X-Men: Apocalypse!
So, yesterday, I went to an X-men Triple Bill ending with X-Men: Apocalypse at five past midnight.
And it was AWESOME. :D :D :D
Well, most of it was anyway, Let's start with what I wasn't so fond of to get that over it.
- Our first shot of Raven, an upwards pan of her in a short skirt and skimpy top. Yes, thank you guys, veeeeery nice, for a moment there, I thought we were right back in all the worst bits of First Class (didn't happen though, phew!)
- Jean and Logan's meeting. That was ... I don't know. It's not necessarily as skeevy as it felt to me - after all, the future is now totally different, we've no idea that the relationship will actually be like in this future but given what we have, it felt a bit creepy and wrong to me. I liked that she was able to help him a bit, I liked the amusement of Scott going "Welp, we'll never see him again!" but overall, I would rather we hadn't had it go down quite that way. It just didn't work for me.
Then things that I didn't dislike but had complex feelings over.
- Quicksilver's rescue of everyone in the mansion was brilliant - but at the same time, it was too much trying to recreate a scene that was awesome in DoFP and it therefore felt a bit self-indulgent and a bit too long. It wasn't terrible or anything and there were some great moments but it grated on me just because I was all "Yes, you did this, it was great then, it's good now but ... you did this ... " (I may have been alone there, the rest of the cinema was laughing a lot!)
- Erik's dead wife and child. It's one of those things - I automatically wince because it's very much a trope and it's very much a trope that I hate - but at the same time, if you're going to do this trope, this is how to do it, in my opinion. I knew they were going to die the minute I saw them and yet it worked thematically and they felt right somehow and good and Michael Fassbender's devastation sold it, in my opinion.
(also, it is a comic book movie and I'm pretty sure this happened in the comics somewhere.)
And then stuff that made me very, very happy. :) (okay, actually, most of it made me very, very happy but this is stuff I felt like babbling about!)
- Moira got her memories back! And Charles said he was sorry and mostly knew that he'd been a dick (it didn't get rid of all the plotholes around this - in fact, it added one, in First Class, the implication is that Moira remembers meeting them all, she just doesn't know where they went when they left the CIA (which also doesn't make sense because Trask has Charles's dissertation which they know is by a mutant and will have Charles's name on it and his last name is Xavier and his school is called Xavier and I JUST THINK THEY KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, OKAY?!) But who cares, Moira has her memories again and when they're in less of a bad place, she'll give Charles a good talking to and he'll apologise some more and WOO!)
- Apocalypse was brilliant. Oscar Isaac gives him a magnificent presence, he plays it with just the right dark, seductive, creepy vibes and it was perfect, I thought all of it was excellently done.
- I actually liked Erik. In fact, I liked him and felt wrecked for him, I ended the film wanting him to have supportive cuddles and love. He made some good choices and he did it brilliantly and dramatically and without abandoning everything he's ever believed. It was wonderful and I felt so sorry for him and like him much better overall.
- I loved that Quicksilver did not tell Erik he was his father. I thought that was so much better than if he had - it wasn't about a replacement family, it was about the family Erik already had and has always been building.
- Hank's expression when Raven is all "I am here about Erik." You can practically see him going "The field of fucks that I give about Erik is barren. Look at these fucks I don't give. Look at them, Raven." Which is not even remotely surprising really and was just brilliantly done. Also, he was happier and was so pleased when Scott called him a genius and he was epic and brave and mostly chill about his blue fuzziness and oh, he was great and I was so pleased.
- Scott and Jean and Kurt. AAAAAAAAAAAAH ADORABLE ADORABLE ADORABLE. I loved how they did Scott and Jean, it was a beautiful slow-build without trying to ridiculously big-up a relationship they couldn't possibly have formed in the short period of time and they were both fun and charming. And Kurt was BRILLIANT. I always forget how much I like him till I'm watching him and he was a BLESSING and I would like to think that they have a happy threesome later on.
- Raven's depression - which is what it kind of was - worked so well for me. It's that feeling, that the world moves so slowly and there's so much to do, of course she's slowly burning out (particularly as she's been on her own for so long) I was so happy she stayed at the end, I think she could do really good things in
- CHARLES. Charles was lovely and nice to Scott and funny and goofy and then he suffered terribly. Pretty much all I needed (and you know, he talked to Hank a lot and they were affectionate!)
- Shallowly, this fulfilled all the needs I have for a canon I'm currently writing fic for. Space to fill in my own things? Check. Ships still sailing? Check. Possibility of new lovely ships? Check. Angst? Yep yep yep. Happy ending? YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES.
I actually kind of hope they don't make any more. I felt they wrapped up the story so well and it ended so positively that I just almost don't want a sequel (I know we're getting Wolverine 3 but they're kind of separate entities.) I'm just ... really, really happy with this as a finish. It wrapped up the plot, it wrapped up the story and I'm content.
Oh, but Jean Grey is wrong about Return of the Jedi. So there. :)
One thing though, whoever decided to shoot a shot through a wire fence and then allowed it to be a 3D film needs to be killed. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, WHY, NOW ALL I CAN SEE IS WIRE FENCE!!!! (although 3D sucks anyway, I give up on being nice to it. No, it sucks, no more of that!)
