I'm a big X-Men fan, and absolutely loved X1 and X2. X3 was maybe my first massive movie letdown. Matrix Reloaded was bad, but not as disappointing as X-3.
I loved Days of Future Past, but I thought Apocalypse was a pretty big fail all around. It's a mildly entertaining movie, but adheres to the early-2000s formula in a big way. Turning fan-favorites into generic bodyguards (Archangel, Psylocke), everyone uses their powers at the same time to shoot lasers at the villain, an unnecessarily large cast of characters who don't get enough screen time, rampant destruction with no repercussions (I'm pretty sure Magneto destroyed Australia but he walks away scot-free), etc. This was the year where BvS and Civil War dealt with repercussions of superhero battles, btw, and Apocalypse just bulldozed through like it's nothing. Also, half-assed Jennifer Lawrence performance.
It's just a little sad, in a way. The X-Men cartoon had sprawling sagas and story arcs. You got to know the main cast well, but you also had episodes that brought in fan-favorites like Nightcrawler, Colossus, Iceman. Then in 2000, X-Men was at the forefront of the first superhero movie boom, and you got to see these characters brought to life on the big screen... even if your favorite characters never got enough focus (Cyclops) or weren't very accurate to the source material (Rogue).
But now, they're so far behind the times. They had a soft reboot halfway through, as well, so I'm not even used to seeing Sophie Turner as Jean Grey. The rest of the Marvel universe has a plan, but these guys are just kind of playing out the string, going through the same motions and waiting to be cancelled and rebooted into a better-planned universe a few years down the road. So I'm just ready to get it over with.
I loved Days of Future Past, but I thought Apocalypse was a pretty big fail all around. It's a mildly entertaining movie, but adheres to the early-2000s formula in a big way. Turning fan-favorites into generic bodyguards (Archangel, Psylocke), everyone uses their powers at the same time to shoot lasers at the villain, an unnecessarily large cast of characters who don't get enough screen time, rampant destruction with no repercussions (I'm pretty sure Magneto destroyed Australia but he walks away scot-free), etc. This was the year where BvS and Civil War dealt with repercussions of superhero battles, btw, and Apocalypse just bulldozed through like it's nothing. Also, half-assed Jennifer Lawrence performance.
It's just a little sad, in a way. The X-Men cartoon had sprawling sagas and story arcs. You got to know the main cast well, but you also had episodes that brought in fan-favorites like Nightcrawler, Colossus, Iceman. Then in 2000, X-Men was at the forefront of the first superhero movie boom, and you got to see these characters brought to life on the big screen... even if your favorite characters never got enough focus (Cyclops) or weren't very accurate to the source material (Rogue).
But now, they're so far behind the times. They had a soft reboot halfway through, as well, so I'm not even used to seeing Sophie Turner as Jean Grey. The rest of the Marvel universe has a plan, but these guys are just kind of playing out the string, going through the same motions and waiting to be cancelled and rebooted into a better-planned universe a few years down the road. So I'm just ready to get it over with.
