Double Feature: The Rise of Fox

Okay, so I know I said this was only going to be about Deadpool, but as it happens I'm like, woefully behind on my movie reviews, and I need to pound out a bunch if I don't want to get so discouraged that I stop altogether.
With that in mind, we're going to be looking at two of Fox's most recent superhero movies, Deadpool, and X-men: Apocalypse.

Deadpool
Deadpool's first cinematic appearance in X-men: Origins was...disappointing, to say the least.

Extremely disappointing.

The biggest disappointment being, of course, that they SEWED HIS MOUTH SHUT. Anyone familiar with Deadpool's character from the comics will know that this was an extreme tactical error on Fox's part.

His tagline is 'the merc with the mouth'. Like, I'm not trying to tell anybody how to do their job, but MAYBE sewing Deadpool's mouth shut was like THE WORST IDEA EVER.

So, of course, when Fox announced they were going at it again, with a solo-movie, people were nervous. The leaked test footage caused quite an enthusiastic uproar, and there was hope. While opinions were split on whether or not Ryan Reynolds was the right choice, I think the movie speaks for itself.

Deadpool (2016) was hilarious and violent, and done in a way to really do justice to the character. Ryan Reynolds was pretty much born to play this role, and while his character was weaksauce in X-men: Origins, he came back in full force to remind us that he was the right choice. It followed the traditional superhero movie format; origin story, how he got his powers, etc. It was, however, refreshingly comedic. Deadpool opens up the doors for superhero movies that has been previously un-dealt with: the idea of superhero movies being more than just a genre. Picture a detective thriller starring Batman. A buddy cop film with Spiderman and Deadpool. A sci-fi adventure with The Guardians of the Galaxy. The possibilities are endless, and Deadpool, by being largely a comedy in nature, exposes that. We are bored to tears with the traditional 'superhero gets their powers, has a crisis of faith, figures their shit out' format of superhero movies. Let's move on.

The only thing I would say as a negative for Deadpool was that the most successful part of the film was the marketing campaign. It was nothing but hype from the release of the test footage to the actual release. That being said, I found that they used all their best moments from the movie for the trailers, leaving none of the good stuff for the movie. Not to say that the movie was bad, but it definitely left me waiting for something more.Good thing there's a sequel!

Which takes us to X-men: Apocalypse, the third installment in Fox's semi-reboot (which makes it like the 10th X-men movie or something ridiculous like that).

Professor X and the gang are back at it, this time tackling the mutant god Apocalypse. We are re-introduced to the X-men we know and love, like Jean Grey, Cyclops, Nightcrawler...Jubilee? People liked her, right? Right? guys?

As much as you can like someone who's powers are getting into trouble and shooting fireworks out of her fingers

When I'm writing these reviews, I tend to glance over other online reviews to see where the favor lies. X-men: Apocalypse is split right down the middle. Some reviewers hail it as an excellent movie, but one made specifically for fans. Others feel that it had potential, but fell short. Others think it sucked completely. I fall somewhere between the last two camps. 

The danger was never real. At no point in the movie did you wonder if our heroes would actually succeed. And I know, it's the ninth X-men movie, of course they're going to succeed. On a deeper level, we all know that the good guys are going to win. But make them work for it, at least. Apocalypse's take down was almost too easy, we never feel like victory is secure for him. His horsemen were also a huge amount of wasted potential. Their recruitment is rushed and forced; the movie makes a point of mentioning that Apocalypse doesn't have any mind control powers, so he literally enlisted them with his winning smile and charismatic personality. 

Such charisma

The lack of mind control powers on Apocalypse's part make his relationship with his horsemen even stranger, not enough time passes for them to have even a modicum of loyalty towards him. This relates back to his too-easy defeat, when Psylocke and Storm pretty much peace out and Magneto flip flops his way back into Charles' heart. Given how powerful they are, None of the horsemen were really given a chance to show exactly what they could do, with the exception of our favourite metal bender. Like seriously, Storm is my favourite character ever, don't 1. use her Ultimate backstory (she is an African Queen goddammit, don't you dare reduce her to a common criminal SHE IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN THAT), and 2. don't have her chicken out of the last fight. Storm (and Psylocke, who was pretty much just there to show off her butt-cheeks) is one of the most powerful mutants on the planet. That battle would have looked a lot different if Storm had decided to call down the unholy wrath of Zeus like, even twice.

This brings us to the biggest problem of the movie for me, which is Magneto. Now, as if Erik hasn't been dealt a shitty enough hand as it is (lost his family in Auschwitz, was in a concentration camp, ended up being directly responsible for crippling his best friend), SPOILER ALERT, he settles down with a human woman in this movie, has a child, and then watches them both get murdered. His anger at humanity, and even his siding with Apocalypse, is completely understandable. What is not understandable is his flip-floppity attitude. In the First Class reboot franchise, Magneto is a character that lacks conviction. All the movies to date can be summed up by "Kill all humans...but Charles is my friend! Kill all humans...But friendship!"

Now, according to the official Marvel timeline, Magneto would technically be 60 in this movie, but, since Michael Fassbender's character is clearly not that old, let's say 50 (that would give him time to be 10 in 1940 and feasibly have been in Auschwitz before it was shut down in 1945). If Magneto is not convinced that humanity is evil and not worth saving at this point in his life, he is never going to reach Sir Ian McKellen's level of "let's turn every human into a mutant and unleash Dark Phoenix because screw you Charles". Michael Fassbender is not doing a poor job of portraying the character, but he has been given a poor character to portray. I want to see Magneto commit to a direction and stay the course, even if it means screwing over Charles. He needs to stop going back and forth, it weakens his strength as a villain. 

Overall, I feel that X-men: Apocalypse relied too heavily on flashy visuals and not heavily enough on a solid story. It wasn't a terrible movie, but it was nothing to write home about either. I'd also strongly recommend re-watching X-men: First Class before this one, because they reference back to it a lot.

Now that I've finally got the ball rolling again, I'll be doing The Witch, which was deeply loved by critics and generally not so much by general audiences.

~Sassa