This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/165967.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.
And it was AWESOME. :D :D :D
Well, most of it was anyway, Let's start with what I wasn't so fond of to get that over it.
- Our first shot of Raven, an upwards pan of her in a short skirt and skimpy top. Yes, thank you guys, veeeeery nice, for a moment there, I thought we were right back in all the worst bits of First Class (didn't happen though, phew!)
- Jean and Logan's meeting. That was ... I don't know. It's not necessarily as skeevy as it felt to me - after all, the future is now totally different, we've no idea that the relationship will actually be like in this future but given what we have, it felt a bit creepy and wrong to me. I liked that she was able to help him a bit, I liked the amusement of Scott going "Welp, we'll never see him again!" but overall, I would rather we hadn't had it go down quite that way. It just didn't work for me.
Then things that I didn't dislike but had complex feelings over.
- Quicksilver's rescue of everyone in the mansion was brilliant - but at the same time, it was too much trying to recreate a scene that was awesome in DoFP and it therefore felt a bit self-indulgent and a bit too long. It wasn't terrible or anything and there were some great moments but it grated on me just because I was all "Yes, you did this, it was great then, it's good now but ... you did this ... " (I may have been alone there, the rest of the cinema was laughing a lot!)
- Erik's dead wife and child. It's one of those things - I automatically wince because it's very much a trope and it's very much a trope that I hate - but at the same time, if you're going to do this trope, this is how to do it, in my opinion. I knew they were going to die the minute I saw them and yet it worked thematically and they felt right somehow and good and Michael Fassbender's devastation sold it, in my opinion.
(also, it is a comic book movie and I'm pretty sure this happened in the comics somewhere.)
And then stuff that made me very, very happy. :) (okay, actually, most of it made me very, very happy but this is stuff I felt like babbling about!)
- Moira got her memories back! And Charles said he was sorry and mostly knew that he'd been a dick (it didn't get rid of all the plotholes around this - in fact, it added one, in First Class, the implication is that Moira remembers meeting them all, she just doesn't know where they went when they left the CIA (which also doesn't make sense because Trask has Charles's dissertation which they know is by a mutant and will have Charles's name on it and his last name is Xavier and his school is called Xavier and I JUST THINK THEY KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, OKAY?!) But who cares, Moira has her memories again and when they're in less of a bad place, she'll give Charles a good talking to and he'll apologise some more and WOO!)
- Apocalypse was brilliant. Oscar Isaac gives him a magnificent presence, he plays it with just the right dark, seductive, creepy vibes and it was perfect, I thought all of it was excellently done.
- I actually liked Erik. In fact, I liked him and felt wrecked for him, I ended the film wanting him to have supportive cuddles and love. He made some good choices and he did it brilliantly and dramatically and without abandoning everything he's ever believed. It was wonderful and I felt so sorry for him and like him much better overall.
- I loved that Quicksilver did not tell Erik he was his father. I thought that was so much better than if he had - it wasn't about a replacement family, it was about the family Erik already had and has always been building.
- Hank's expression when Raven is all "I am here about Erik." You can practically see him going "The field of fucks that I give about Erik is barren. Look at these fucks I don't give. Look at them, Raven." Which is not even remotely surprising really and was just brilliantly done. Also, he was happier and was so pleased when Scott called him a genius and he was epic and brave and mostly chill about his blue fuzziness and oh, he was great and I was so pleased.
- Scott and Jean and Kurt. AAAAAAAAAAAAH ADORABLE ADORABLE ADORABLE. I loved how they did Scott and Jean, it was a beautiful slow-build without trying to ridiculously big-up a relationship they couldn't possibly have formed in the short period of time and they were both fun and charming. And Kurt was BRILLIANT. I always forget how much I like him till I'm watching him and he was a BLESSING and I would like to think that they have a happy threesome later on.
- Raven's depression - which is what it kind of was - worked so well for me. It's that feeling, that the world moves so slowly and there's so much to do, of course she's slowly burning out (particularly as she's been on her own for so long) I was so happy she stayed at the end, I think she could do really good things in
- CHARLES. Charles was lovely and nice to Scott and funny and goofy and then he suffered terribly. Pretty much all I needed (and you know, he talked to Hank a lot and they were affectionate!)
- Shallowly, this fulfilled all the needs I have for a canon I'm currently writing fic for. Space to fill in my own things? Check. Ships still sailing? Check. Possibility of new lovely ships? Check. Angst? Yep yep yep. Happy ending? YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES.
I actually kind of hope they don't make any more. I felt they wrapped up the story so well and it ended so positively that I just almost don't want a sequel (I know we're getting Wolverine 3 but they're kind of separate entities.) I'm just ... really, really happy with this as a finish. It wrapped up the plot, it wrapped up the story and I'm content.
Oh, but Jean Grey is wrong about Return of the Jedi. So there. :)
One thing though, whoever decided to shoot a shot through a wire fence and then allowed it to be a 3D film needs to be killed. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, WHY, NOW ALL I CAN SEE IS WIRE FENCE!!!! (although 3D sucks anyway, I give up on being nice to it. No, it sucks, no more of that!)
This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/165967.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.