X-Men: Apocalypse Review

 

Despite being the fourth (and certainly not last) superhero film of the year, it is the first team based flick in which they have not turned on each other.

Bringing most of the original X-Men squad together from the sequel series, but this time as teenagers, they form to fight their most dangerous enemy yet.

Set 10 years after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters has acquired some new students, as well as the progression of other mutants, the relationship between man and mutant was at an all time low, but still not quite perfect. However, after sleeping for over 4000 years, Apocalypse rises and gathers four horsemen with a plan to not only take over the world, but to cleanse it of all undesirable beings. With the X-Men being out of action for a decade, the newest additions to the group will have to utilise their powers to save the world.

With the some of the actors returning from their war against the sentinels, the main characters should be familiar to audiences, including Charles Xavier (James McAvoy – Filth, Wanted), Magneto/Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs, Prometheus), Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games, Joy), Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult – Mad Max: Fury Road, Warm Bodies), Alex Summers/Havok (Lucas Till – Walk The Line, Stoker) and Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver (Evan Peters – Kick-Ass, American Horror Story).

Out of these returning characters, a particularly increased role goes to the previously fan favourite, Quicksilver. Further exploring his lightning speed abilities and the different ways of displaying them, it brings a new and refreshing style to it whilst maintaining the style seen in its predecessor. Along with the new talent and superpowers that are brought into this super-show, you’ll never get bored of watching the characters show off their skills, including a special guest appearance to round it off.

The newcomer ‘good-guy’ roster includes Cyclops/Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan – Joe, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner – Game of Thrones, Barely Lethal), Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner (Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Road, Let Me In) and Jubliee (Lana Condor).  On joining his brother Alex, Sheridan executed an emotionally engaging portrayal as Scott Summers, finally giving fans insight into his origins and gain a better understanding of him. The same can also be said for Turner as Jean Grey, bringing a similar style to that previously seen. Together they created a certain, more innocent chemistry than the first time around, not only due to the fact that they’re younger, but still trying to figure out their powers as well as who they really are. Continuing the portrayal of innocence, McPhee has brought a confused and reclusive mutant who desires to see the world. Jubilee on the other hand didn’t quite receive the screen time deserved for a character with such potential of which the studio decided to release the name of. Overall, the rookies brought a specific ‘coming-of-age’ quality to the film.

For the villain roster however, there are four significant newcomers, some of which would only be recognisable to fans of the franchise, with the main attraction being Oscar Isaac’s (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Ex Machina) unrecognisable transformation as the world’s first mutant, Apocalypse, an all powerful, increasingly growing in strength being with extinction level plans for the world. They say a film is only as good as its villains, and in this case Isaac gave his all to deliver the best possible performance. The first of his horsemen is a young Storm (Alexandra Shipp – Straight Outta Compton, Drumline: A New Beat), this time of an Egyptian nationality and fiery personality. This is followed by another debut, this time of iconic mutant Psylocke (Olivia Munn – Magic Mike, Deliver Us from Evil), who delivers the portrayal that fans could only hope for. Whilst she too did not receive the screen time that she deserved, what we received was worth it. The final new mutant villain is another familiar face and wings, (Arch)Angel (Ben Hardy – Eastenders), also making use of the minimal time received.

With the return of Magneto, once again turning to the dark side of morality, Xavier once again must turn to him, debating his decisions to do so. Despite having seen this before in every X-Men film, the portrayal of questioning the differences between right and wrong, and just how far your patience can be stretched until you snap, there is a distinct desperation and purpose towards Magneto’s character to make this even more emotive and effective.

With the new arrivals, it gave the studio the opportunity to give some characters a makeover, this time with a little more comic accuracy, definitely to the relief of die-hard comic fans.

As expected from the trailers, there is a huge amount of special effects within this film, with multiple scenes relying solely on them. Whilst some work beautifully and extremely effectively (such as buildings being disintegrated, and cities being torn apart), some don’t quite match up to modern expectations, however the majority enhance the experience to a new level, potentially to be viewed in IMAX for maximum enjoyment.

One of the hardest things about making a film that’s set in the past is ensuring the accuracy of every single detail matches and is time accurate. This is was requirement for it to be a convincing setting was met in true style, going that extra mile. Not only did it contain the right cars, box-ey television sets, cubist computers and costume, but included a bit of era-accurate pop culture, including the famous Michael Jackson Thriller jacket, as well as a nod to Return of the Jedi, showing how that little extra effort makes a film that bit more enjoyable. It also functions as a little treat for the adults in the audience growing up or living through the early eighties.

