X-Men Apocalypse: Final Trailer review
With a month left until the release of the film, Fox has dropped the final X-Men Apocalypse trailer. This trailer shows many of the awesome action bits that the other promos showed – with the earth under the throws of a literal (computer generated) apocalypse under the hands of the first known mutant ever, the trailer offers to help dispel away some of the hesitations some fans have had with the direction of the story.
Perhaps the biggest of these is Magneto’s role in the film. We knew from the previous ads and posters that he would be one of Apocalypse’s four horsemen. Yet, with Magneto being perhaps one of the most developed and rounded characters in the X-Men films, a character who acts solely based on his beliefs, there was some concern from fans as to how he came to be simply a “follower” of Apocalypse. Perhaps he was mind controlled?
Well, true fans of this franchise hate this idea – Magneto is too important a character for his motivations in the new film to be expunged in favor of mind control. Fortunately, this trailer makes it clear that this is not the case, in a scene where Charles Xavier pleads with him to not join Apocalypse.
We also get a more about Quicksilver in this trailer, and it seems obvious that he will be doing more in this film than he did in 2014’s Days of Future Past, as he has his own motivations for investing his efforts here, whereas his mission in the previous film seemed to be (at least from his perspective) for fun. He is doing it to help stop Magneto, his father. Yes, that little referential Easter egg in the last film where the relationship between the two characters that exists in the comic book but was only insinuated to a great punch line in that film is now made explicit in the new trailer: Magneto is Quicksilver’s father.
And the trailer continues to check off the boxes of doubt and wonderment that have confounded the fans. Add to that list a bit more insight as to why Mystique has gone from mere villain’s sidekick to good guy to the transition to leader in this film. After all, it’s in the marketing campaign’s best interest to insure us that her expanded role isn’t just because she is played by Oscar-winner Jennifer Lawrence. Apparently the students at Xavier’s school look up to her, and she can teach them to fight, and to unleash their gifts. It seems all their gifts will be necessary to defeat an enemy that is basically a god.
Of course, it’s up to you, the viewer to decide if this character’s role would be so sizable if she was not played by Lawrence.
Which brings us to our final morsel of curiosity that this trailer clears up for us: will Wolverine appear in this film? He has not been a part of the marketing, at all, for this film, at least not until now, when the trailer ends showing his clawed hand after a bunch of bad guys are dispensed with.
Most of the true fans of this franchise were probably as certain of the fact that director Bryan Singer would call Hugh Jackman to reprise the role, even just for a cameo, for this film, as Jackman has been there since the beginning, and will be be (supposedly) ending his stint as Wolverine in the next solo-Wolverine film (slated for next year). Yet, it’s a good bet that the studio initially wanted to sell this film on its own merits, since the character would not be driving the story. The studio took this approach for X-Men First Class, and Wolverine’s cameo in that film, in addition to making perfect sense within the context of that story, was kept under wraps until the film’s release. Yet, with a lot of fierce competition from other comic book films this year, as well as some uncertainty from even X-Men fans as to whether this film will deliver the good, the studio made the decision not only to reveal (in a very “oh Spider-Man’s in Civil War”-like tag at the end of the trailer) that he appears but what his role might.
Here’s hoping against hope that his role will be more substantive than helping a few of the heroes out of a jam and killing a bunch of bad guys in the process.
Overall, the new trailer is the strongest one yet, but somehow it is not as compelling – thematically- as the trailers for the last film were. Days of Future Past brought two generations of the X-Men franchise together in a cautionary tale of the use of weapons of war, and managed to highlight themes of regret and prejudice in a way that was wholly compelling, while the new film may suffer from CGI-overload. There’s a bit too much crammed into each each frame, and many shots are a bit over-lit. In the superhero film renaissance, X-Men films have stayed true by being more about strong themes and compelling stories, not an over abundance of destruction. We hope that film will be able to stir in some relevance in recipe of visual carnage.
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