"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He got that one from the bible...Or the bible got it from him."
The first trailer for 2016's
X-Men: Apocalypse is here.
Apocalypse is the sixth film in the main
X-Men franchise and the third film in the prequel trilogy, picking up where
X-Men: Days of Future Past left off. As I've previously stated in my
review for the film,
Days of Future Past was the best comic book film of 2014, besides
Captain America: The Winter Soldier. It was also on par with
X-Men: First Class as the greatest film in the
X-Men franchise. The
X-Men franchise as a whole has had a rather impressive line up, despite the embarrassments that are
X-Men: The Last Stand and
X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Sure, the early films took quite a bit of liberties with the source material, but so did almost every comic book film of the early to mid-2000s.
As the times have changed, the
X-Men films have become much more like the comics, from the introduction of the classic yellow costumes in
X-Men: First Class to Ice Man finally using the full extent of his abilities as the Sentinels debut in
Days of Future Past. The series looks to take another leap forward in 2016 with
Deadpool and, of course,
Apocalypse. But regardless of source material, nearly every film in the franchise has been a good one, with the best of which being at least on par with most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaking of the classic yellow costumes, I was a little let down when they didn't appear in the trailer. This obviously isn't something that will break the film, but it's still a minor inconvenience. Of course, there's still a chance that they may appear in the film. The costumes in trailer aren't bad, but they aren't exactly groundbreaking either. The main black armoured costumes aside, I can definitely say that the film has nailed the designs of the characters. Michael Fassbender looks and dresses like a young Ian McKellen, Apocalypse looks much more like Apocalypse than early photos gave him credit for, and many of the characters looked like they were ripped straight off the page (Jubilee, Professor X, Cyclops, Storm, ETC). And even those who didn't are still immediately recognisable, such as Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, and Arch Angel. I appreciate that the film's over all look is very reminiscent of the 1990s animated series, which is appropriate considering it takes place in the decade prior.
It's exciting to see Quicksilver make his return. Evan Peters is easily the best live action Quicksilver so far, with his brilliant energetic performance of the character which, along with great writing and visuals, made him a highlight of
Days of Future Past. In the film, it looks like we will be seeing more layers to the character, as he appeared very anxious in the trailer. Many have been complaining about Sophie Turner's performance as Jean Grey in the trailer based of a five second snippet. Personally, I'm going to need to see more before I have a full opinion on it. The same can be said for most of the newcomers shown in the trailer.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the trailer is Apocalypse himself. It's great that Fox is no longer
making Magneto and William Stryker the villains in every
X-Men film.
Days of Future Past introduced Bolivar Trask and the Sentinels, and now we will be seeing Apocalypse. After watching the trailer, it is clear that the X-Men have never faced a villain of this scale before. The stakes are higher than ever now that the entire world is at stake. The film is portraying Apocalypse as this god-like figure, and the franchise is going through uncharted territory as it explores ancient mutants. For the first time in a while, I watched a villain in the
X-Men films and thought "Wow, how are they going to beat this guy?" From the little we saw of Oscar Isaacs' performance, the character came across very menacing, though I once again need to see more to form a full opinion.
I do hope that we see some of the original cast members, such as Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, make an appearance in the film. This film is set to be the final film in the series' prequel trilogy (but certainly not the final film in the series as a whole), so it will be interesting to see them continue to mold the new timeline that formed at the end of
Days of Future Past. The formation of the new timeline in
Days of Future Past was absolutely brilliant, as it not only erases every continuity problem but also allows the franchise to go anywhere at this point. It certainly boosted the longevity of the franchise, and from the looks of
Deadpool and
Apocalypse, it certainly seems worth it.
Over all, I don't have any major problems with the trailer, or the film as a whole at the moment. This is easily one of my most anticipated films of 2016. Let's hope it can live up to the hype.