With a running time of 2 hours 24 minutes, it sometimes felt as if it was being dragged out to match the length of other hero films. This is due to the fact that it went through stages of being exciting, then dragging slightly, then exciting, then dragging slightly, then exciting. One thing that can be said for certain is that it not only had an incredibly strong opening, but also closed in an equally epic fight, combining a concept of Inception meets Armageddon, leaving you in awe.

As always with recent superhero films, the soundtrack packs just as much power as the narrative itself, with John Ottman returning to do so. With situation appropriate tones and timbre, each scene, and particularly the fight scenes, are made even more powerful and engaging by the atmospheric sounds that accompany them. Once again, there is even some nostalgic pop music, including a particular hit of Eurythmics.

Overall, X-Men: Age of Apocalypse is a fun and emotional ride of special effects and historic nostalgia, whilst also giving the true fans the close comic accuracy they finally deserve.

 

7.5/10

 

Watch the trailer here:

Steve Jobs Review

Steve Jobs is like his products, when it works it works really well, however when it takes to long to ‘load’ you become slightly impatient.

Helmed by drama genius and tension expert Danny Boyle (127 hours, Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later), Steve Jobs is a self-titled ‘behind-the-scenes’ biopic style film about the brains of one of the biggest brands in technological history. Jobs is played Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave, X-Men: First Class), the frontman of the film, guiding the drama ahead of his multiple clients and colleagues; the personal assistant Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet – Titanic, Divergent), his partner Steve ‘Woz’ Wozniak (Seth Rogen – The Interview, This is The End), the CEO John Sculley (Jeff Daniels – The Martian, Dumb and Dumber), the computer scientist Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg – Seven Psychopaths, Hugo), the ex Chrisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston – Inherent Vice) and the daughter Lisa (Makenzie Moss, Ripley Sobo, Perla Haney-Jardine).

Despite being a film, it is presented in the form of a theatre production; it pretty much takes place entirely on a stage, there is more drama than you expected it to have and is cut into three separate, but heavily linking acts. The weirdest thing about this structure and setting is that it works really well, in a way that most films wouldn’t be able to achieve.  The first act takes place in the 1984 Macintosh launch where everything begins, igniting multiple strands of drama and instantly introducing the key characters. The second part moves forwards four years to the 1988 launch of the already doomed NeXT system, continuing the issues from the first launch, only with new complications added. Finally, progressing a total of fourteen years we land in 1998 for the historical and iconic launch of the iMac, where, once again, the drama remains and with a larger gap of ten years since the last launch, even more new twists and turns (just to complicate things further) and explain these in the middle of already existing arguments.

The cinematography is simple, yet at the same time genius. Due to the films style of long, continuous scenes, the angles and take lengths manage to maintain your attention without making you dizzy from the constant changing of perspective.

Michael Fassbender is another further climbing A list actor who has had a run of pole-position roles.  Proving his worth, Fassbender puts his true persona aside to brilliantly portray the creative mastermind himself. Fassbender is known to be one of the kindest and thoughtful actors in Hollywood, and a favourite to work with among directors, yet ironically manages to show his talent by accurately showing the exact opposite traits in Jobs, who is known for his ‘lack of social skills’, to the say the least.  With a running time of 122 minutes, Fassbender manages to survive the entire length without even slightly drooping the act or letting the accent slip, but instead delves deeper into the character with every passing minute.  However it wasn’t just Fassbender that brought this film to life, the rest of the cast all brought their own attributes to build it up to its full potential.

The only real issue that I have with this film is the way that every occurrence with it is false in one way or another. As explained in this article (Spoiler Warning) by History vs Hollywood, very little of the film is accurate or actually happened. The previous spoiler warning also applies to the rest of this paragraph, however, it will not contain major spoilers. The film opens into an immediate dilemma at the 1984 Macinstosh launch whereby the Macintosh will not say ‘Hello’, automatically engages the audiences interest and exposes Jobs’ repellent personality. After about twenty minutes worth of panic and questioning whether or not it will work, they decide to slightly cheat and use a later version of the system for the demo.  As this is a key scene and sets the tone for the rest of the film, it was quite disappointing to hear that no instance of the sort happened during the Macintosh launch.  However, at the end of the day I am reviewing it on its ability as a film, as opposed to its historical accuracy.

