Cool. Then you have this guy to thank: You know, the same guy who is behind the camera for Days of Future Past and will be for Age Of Apocalypse.
Snail, why the fuck do you keep referring to the film as Age of Apocalypse? Singer himself has called it simply X-Men: Apocalypse, and you seem to be quite the follower of his and the franchise I just hope Singer and Fox aren't getting ahead of themselves here - let's not forget First Class was badfuckingass and that was not credited to Singer, but Matthew Vaughn. It just looks more and more to me like Singer gave up after X2, watched it crash and burn with The Last Stand and Origins, and then when Vaughn reinvigorated the franchise, Singer was all "oh, I never left, it's my baby". Remember that badass Superman movie before Man of Steel? Superman Returns? Bryan Singer, folks. The reason Marvel is kicking ass with its movies is its devotion to source material - making the film approachable to the sources' fans AND your casual moviegoer is something Marvel has accomplished, Iron Man 3's abomination aside (although I attribute that to Shane Black who has probably never touched a comic book in his life and just Wikipedia'd the names of people in the Iron Man universe).
I'm not a die-hard Singer supporter, but I'm the type of dude who likes to give credit where credit is due. Cause I fuckin' wanna bruh. But really, it's a force of habit when it comes to Apocalypse. When Singer left, the franchise was on a high note. X2 was the best superhero film next to Spider-Man 2, until Nolan's films came out. I don't see how FOX would be getting ahead of themselves placing their faith and efforts in hands of Singer and co. Continuing/ending the series with Apocalypse is as fitting as they could get. It's fucking Apocalypse. And that would be you interpreting the situation out of context. Singer was asked to return as producer for the project, and actually worked together closely with Vaughn throughout the production of the film as opposed to Nolan's role in Man of Steel. This was accounted for as 'First Class' was still in its early stages of preparation. As for 'First Class', I found it hilarious how well-received the film turned out to be. The flick was being critically panned online before it even saw the light of day. Even FOX funded the flick $140 mill, which was very low comparing to the franchise' predecessors (not to mention inflation). Working on a continuation to Donner's original Superman flicks was Singer's dream come true, those were the films he grew up on and although I too was also irked at his departure from X-Men at the time, you can't blame the guy. This was an opportunity of a lifetime. Moreover, despite how badly reviewed the flick is, the film was genuine in its presentation and was given the thumbs up personally by Richard Donner himself during production (behind the scenes on the Superman Returns DVD). That would be equivalent to your favorite singer telling you that you're an amazing singer and that you should sing live with him/her on stage for a show. If you have the right connections, experience and authority to do so, it's an easy task in this day and age. When the X-Men was first released, it was not a cake walk my friend. Singer took on a daunting task adapting one of Marvel's biggest titles. In an age where the best sources for inspiration, comparison, and examples within the genre included merely the Donner, Burton, and Schumacher Batman & Superman flicks? It's a wonder how the film didn't fall completely flat on its face. Hell, its a wonder how Singer's version of the X-Men was even greenlit after the extended toy commercials Schumacher presented. Moreover, he was the first to properly execute not one, but two films of which included the task of juggling an ensemble cast of characters within the superhero genre. During the late 90s and early 2000s, crushed color tones, and black leather was in, i.e. The Matrix, Blade, The One, etc. Unfortunately, studios and the market were not ready for bright colors and extremely out of this world action and adventure. A deeply faithful adaptation to a franchise like X-Men was nigh impossible when it was greenlit, and no filmmaker would have been able to execute a proper cinematic introduction to these heroes and villains. Singer was never faced with a win-win scenario when he signed on for the job, and nor would have any other director with a backbone of a proper storyteller. If he were to have gone the aesthetically faithful route the film may have ended up being another circus a-la Batman & Robin via pressure from toy companies and studio execs. The resulting film was a humble, thoughtful and elegant reintroduction into the superhero world for audiences worldwide. Singer was able to effectively tap into the core values that ran throughout the multi-layered world of the X-franchise despite the plethora of roadblocks he had in front of him. It was a proper re-imagining of the title and it told the world that superhero films could more than just men and women in bright tights beating each other up in the name of good or evil. Just because you are a director does not warrant you the authority to call ALL the shots, and in light of that, it is extremely unfair to place all the blame on Singer.
