But now, sitting in cinema in front of big screen showing X-Men: Apocalypse, I felt awkward. Because even though I've enjoyed watching all of the X-Men franchise before (haven't seen Wolverines though), I left the cinema with mixed but mainly disappointed feelings.
I was drooling over Michael Fassbender with a beard - but still giggled and sighed at the hugely cliché I'm-a-good-man-I-found-love-oh-shit-they-died-now-I'll-destroy-the-world plot line. Many of the coolest characters (Psylocke, anyone?) didn't have almost any screen time. What about the mixed timeline that didn't have any sense at points? Characters didn't seem to be any older than before.
The worst thing, though, was the very awkward way they underlined the franchise. Lame jokes. Lame references. The movie seemed to shout WATCH ALL OF THE MOVIES ALL OF THEM WE ARE SO COOL AND FUNNY all over the place. It was not cool.
Because movies should work on their own. Because that's what I've always loved about X-Mens - they haven't felt like a money making machine.
The young actors really shined though - I had read an article on Empire, where they all told about their experience, but even without reading it beforehand it was very clear that this job was such a big deal for all of them. They gave their all. I've never really liked Jean Grey, but Sophie Turner (whom I admit to love unconditionally, but her skill was definitely not just my blind appreciation) showed a Phoenix that I couldn't help but admire.
There was a lot of potential, but it didn't deliver. I'm just hoping that the upcoming X-Men movies return to the quality we are used to.