As stated in previous posts, the score of a film is a vital piece that is often over-looked. However, in a similar style to that of The Man from U.N.C.L.E (and with the same composer), Daniel Pemberton shows his worth and artistic ability by creating a distinct link between score and the narrative. By this I mean that if you were to listen to the score on its own, it could almost instantly be identified as that of Steve Jobs. Pemberton achieved this by reverting back to the time of early computing, utilizing the ‘beep-boop’ and high frequency sounds associated with them, as well as a light synthesizer to to really hammer-home the setting of this film.  Also, as seen in the trailer, Jobs states, “I play the orchestra.” Because of this, a large portion of the score can be recognized as the work of an orchestra. Furthermore, he makes the magnificent decision of proving that less is more by strategically layering the timbre according to the situation.  The beauty of this soundtrack is the fact that even if you’re not a fan of listening to scores outside of the film, it is very soothing and uplifting to listen to.  Pemberton hits another home run.

As a film it works really well, however in terms of factuality and it being based on a real person its riddled with issues. It would work a lot better purely as fictional film as it would not have the expectations and history to fulfil and live up to. However for the same purposes it would not particularly work on its own as it would not have the automatic publicity of having one of the most famous technological , and the concept of a film just about a company leader with a coach-load of problems would not be quite as appealing.  Therefore it is faced with a paradoxical problem.

Overall, Steve Jobs is an entertaining drama that will grip you from start to finish, and despite its lack of historical accuracy will make you feel like you not only know the story, but also know Jobs and the rest of the group too.

 

8/10

 

Jeremy Irons and Brendan Gleeson join Assassin’s Creed

The Assassin’s Creed Movie cast keeps on growing in the form of Jeremy Irons (Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Lion King) and Brendan Gleeson (Edge of Tomorrow, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).

The two latest additions to the game-to-film adaptation are particularly impressive. As with most films the originate from video games, Assassin’s Creed has already had a lot of doubt cast upon it, and rightly so given the styles track record. However, the current casting choices should put a vast amount of minds at ease and hopefully re-install faith.

According to Deadline, the new additions will be taking on the father roles of the main characters.  Jeremy irons will reportedly be portraying the father of Marion Cotillard, whilst Gleeson will be play the father of Fassbender’s character (most likely Aguilar’s, as opposed to his modern day relative Callum Lynch). Assassin’s Creed is ignoring the generic curse of the adaptation trend and is herding up an all-star cast that is sure to impress, for previous information click here.

Assassin’s Creed is being directed by Justin Kurzel, created by New Regency and UbiSoft Motion Pictures and distributed by Fox. It is also being co-financed by RatPac and Alpha Pictures.  The long list of producers includes Frank Marshall, Arnon Milchan, Jean-Julien Baronnet, Conor McCaughan, Fassbender and Pat Crowley, with Bill Collage, Adam Cooper and Michael Lesslie responsible for the scripting.

Whilst Assassin’s Creed is scheduled to be released late December 2016, Irons will also be starring in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in March, taking on the role of Alfred Pennyworth, the butler of Ben Affleck’s vigilante billionaire Bruce Wayne/Batman.  Gleeson is sooner to be taking to the big screen alongside Chris Hemsworth in In the Heart of the Sea, which tells the tale of the 1820 event in which a whaling ship is preyed upon by a sperm whale, stranding its crew at sea for 90 days, thousands of miles from home.  Gleeson has also previously starred alongside Michael Fassbender in Tresspass Against Us which is currently in the post-production phase.

This news is also sure to gain the attention of the hit game’s fans, in preparation for the new release Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate which goes on sale later this month. Last week, a story trailer was released for the game, but it is not only the most cinematic trailer of the franchise to date, but also gives the fans insight into UbiSoft’s ability to make even a game look like an enticing film.

First look at Michael Fassbender in Assassin’s Creed

Introducing Callum Lynch as portrayed by Michael Fassbender.

What audiences can learn from this image before anything else is that the franchise’s big screen debut will be featuring a new character, this is due to the fact that fans would realise that this ‘uniform’ has not previously been worn by any assassins and that it is a completely new and original take on the ‘assassin style’. On the film’s announcement fans were questioning which assassin would be taking the lead, with Ezio as the favourite.  Although, with a new face it means that fans minds are at rest knowing that they do not have to worry about how the character is translated onto the big screen.

What we then learnt from Yahoo.com is that Fassbender will be playing the part of Callum Lynch, who discovers that he is a descendant of the secret Assassins society through unlocked genetic memories that allow him to relive the adventures of his ancestor, Aguilar, in 15th Century Spain. After gaining incredible knowledge and skills he’s poised to take on the oppressive Knights Templar in the present day. Also, it was announced that it will not simply be a big budget version of the game with a skin change and the same plot, but will instead tie-in with the game’s universe!

Joining Fassbender in this much anticipated flick is Marion Cotillard (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises), Ariane Labed (Before Midnight) and Michael Kenneth Williams (12 Years a Slave), and more to be announced. Assassin’s Creed is set to be released on 21 December 2016 in the US, and on 30 December 2016 in the UK.