By the way, Bryan Singer announced that Rogue (Anna Paquin) has been cut from the movie, because the only scene she was in the movie was cut. ONLY ONE ROGUE SCENE? AND THEY CUT IT?
Actually no, that's not accurate. Singer was heavily involved with First Class from the get go, as a producer and writer, he was on set quite a lot. In fact he was set to direct the film before Warner Bros forced him to fulfill a contract he had with them for one more film (Jack the Giant Slayer). As well as that, he didn't just leave after X1 & X2's critical, fan & financial success. Fox, for some absurd reason(Tom Rothman, then head of the studio, he's gone now though) kept dicking him around, not signing him on for X3, not wanting to give him the budget he wanted (which they ended up spending anyway because of a rushed production). WB swooped in and offered Singer a huge budget and free reign to make the Superman movie he always wanted (it didn't work out but that's another conversation). Though he was willing to do both, Fox wouldn't wait and pushed ahead without him. Jackman wanted Singer to do XO: Wolverine, Singer declined. Fox came to their senses after the seeing the gigantic wastes of time X3 & XOW ended up being, and got Singer back on board with XFC. When Vaughn left Days of Future Past, Singer was the first person they called to step in to direct. Now Singer has the writers of X2 back on board to write Apocalypse. I take it your "abomination" comment is aimed at the Mandarin portrayal? I don't read the comics myself, but I know enough about the Mandarin to know it's not an abomination or betrayal of the comics, though some people would insist it is. Given the various, wildly different incarnations (http://marvel.wikia.com/Mandarin#Alternate_Reality_Versions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandarin_(comics)#Other_versions ), and especially given recent portrayals have the Mandarin as a suave business man manipulating things from the shadows (sound familiar?), I find the faux outrage surrounding IM3 to be absurd. Moreover IM3's take is just very clever. The original comic Mandarin is a racist Asian stereotype/ yellow-peril caricature created by an American man, playing on the US tensions with the east. Black moves all that into the movie where an American man, Killian, creates an evil terrorist warlord character using various racial stereotypes (Osama beard, Samurai topknot, incense, dragon iconography, as well as the "hoo ra!" America stuff and echoes of Ledger's Joker, etc) to provide away of taking advantage of his failed experiments and a target for the public to hate and fear, as he tries to get a wrangle on both ends of the war on terror. The way it was executed cleverly subverted the post-Nolan expectations of the audience, as well as being a commentary on corporate/media created boogeymen. If Marvel didn't like what Black was doing they would have blocked him from doing it. BTW, Black grew up reading comics (including Iron Man), another of which, Doc Savage, is his next film. -------- $160m actually, second highest budget for an X-film at the time. X-Men - $75m X2 - $110m X3 - $210m XOW - $150m XFC - $160m TW - $120m Days of Future Past is being touted as Fox's second most expensive production behind Avatar. Not really.
All I'm saying is, I feel like the MCU films are vastly more approachable than what Sony's doing with Spider-Man or Fox with X-Men - not that any of them are particularly bad films, the obvious ones aside. I actually love the X-Men movies, even The Last Stand if I'm in the mood for it, but Marvel has something going for them that gets people of nearly every age stoked to go see what's going down with Iron Man and/or friends. Not to be sexist or anything, but I've never known more girls to tell me who their favorite Avenger is and it's suddenly cool to do so - those same girls know "the wheelchair guy, Hottie Jackman, and the guy who can 'zap' around" - I'm not attempting to bash the X-Men franchise, I'm just saying they're missing a key link that would help expand the attention. However, I myself am unaware of what it is exactly. It's like knowing the recipe is missing a key ingredient but you can't put your finger on it.
I fucking loved First Class but I just can't seem to get excited for this with them tying it back to the original movies. I think that First Class should have been a complete reboot for the series.
The Sentinel X design is great. Kind of creepy and unsettling. Apparently it's bio-mechanical. Some of the covers were really poor, like Havoks or Toads, other were really cool though;
I hope Colossus has more lines, though. I'm glad to know Kitty Pryde has a larger role in this movie.
Quicksilver looks less bad in the trailer, but still pretty damn bad haha. Nonetheless, I'm excited for this movie!
I lost interest so long ago in this franchise and this hasn't helped bring it back. First Class did, and then Bryan Singer came back in full, and I'm out.