exuding rumpled world-weariness like only a man who’s survived Gigli can, and dispelling any lingering memories of Daredevil. Then along comes Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor. Sporting a Banksy T-shirt, chomping on Jolly Ranchers and throwing random “Mmm!”s into his maniacal monologues, the character is going to be an acquired taste — it’s not difficult to imagine him popping up in one of the Joel Schumacher Batman films. Less up for discussion are his schemes, which are both numerous and not massively well thought out, despite the fact he frequently appears to be omniscient. One explosive set-piece, in particular, is visually impactful but has no real effect on the story.

For most of its run-time, the film focuses on talk over action — a Sucker Punch-ish nightmare sequence, in which Batman takes on Kal-El’s super-troopers and flying, shotgun-toting bug-men (one of several nods to as-yet-unseen mega-bad’un Darkseid) is a fun if slightly pointless exception. Jeremy Irons proves a fine Alfred, sternly ticking off Bruce and even making lines like, “You are to deception as Mozart to the harpsichord,” sound good. Holly Hunter spars with Eisenberg in the thin role of a US Senator, while Scoot McNairy plays a former Wayne Enterprises employee with a grudge against Superman. There are too-short interludes with Clark Kent, who we learn has signed up to Dropbox. It’s all very solemn, very operatic, and a bit dull.

It’s with an hour to go that Dawn Of Justice goes nuts. Following a wonderfully camp training montage in which the Dark Knight furiously pumps Batbarbells and chucks a tyre around, he and Supes go cape-to-cape through the slums of Gotham, a sight to justify the slow and gloomy build-up. There are ultra-sonic blasters, machine-gun turrets, kryptonite grenades, everything but the kitchen sink. (Our mistake: a sink gets smashed on someone’s head, too.) It’s here at last, amid the crumbling masonry, that the movie discovers its joie de vivre. Which is why it’s a shame that Snyder feels the need to throw in a hulking, city-smashing Uruk-hai afterwards. A climax to a climax, it’s CGI overkill, making for a generic and exhausting denouement.

As for the DC world-building, there’s a lot to take in, though much of it amounts to a superhero watching clips of other superheroes on a laptop. Metahumans are glimpsed — hastily setting the table for next year’s Justice League, doing in four minutes what took Marvel four years — though, with one trippy exception, they don’t actually interact with our principal characters. That honour goes to Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, a character invented in 1941 and only now making her big-screen debut. Gadot’s dramatic powers remain to be tested, but she at least makes a big impact in the final reel’s showdown, unleashing her Lasso Of Truth and power-sliding all over the place. It’s a landmark moment in cinema, executed well. Still no sign of Dawn, though.

Grade - C

Deadpool

As far as comic book characters go, there are few more harshly divisive than Deadpool. For as many people who can’t get enough of his blabber-mouth and general insanity, there is an equal number of people who feel like most of the heroes in the Marvel Comics world: they hate his guts. As such, the long-developing Deadpool movie has spent years as a mystery, with it constantly carrying the question of whether or not it would highlight the best aspects of the character, or the worst ones.

Now the verdict is in, and the good news is that director Tim Miller’s Deadpool is a blissfully unique and hilarious action-packed blockbuster that stands as one of the best big-screen superhero origin stories that we’ve had the pleasure of seeing.

Based on a script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the non-linear comic book film recounts the life and times of Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), a mouthy ex-Special Forces operative turned sociopathic mercenary who finds his world forever changed when he meets the beautiful Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), a prostitute whose entire life has been the same level of dark and awful as Wade’s. Drawn close by their matching pain, they couldn’t be more happy together… but, of course, that’s when tragedy decides to strike.

