X-Meh?

I saw X-Men: Apocalypse recently. It was a mess. An honest and entertaining mess, it’s clear director Bryan Singer cared, but a mess nonetheless. And it appears that reactions have been all-over, with some liking it, others hating it and a few caught in-between. But the fact that it’s reignited the dronings of “critics are biased” and “give _ back to Marvel” is really annoying, so I figured I’d talk about that.

First, some context: back in the 80’s, Marvel, the giant powerhouse we know today, was on the verge of bankruptcy. In order to save its reputation, the company decided to make movies. However, since Marvel didn’t have its own studio, like it does today, it auctioned off its characters to various studios. The contracts stipulated that if a film wasn’t in production every 7-8 years, the ownership would revert back to Marvel. This is why we ended up seeing names like Spider-Man and X-Men, both Marvel properties, under the Sony and 20th Century Fox logos.

As you’d expect, the big boom of superhero properties began as the 21st Century rolled on. Sadly, while some of these Marvel characters, namely Spider-Man and X-Men, managed to make for successful films, many, like The Punisher, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, The Hulk and Ghost Rider, failed to be successful critically or financially and others, like Namor and Man-Thing, never got off the ground. I know it’s more of a concern now with the advent of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but by the time Iron Man hit theatres in 2008 most of the Marvel properties that’d been outsourced had already reverted back to Marvel. To-date, Marvel owns or co-owns all of its properties save Fantastic Four and X-Men, both still owned by 20th Century Fox and don’t look to be given back in the foreseeable future. In short, it’s complicated.

This is where the fans come in. You see, it’s not enough that X-Men: Apocalypse was critically panned. Plenty of movies, particularly comic book adaptations, have been panned, so this is nothing new. The problem is that, even if the movie had been praised, it’s a property created by Marvel that isn't owned by them. Given how Marvel’s current goal is a world-building film continuity called “The Marvel Cinematic Universe”, that mutants aren’t present makes Marvel nerds unhappy; in fact, since two of these mutants, the Maximoff twins, are both mutants and general Marvel heroes, Marvel and Fox had to compromise and only focus on one each. Essentially, 20th Century Fox focuses on Quicksilver and his relationship with Magneto, aka his estranged father, while Marvel focuses on Scarlet Witch without mentioning her as a mutant at all.

And it drives Marvel fans insane, such that many are openly boycotting the X-Men continuity in hopes that it tanks and Marvel gets the property back. This includes looking for reasons to nitpick the films too: Wolverine is criticized for overshadowing the rest of the cast, the suits are criticized for not looking like the comics, the mutants are criticized for not being identical to their comic book counterparts, the list goes on. It’d be one issue if the movies were objectively awful, as in they didn’t do anything right, but given how four of them have been critically praised, while one of the remaining films was decently-received, it’s not that simple. X-Men, like Spider-Man in the early-2000’s, has translated quite well to film, so it’s easy to forgive the darker, grittier nature of the on-screen continuity because Bryan Singer-and, to a lesser extent, Matthew Vaughn-and company know what they’re doing.

Which leads to the first of my big questions: why are fans behaving like this? Is it a shame that X-Men isn’t back at Marvel? Yes. Would I like it to be? Again, yes. But whining that this “isn’t the X-Men I grew up with”, when it’s flexible enough to be open for interpretation, and demanding that it revert back to Marvel for a “true adaptation” is exactly why the general populace has a hard time taking nerds seriously.

Perhaps the biggest, and most-unfortunate, example comes from YouTube personality Bob Chipman’s review of X-Men: Apocalypse:

*Sigh* (Courtesy of moviebob.)

For clarity, I respect Bob Chipman immensely. I like a lot of his work, and I don’t usually mind when he rants about films he doesn’t like. I also realize that art is subjective, that it’s okay to disagree, and that the X-Men films have always been divisive. But claiming that the franchise doesn’t hold up is one problem, stating that people have an ironic attachment to something they haven’t seen in years is another, and the latter doesn’t sit well with me. I hear it frequently about non-Marvel movies, that people “only love them because of when they came out”, and that arrogant notion is one of my big no-nos in film criticism.

