directed by Bryan Singer
written by Simon Kinberg, Singer, Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty
After the mind-bending entertainment provided by mixing two generations of X-Men cast members with X-Men: Days of Future Past, director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg, with the help of Singer proteges Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, bring us the first X-Men adventure exclusively featuring the "First Class" ensemble.
The film opens to a scene in Egypt, 3,600 Before the Common Era (the acronym BCE having replaced the religious-themed less-PC "before Christ"), where an ancient ritual is taking place, in which a decrepit but powerful mutant, worshiped as a god by the ancient Egyptians, is about to transfer his consciousness into a much younger mutant (Oscar Isaac). Although this ancient being has many followers, there are those who decry him as a false god, and conspire to collapse the enormous pyramid in which he is conducting the transfer of his consciousness, with him and his acolytes still in it. All are killed except him, but he successfully transfers into the younger man's body.
In the next scene, the year is 1983, and it's been ten years since mutants surfaced in public for the first time, with Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) saving then-American President Richard Nixon from Erik Lensherr, aka Magneto (Michael Fassbender). The former is regarded as a hero by young mutants everywhere, while the latter has gone into hiding in Poland. Meanwhile, CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne) is looking into the activities of cults that are hell-bent on raising the ancient mutant from his resting place. As it happens, they succeed, with MacTaggert barely escaping alive to report her findings.
A continent away, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) is running a successful school for mutant children at his Westchester Mansion, with Henry McCoy (Nicholas Hoult) as one of his teachers. High-school student Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) has just had his mutant powers, or energy blasts from his eyes, manifest, so his older brother, former X-Man Alex (Lucas Till) takes him to Xavier's house, where they meet the professor, and Scott means powerful telepath and telekinetic Jean Grey (Sophie Turner). The emergence of the powerful mutant in Egypt is felt all around the world, and as Professor Xavier uses Cerebro to investigate and finds his way to Moira, who tells him and Havok all about this "Apocalypse."
Meanwhile, the newly-reawakened Apocalypse starts gathering his "horsemen": a street urchin who can control the weather (Alexandra Shipp) better known to us comic-book fans as Storm, a henchwoman for a mutant trafficker with mentally-generated weapons called Psylocke (Olivia Munn), a disgraced, broken former cage fighter in Berlin with angel's wings (Ben Hardy), and Magneto himself, who flies into a murderous rage after tragedy strikes him once more.
Meanwhile, Mystique, having rescued a mutant from the aforementioned Berlin cage fights, a blue teleporter named Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) learns from the news of the tragedy that has befallen Magneto and also makes her way back to the X-mansion to ask for Charles' help in finding him. Peter (Evan Peters), the superfast mutant from the last movie whose showstopping "Time in a Bottle Sequence" was easily a highlight, also sees the news report and wants to find Magneto, too, because of a very personal reason, and heads over to the mansion as well.
Unfortunately, the Apocalypse and his horsemen head for the mansion as well, and all hell breaks loose.
As Apocalypse puts into motion his plan to lay waste to the world and build a new one on its carcass, the X-Men find that they are the only thing standing in his way.
As as action movie, this film works well enough, and if X-Men and Spider-man movies were the only product on the market, this would hold up pretty decently against the likes of Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: The Last Stand, either of the two Wolverine spin-off movies, and if I'm honest, even the first X-Men movie which, as instrumental as it was to kicking off the current boom of comic-book-based films, has not aged all that well. It's not in the league of the sublime X2: X-Men United or either of its own immediate predecessors, First Class and the aforementioned Days of Future Past, but it's a decent enough product.
The problem is that this film exists in a world onto which the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been unleashed. While the MCU doesn't quite have a perfect batting average, when their movies are good, they are very good, and whatever their critics may say, most of the key MCU films have been excellent. This problem is compounded by the fact that this film comes almost immediately in the wake of one of the MCU's strongest films thus far, the outstanding Captain America: Civil War, which has, along with its predecessor Captain America: The Winter Soldier and several other MCU films, quite simply raised the standard for this kind of movie by showing that a film can be both solid entertainment and intelligent at the same time. The two previous chapters also achieved this to an extent by telling their stories in the context of the turbulent politics of the 1960s and the 1970s, embedding the narrative firmly in the reality of the time.
