The embargo for this is set to lift at midnight of the 5th of June, a day before world wide release and the early critic reviews were not so good. Though I went into a press screening with this being where the bar is set, I came out with a lot of enjoyment from the film. First, I was set to believe, and the trailers game me nothing else to go with, that this was going to be a carbon copy of The Last Stand. The film that was the reason for retooling the franchise in the first place. From Magneto fighting in and with a Subway car, to Phoenix looking as if she would kill a member of her team, I was going in with some pretty low expectations. What we got was a villain, lead by Jessica Chastain, that reminded me of the Skrulls in Captain Marvel but done with extreme superiority. The way these alien forces moved and fought felt like a World War Z set to Mutants film.
The overall dilemma given to the X-Men was Charles Xaivier's (James McAvoy) ego. This was a unique way to go, never really been done before but when you have the most powerful being in the universe to deal with, the under toned messaging just felt out of place. My overall impression was that this director was going in hard with something to prove and what he wanted to do was out do all of the previous films in the action and suspense department. I'll admit, in a lot of ways, this was done brilliantly and in others it was piss poor. Being in a world where mutants are hated by people and having military sent to take them get put into situations where they are being taken out by a greater threat and witness the mutants take them on with more ease totally owning the situation like true superior heroes.
I would call this similar to The Last Stand in a lot of ways but done right. I was worried about the alien invasion aspect but even that was done better than most alien invader movies. It was very cloak and daggerish and stayed hidden for the most part. Made for a better story and I like this film better than a lot in the franchise and would rank it as such. X-Men because that film was a huge mystery and super fun suprise in the theater, X2 because it was done even better but the original still set the foundation, Days of Futures Past because we got to see Wolverine interact with members of the teams from both versions of the timeline, Dark Phoenix because it was better than expected and took risks than none of the others did (redeeming the Last Stand) and First Class.
Apocalypse is better than Last Stand but I'm not itching to see any of them again. The former before the ladder if I had nothing else to watch but the films in my top 5 I can watch over and over. By the way, speaking of taking chances and trying to surpass previous films, Nightcrawler. He has a moment that reminded me of the opening of X2 and boy did he do us justice.
I do not know if this was because we know that Disney was going to take over the franchise and reboot it or because it was a press release but we saw no after credit scene. Also, if you're asking about the end credit scene from Apocalypse and wondering about this movie, don't hold your breath. What you saw in the trailers is what you're going to get and it was still a thrill ride that got me pumped. I'll admit, if I didn't know that this was the last time these particular X-Men would be on the screen I would have been more excited. I celebrate how good it was but I kept myself from going bonkers because the whole time it loomed overhead that these guys, more than likely won't come back, so I kept it cool. A few cliffhangers left out there, somethings that made me roll my eyes, like the simi-batphone. . .come on.
You'll have fun. Go see it. Its got more good and exciting things in this one than in any most of the films out this year. I believe people are just ready to see what the MCU is going to do with these characters and that feeling was with me before the movie started, disappeared as I watched but slowly returned as I walked out of the theater.
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