“But wait,” you’re thinking, “I’ve read your Tweets! Haven’t you done the same with other films that people like before too?” Firstly, guilty. Secondly, I’ve tried my hardest not to, usually apologizing when I have. And thirdly, I’ve never screamed “nostalgic/ironic love” for these movies when challenged by fans. I don’t do it for either of the Tim Burton Batman films, which I can’t stand, either of The Amazing Spider-Man films, which I can’t stand either, or anything else I don’t think is any good/holds up. Because that’s cocky and condescending, and Lord knows how much I hate that!

It doesn’t help that Bob’s tagline implies that we should “let it go already”. Why? Bob not liking the X-Men franchise, save one entry, doesn’t mean that my enjoyment of these films is a lie. And what if I don’t want to let go of X-Men? What if I think Fox has done a (mostly) great job? Am I harbouring an “ironic love” for this series too?

Thus is the slippery-slope of such a claim, as it presumes too much and understands too little. I haven’t seen the first two X-Men films in years, but I doubt they’d have fans if there was nothing to connect to. X-Men: Days of Future Past, on the other hand, I’ve re-watched recently, and it’s one of my favourite superhero films of all-time. And while X-Men: Apocalypse is plagued with pacing issues, character inconsistencies, occasionally weird structure choices and tonally-jarring detours and fan-service, it’s still enjoyable and has plenty of heartfelt and well-executed moments. Ironically, it’s the entry that Bob actually likes, X-Men: First Class, that I’m not terribly impressed by. But even then I enjoy it for what it is.

It’s doubly-frustrating because Bob’s love, and the superhero franchise most detractors seem to gravitate to, is the MCU. I like the MCU, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not flawless. It’s made slip-ups here and there in the areas Bob’s criticized the X-Men films for, yet it’s given a pass because the characters and character writing is consistently strong. That doesn’t mean, however, that I don’t think the franchise hasn’t already peaked qualitatively with Iron Man and creatively with The Avengers, or even that Thor: The Dark World isn’t a colossal waste of my time. The pool of criticism runs both ways.

Which isn’t to say the other side isn’t shameless either, leading to my next question of why people assume reviewers are biased toward the MCU. Are they really? Because as far as I know, most reviewers don’t know the nuances of Marvel licensing. They see a movie, give their thoughts and share said thoughts with the rest of the world. This shouldn’t be so hard to understand, right?

Enter Exhibit B:

"Disney has been continually paying critics to attack Non MCU movies. MCU movies are safe. They're not challenging at all. Just like a comic book movie is "supposed to be". They're not divisive or thought provoking. First they bashed Batman V Superman.They cleared BvS out of the way, gave Civil War (which wasn't a perfect film) an Oscar, now they're going to work on moving Apocalypse out the way...then they get offended when they're accused of accepting gifts. Deadpool would have also suffered the same fate however it was released in February and was not an immediate threat.”

Wow…

There’s a lot I could pick apart, but I’ll simply ask why someone decided this was petition-worthy. Why do you need critical approval to enjoy something? When has a score stopped a movie from resonating with someone personally? And why can’t we accept that maybe it’s okay to like trash? I enjoyed X-Men: Apocalypse, but I admit that it’s not great. Why I’d shout “conspiracy” is beyond me, especially since, unlike Fantastic Four, the X-Men franchise has actually had good movies over its lifetime.

Perhaps I’m overreacting. After all, X-Men is a property that’s often gotten too dark for its own good, including a moment where Kitty Pryde ripped Emma Frost’s heart from her chest (look that up, it actually happened) and another where Wolverine’s spine was ripped from his body (that actually happened too), and sometimes that grimness makes the franchise polarizing. And yeah, I do think people can overlook the flaws of the MCU, even the more-glaring ones (like how Guardians of the Galaxy has sexist undertones.) But both groups are being ridiculous, and that has to stop. Because it’s not healthy for the image we want to project.

And by the way, this idea that X-Men is boring because it ham-fists its message of prejudice? It was created by a socially-conscious Jew, so it’ll always be as political as Captain America. Then again, the real complainers probably won’t listen…