With this film, however, Singer eschews the chance to take a shot at Reagan's politics (and the 40th American President doesn't even make an appearance here, unlike Richard Nixon in the last film), and instead elects to tell a straight-up action film about good guys fighting the world-destroying bad guy, with minimal (if any) subtext about prejudice or hatred. Heck, if anything the movie seems to suggest that all of the irrational fear and hatred felt by human towards mutants is justified, as Apocalypse, aided by his horsemen, virtually lives up to his name (as bestowed upon him by Xavier and MacTaggert) and lays waste to major population centers. Apocalypse doesn't ever experience humanity's hate of mutants; he basically sees that his people aren't ruling the earth and decides to change that.
Another problem I have with this film is that, as the first film showing the "repaired" timeline of the X-men (otherwise known as the one in which X-Men: The Last Stand no longer exists) the movie is basically a hot mess. Singer's insistence on trotting out characters that have already appeared in past installments like Jubilee and Psylocke only highlights how screwed up the whole thing is. Singer clearly attempts to dodge the fact that the Angel character already appeared in the aforementioned deleted X-Men movie by never mentioning his alter ego, effectively creating two mutants in his world with wings and blond hair, based on the same character from the comic books. Also, given that Cyclops was a teen in 1983, he would have been significantly older than the James Marsden he supposedly grew into by 2000's X-Men. Also, Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr haven't aged a day despite the fact that it's been twenty years since they first met in X-Men: First Class, and they're basically supposed to start looking like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen by now. I know I should be appreciating these films on their own individual merits, but considering the conscious effort to belatedly tie everything together I really cannot get out of my head how much of a clusterf**k this particular universe has become, and this movie adds to that.
Anyway, rant aside I took away quite a few positives. Singer seems determined to tell the Dark Phoenix Saga, something he missed the chance to do when he left the X-men for Superman. This, I think, is the main reason he wiped the slate clean, and I honestly hope he gets his shot this time. This movie basically feels like it was meant to pass the time between his palate-cleansing Days of Future Past and his dream X-men story (though of course, in the comics, the chronology is completely different). Also, this was the first X-Men movie that was not at all centered on Wolverine, which was a welcome relief. I would have wanted Cyclops to get a little more screentime, but the fact that he actually gets a character arc in this film is already a huge step forward from the short shrift James Marsden used to get in the original trilogy. I also liked the all-too-brief look into Storm's origins as a thief in Cairo, which is quite faithful to Claremont's comics. Finally, while Quicksilver's--err--Peter's "super speed scene" in this movie was enjoyable and set to a song I actually knew (Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics), it still pales in comparison to his "Time in a Bottle" scene back in DOFP.
This was a decent movie, but if Fox are going to keep up with Marvel and their cinematic universe, I think they'll have to do a whole lot better than this. This franchise is starting to show some serious signs of wear and tear.
6.5/10
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Things I Really Enjoyed About Captain America: Civil War (SPOILERS GALORE)
The thing about reviewing a major event movie that I have enjoyed, especially one with storytelling twists, is steering clear of spoilers, so I've written this clearly-labeled post to discuss the things I really enjoyed about the current blockbuster Captain America: Civil War, without spoiling the experience for people who have yet to see the film.
Now, most people rave about Spider-Man or the airport sequence or the things they love about the film, and make no mistake, I loved all of those things too, but there are things about the film that I enjoyed even more, strange as it may sound, and I thought to list them here, in ascending order.