It’s revealed that Wade has late-stage cancer in his liver, lungs, prostate and brain, and is left questioning whether or not he should sacrifice his love and spare her the pain of watching him wither and die. But that’s also when Wade finds a special offer on the table – invited to take part in what’s described as a government-funded workshop that will not only cure his disease, but give him abilities beyond any normal man. He puts his life in the hands of a shaved-headed, menacing doctor named Ajax (Ed Skrein), though when it turns out the facility has designs on turning Wade into a super slave instead of a superhero, he’s put on a path that will not only see him gain incredible healing powers and horrifically scarred skin, but also a deep, deep desire for bloodthirsty revenge.

If variety is the ultimate key to the perpetuation of the comic book movie genre, then Deadpool will be received by fans as a blessing, because we truly have not seen anything quite like it to this point. Taking the complete opposite approach to the character than the one exercised by X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which surgically removed anything and everything interesting about the post-modern anti-hero), the film understands and embraces what makes the red-and-black-suited psycho special, and utilizes those elements to inspire a fantastical, R-rated, one-liner-filled blast. Everything is on the table, from his gleeful abandon during fights (knowing that he will always heal) to his distinct ability to break the fourth wall, and matched with perfectly-toned superhero cynicism it comes together stunningly well.

There is much to be said about the clear and shining love for Marvel Comics’ most notorious character that comes through in the writing and direction of the film, but the greatest weapon Deadpool possesses is star Ryan Reynolds – given a second shot to prove that he is the perfect actor to play the Merc With The Mouth (spoiler alert: he absolutely does). Reynolds has certainly had a rough go of it in the genre – not only starring in the brutal X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but the equally bad Green Lantern and Blade: Trinity - but those past failures only add a tremendously righteous redemption angle to Deadpool’s story.

The actor clearly revels in the opportunity to hyperactively babble on, and in doing so demonstrates genius timing and impeccable chemistry with all of his co-stars – whether Wade is trading horrible life stories with Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa; talking shop with the always-delightful T.J. Miller as Deadpool’s friend/weapons dealer Weasel; or mocking the angst-y, goth-styled X-Men trainee Negasonic Teenage Warhead (played by talented newcomer Brianna Hildebrand). Clichéd as the phrase may be, Ryan Reynolds was born to play Deadpool, and he truly doesn’t waste a second of the opportunity (now that it has come around again).

As has been proven in the past by titles like Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy, humor goes a very long way in making comic book movies stand out, and it’s the fact that Deadpool is constantly laugh-out-loud funny that will secure its place as one of the best examples of the genre. The way the titular hero prattles on, you’d think that at least some of the jokes would land with a dull thud, but the hit-miss ratio is outstanding, and the love is very much spread around – with every supporting character getting at least one big laugh.

Not having the budget of your typical $150-200 million blockbuster, Deadpool is relatively small-scaled for a comic book movie, but the production deserves an incredible amount of credit for maximizing the resources that they have. Surely benefiting from Tim Miller’s extensive and impressive background in visual effects, the biggest action sequences are pure-blooded spectacle, rife with highway pile-ups, stunningly choreographed acrobatics and hand-to-hand combat, intense gunplay, and katana-swinging badassery. What’s more, the movie certainly takes full advantage of its R-rating – racking up a sizable and creatively-created body count that clearly demonstrates the protagonist’s anti-hero status – but it also never pushes the violence towards unpleasant gratuity. Combined with some excellent production and costume design (it’s hard to get over how great the Deadpool suit looks), and a wonderfully eclectic soundtrack, the film brandishes fantastic flair and thrills that complete the picture.

Deadpool’s script spent about five years on the shelf waiting to get made, and watching the finished result, it’s hard to understand why its incredible potential wasn’t seen and exploited sooner. The movie is going to endear a whole new audience to the vivid and weird character, while once again demonstrating the tremendous opportunity for variety in the comic book movie genre. “Worth the wait” only begins to describe the outrageous and excessively entertaining film, and it spells incredible things for the character's future.

Grade - A+

Deadpool is going to endear a whole new audience to the vivid and weird character, while once again demonstrating the tremendous opportunity for variety in the comic book movie genre.