5. Revisiting Sokovia - One of the things that didn't sit too well with me about The Avengers: Age of Ultron was the thought that Tony Stark's own creation, the murderous robot Ultron, was responsible for physically ripping an entire country to shreds, and yet at the end of the movie Tony is basically driving his expensive supercar up to the Avengers HQ and talking about retirement like, well, nothing happened. It was one of the aspects of the movie that really didn't sit well with me, even when I watched it again and forgave many of its shortcomings. The whole thing was basically born out of Iron Man's messianic complex and almost ended up destroying the planet. Well, as Tony and the rest of the Avengers discover, payback is truly a bitch, and while Daniel Bruhl's Helmut Zemo, who has been rewritten from the son of a Nazi into a vengeful Sokovian, is not the most compelling villain I've ever seen, he is clearly given the best motivation to take the Avengers down. This may sound cruel, but there's something oddly fitting about Iron Man sitting in the cold, feeling helpless and lost after Captain America defeats him by destroying his armor's power source and leaves with Bucky. Yes, Stark was in favor of the Sokovian Accords after he grew a conscience, but considering it was his robot and not Cap's that caused the deaths of several Sokovians it felt vaguely fair that he would feel the fallout hardest. Speaking of Tony's conscience...
4. Alfre Woodard as Miriam Sharpe - The character of Miriam Sharpe is a key element of the comic book story as she essentially pricks Tony Stark's conscience with the death of her son and sets him on the path to championing the Superhuman Registration Act that puts him at odds with Captain America. While she appears more in the comic books than she does in the film, her role is still the same; she is the catalyst for the conversation that drives the movie. It is a small but pivotal role, and I am quite grateful to Marvel for getting one of my favorite character actresses to play it. Woodard is not especially high on "star wattage," and her casting is hardly the coup that getting the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Robert Redford and Michael Douglas to star in Marvel movies was, but I have always admired her work in the films in which I've seen her. Choosing her for this very powerful scene was an astute bit of casting on Marvel's part, suggested by Robert Downey Jr. himself, as she absolutely nails the scene.
3. More Globetrotting - While the film was only filmed in the United States and Germany, there were multiple locations within the story such as Lagos, Nigeria (played by Atlanta, Georgia), Vienna, Austria, Bucharest, Romania and Berlin, Germany (played by various locations in Berlin). There's also an exterior of a Siberian facility, which I think was shot in Iceland. I truly enjoy globetrotting movies, which I suppose is one reason I enjoy the James Bond and Jason Bourne movies as much as I do. It's not quite the travelogue that The Avengers: Age of Ultron was, with scenes shot in Italy, South Korea, South Africa and Bangladesh, but at least it went well beyond U.S. borders. I chuckled at the notion that there was a scene in a house in Cleveland, and I wondered if it had been shot in Germany, which would have been an interesting turnabout from the time that Cleveland "played" Germany in the very first Avengers film. Personally, I'm still holding out hope that Jeremy Renner can talk Marvel into shooting part of the next Avengers movie here in the Philippines considering he reportedly enjoyed his experience shooting The Bourne Legacy here.
2. The Fake-Out Climax - Among story tropes in superhero movies, there are few that are more grating these days than the old superheroes-get-tricked-by-a-bad-guy-into-fighting-but-resolve-their-differences-in-the-end-to-take-the-bad-guy-down trope. A very poorly-realized version of that trope played out in the atrocious Batman vs. Superman, and in the third act of Civil War, all indications were that something like that would play out here, when the story asserted, with some urgency, that the heroes had to stop Zemo from activating the other Winter Soldiers and taking over the world. However, even early in the story, something felt off. Zemo basically laid the bread crumbs for Captain America, Bucky and Iron Man to chase him to the base in Siberia where the final confrontation played out. While the filmmakers telegraphed hints that something was not quite right for anyone who was paying attention, the swell of heroic music that played as Iron Man resolved to help Captain America and Bucky out was more than enough to drown out the clues for anyone who wasn't. When it became painfully clear that there was no "big bad guy confrontation," as the super soldiers the good guys were supposed to fight had all been killed, the sense of dread was dialed all the way up, and the punch-up that followed the revelation that Bucky murdered Tony's parents felt all the more tragic.
1. A Member of an Ethnic Minority who ISN'T Somebody's Sidekick - For the comic book story of Civil War, Mark Millar turned to the detestable narrative cliche of killing a black guy for the sole purpose of contriving tension and "raising the stakes." What made this sin all the more unforgivable was that Millar basically dusted off a seldom-used character, the rather offensively-named Black Goliath for the specific purpose of having him murdered by a fake Thor (yes, it's as stupid as it sounds). The film maintains this somewhat hateful cliche by having War Machine suffer a near-death experience which leaves him partially paralyzed. I take scant consolation from knowing that they didn't kill him.
Also, I don't know if anyone at Marvel has been paying attention, but it seems that at least three of their major leads, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, ALL have black sidekicks, namely War Machine, Falcon and Heimdall, the last of whom who wasn't even black to begin with. Even the upcoming Doctor Strange seems to feature a "sidekick" character in the form of Baron Mordo, who was originally white and Strange's rival, but who is now played by the Afro-British Chiwetel Ejiofor and seems to be a distinctly second-fiddle character.
The Black Panther, however, is emphatically written as a character who will carry his own movie. The Black Panther movie has been in development hell for the better part of three decades, so it's really gratifying to see that Marvel have not only gotten the perfect actor for the role, but have given him a prominent role in what is shaping up to be one of their biggest blockbusters ever. I am supremely pumped up for his solo movie and hope it gets made with as much care as went into the creation of Civil War.
Marvel has put themselves in an interesting pickle with this film; how do they now get the gang back together for the upcoming Infinity War? Well, if that movie maintains the Russo's extraordinary standard of quality for these films, I for one would be only too happy to find out how that happens.
Now, most people rave about Spider-Man or the airport sequence or the things they love about the film, and make no mistake, I loved all of those things too, but there are things about the film that I enjoyed even more, strange as it may sound, and I thought to list them here, in ascending order.
5. Revisiting Sokovia - One of the things that didn't sit too well with me about The Avengers: Age of Ultron was the thought that Tony Stark's own creation, the murderous robot Ultron, was responsible for physically ripping an entire country to shreds, and yet at the end of the movie Tony is basically driving his expensive supercar up to the Avengers HQ and talking about retirement like, well, nothing happened. It was one of the aspects of the movie that really didn't sit well with me, even when I watched it again and forgave many of its shortcomings. The whole thing was basically born out of Iron Man's messianic complex and almost ended up destroying the planet. Well, as Tony and the rest of the Avengers discover, payback is truly a bitch, and while Daniel Bruhl's Helmut Zemo, who has been rewritten from the son of a Nazi into a vengeful Sokovian, is not the most compelling villain I've ever seen, he is clearly given the best motivation to take the Avengers down. This may sound cruel, but there's something oddly fitting about Iron Man sitting in the cold, feeling helpless and lost after Captain America defeats him by destroying his armor's power source and leaves with Bucky. Yes, Stark was in favor of the Sokovian Accords after he grew a conscience, but considering it was his robot and not Cap's that caused the deaths of several Sokovians it felt vaguely fair that he would feel the fallout hardest. Speaking of Tony's conscience...
4. Alfre Woodard as Miriam Sharpe - The character of Miriam Sharpe is a key element of the comic book story as she essentially pricks Tony Stark's conscience with the death of her son and sets him on the path to championing the Superhuman Registration Act that puts him at odds with Captain America. While she appears more in the comic books than she does in the film, her role is still the same; she is the catalyst for the conversation that drives the movie. It is a small but pivotal role, and I am quite grateful to Marvel for getting one of my favorite character actresses to play it. Woodard is not especially high on "star wattage," and her casting is hardly the coup that getting the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Robert Redford and Michael Douglas to star in Marvel movies was, but I have always admired her work in the films in which I've seen her. Choosing her for this very powerful scene was an astute bit of casting on Marvel's part, suggested by Robert Downey Jr. himself, as she absolutely nails the scene.
3. More Globetrotting - While the film was only filmed in the United States and Germany, there were multiple locations within the story such as Lagos, Nigeria (played by Atlanta, Georgia), Vienna, Austria, Bucharest, Romania and Berlin, Germany (played by various locations in Berlin). There's also an exterior of a Siberian facility, which I think was shot in Iceland. I truly enjoy globetrotting movies, which I suppose is one reason I enjoy the James Bond and Jason Bourne movies as much as I do. It's not quite the travelogue that The Avengers: Age of Ultron was, with scenes shot in Italy, South Korea, South Africa and Bangladesh, but at least it went well beyond U.S. borders. I chuckled at the notion that there was a scene in a house in Cleveland, and I wondered if it had been shot in Germany, which would have been an interesting turnabout from the time that Cleveland "played" Germany in the very first Avengers film. Personally, I'm still holding out hope that Jeremy Renner can talk Marvel into shooting part of the next Avengers movie here in the Philippines considering he reportedly enjoyed his experience shooting The Bourne Legacy here.
2. The Fake-Out Climax - Among story tropes in superhero movies, there are few that are more grating these days than the old superheroes-get-tricked-by-a-bad-guy-into-fighting-but-resolve-their-differences-in-the-end-to-take-the-bad-guy-down trope. A very poorly-realized version of that trope played out in the atrocious Batman vs. Superman, and in the third act of Civil War, all indications were that something like that would play out here, when the story asserted, with some urgency, that the heroes had to stop Zemo from activating the other Winter Soldiers and taking over the world. However, even early in the story, something felt off. Zemo basically laid the bread crumbs for Captain America, Bucky and Iron Man to chase him to the base in Siberia where the final confrontation played out. While the filmmakers telegraphed hints that something was not quite right for anyone who was paying attention, the swell of heroic music that played as Iron Man resolved to help Captain America and Bucky out was more than enough to drown out the clues for anyone who wasn't. When it became painfully clear that there was no "big bad guy confrontation," as the super soldiers the good guys were supposed to fight had all been killed, the sense of dread was dialed all the way up, and the punch-up that followed the revelation that Bucky murdered Tony's parents felt all the more tragic.
1. A Member of an Ethnic Minority who ISN'T Somebody's Sidekick - For the comic book story of Civil War, Mark Millar turned to the detestable narrative cliche of killing a black guy for the sole purpose of contriving tension and "raising the stakes." What made this sin all the more unforgivable was that Millar basically dusted off a seldom-used character, the rather offensively-named Black Goliath for the specific purpose of having him murdered by a fake Thor (yes, it's as stupid as it sounds). The film maintains this somewhat hateful cliche by having War Machine suffer a near-death experience which leaves him partially paralyzed. I take scant consolation from knowing that they didn't kill him.
Also, I don't know if anyone at Marvel has been paying attention, but it seems that at least three of their major leads, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, ALL have black sidekicks, namely War Machine, Falcon and Heimdall, the last of whom who wasn't even black to begin with. Even the upcoming Doctor Strange seems to feature a "sidekick" character in the form of Baron Mordo, who was originally white and Strange's rival, but who is now played by the Afro-British Chiwetel Ejiofor and seems to be a distinctly second-fiddle character.
The Black Panther, however, is emphatically written as a character who will carry his own movie. The Black Panther movie has been in development hell for the better part of three decades, so it's really gratifying to see that Marvel have not only gotten the perfect actor for the role, but have given him a prominent role in what is shaping up to be one of their biggest blockbusters ever. I am supremely pumped up for his solo movie and hope it gets made with as much care as went into the creation of Civil War.
Marvel has put themselves in an interesting pickle with this film; how do they now get the gang back together for the upcoming Infinity War? Well, if that movie maintains the Russo's extraordinary standard of quality for these films, I for one would be only too happy to find out how that happens.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)