X-Men: Apocalypse is the 170th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell and Andy Signore. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 2016 superhero sequel film X-Men: Apocalypse. It was published on October 11, 2016, to coincide with the film's release on home video and Blu-ray. It is 3 minutes 53 seconds long. It has been viewed over 4.9 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - X-Men: Apocalypse on YouTube
"There's one thing this movie makes crystal clear: Deadpool is all Fox has left." ~ Honest Trailers - X-Men: Apocalypse
Script[]
From Bryan Singer, the director who successfully launched the X-Men, left when things got bad [X-Men: The Last Stand], came back after Matthew Vaughn fixed it [X-Men: First Class], and sorta tied it all together [X-Men: Days of Future Past], comes the next installment in the franchise...and it's bad again.
X-Men: Apocalypse
Strap in for the sequel to the sequel to the reboot-prequel that continues the decade-hopping gimmick for no reason…
Ororo Munroe: Welcome to the ‘80s.
…as the timeline they'd more or less sorted out in the last movie completely craps the bed, featuring characters who haven't aged a day in 21 years, characters who have ten years before they look like Patrick Stewart, and characters where they just said "F*ck it, Hugh Jackman's gonna be in this thing whether it makes sense or not.". But there's one thing this movie makes crystal clear: Deadpool is all Fox has left.
Deadpool: I know, right?
Forget what you know about the X-Men from the comics, animated series, or previous movies, because so did Bryan Singer, as Cyclops is a rebel for some reason, Psylocke is an evil...bodyguard?...Angel is a Russian cage fighter...?...and Mystique is the team leader? Whaaa? Wasn't she evil, like, one movie ago?
Mystique: GET OUT OF MY HEAD, CHARLES!
But, hey, at least no one says Jubilee's name out loud. That's an X-Men movie tradition.
Watch all your favorite X-Men gather together...in the background of another Mystique movie. The villain who is proud of her blue skin is back, and now her character is the exact opposite, because Jennifer Lawrence is super-famous and she's really tired of sitting in makeup for hours on end. But she's not the only blue mutant with better things to do. Oscar Isaac's Apocalypse has arrived, and he looks terrible. Thrill at his plan to become immortal by using the plot of the movie Cocoon while gathering the four strongest mutants of his age -- or just whoever he happens to bump into -- as he unleashes his powers of learning…
Apocalypse: Learning…
…disintegrating people with a single thought, and never using that power again. Hm, for a guy out to cleanse the world, you'd think he'd try that move more than once. Stop standing around and melt someone with your magic sand already!
Ride along on this epic story of Apocalypse trying to conquer the world and the X-Men trying to stop him and...eh, well, that's, that's it. That's, that's the whole plot right there.
So if you love the X-Men movies, get ready, because this one is going through all the obligatory motions, with another Wolverine origin, another Quicksilver sequence, another aborted Phoenix Saga, and the old standby: Charles and Erik being friends, becoming enemies, and becoming friends again.
(shows clips from the 2000 X-Men film and X-Men: Apocalypse with identical dialogue)
Old Magneto, Young Magneto: What do you do when you wake up to that?
Old Charles Xavier, Young Charles Xavier: I feel a great swell of pity for the poor soul who comes to that school looking for trouble.
Uhhh, Charles, your buddy there killed, like, millions of people this time. Maybe pick a new frenemy?
Starring... Ross and Rachel (Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto and James McAvoy as Charles Xavier/Professor X); Slumber Games (Jennifer Lawrence as Raven Darkhölme/Mystique); Blue on Blue Violence (Apocalypse attacking Mystique); All Filler, No Thriller (Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler); The Opera Singer from The Fifth Element (Oscar Isaac as En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse); Kid Vid (Evan Peters as Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver); Sans a Storyline (Sophie Turner as Jean Grey); Negasonic Teenage Dickhead (Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers/Cyclops); Featured Extras (Ben Hardy as Angel, Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe/Storm, Olivia Munn as Psylocke, and Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler); and...It's Getting Old Man Logan (Hugh Jackman as James "Logan" Howlett/Wolverine).
Honest title for X-Men: Apocalypse - X-Men: Genisys. Title design by Robert Holtby.
X-Men: Genisys
Jean Grey: Well, at least we can all agree the third one's always the worst.
Congratulations, you played yourself.
Trivia[]
- Screen Junkies have also produced Honest Trailers for several other movies in the X-Men franchise including the early-2000s X-Men trilogy, Logan, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Dark Phoenix, Deadpool, Deadpool 2 and X-Men: The Animated Series.
- An Honest Trailer Commentary for this episode was recorded and was available on the Screen Junkies Plus until the website/app was discontinued. Screen Junkies don't currently have any way of releasing the video.
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - X-Men: Apocalypse has a 97.6% approval rating from YouTube viewers. Comic Book Movie declared the Honest Trailer was "hilarious" and "pretty damn funny." Slash Film wrote that the Honest Trailer "really digs into what makes this sequel bad, and it doesn’t hold back anything." CinemaBlend remarked that the Honest Trailer "rains insults on numerous aspects of the latest X-Men entry, whether it's how these characters don't age despite a decade passing between each First Class movie or how Wolverine was thrown in just for the hell of it. In the latter half, they also take some time to point out how many plot points X-Men: Apocalypse retread, like reintroducing the Phoenix and more of that classic Professor X and Magneto friendly/adversarial relationship."
Screen Rant remarked that the "Honest Trailer touches on all of the X-Men franchise's sensitive nerves and takes no prisoners with their observant wrath. Its shines a spotlight on Apocalypse's most glaring issues - ranging from Jennifer Lawrence's uninspired performance, the lack of continuity in the timeline and plot, Professor X's questionable friendship with Magneto, and/or the misguided adaptation of Apocalypse to the big-screen." Screen Rant also praised the Honest Trailers series more generally, writing:
The Screen Junkies' video series has not only built a huge following, but has also gained legitimate acclaim - with Honest Trailers even being nominated for an Emmy this year. So while the series rarely fails to bring the laughs, it seems that the Honest Trailers' trademark brand of satire actually has depth underneath all of its humor. (Braxter Timberlake, October 11, 2016, Screen Rant)
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - X-Men: Apocalypse
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
Title design by Robert Holtby
Series Created by Andy Signore & Brett Weiner
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Joe Starr, Dan Murrell and Andy Signore
Edited by Bruce Guido and TJ Nordaker.
External links []
- X-Men: Apocalypse Honest Trailer - It's Bad Again - Screen Rant article
- ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Honest Trailer: It’s Clear ‘Deadpool’ Is All Fox Has Left - Slash Film article
- X-Men: Apocalypse Honest Trailer Shows Franchise Is Just Going Through the Motions - Time article
- Watch X-Men: Apocalypse Get Ripped To Shreds In New Honest Trailer - CinemaBlend article
- 'X-Men: Apocalypse' Honest Trailer Has a Bone to Pick with Bryan Singer - The Hollywood Reporter article
- Hilarious Honest Trailer For X-MEN: APOCALYPSE Says DEADPOOL Is All Fox Has Left - Comic Book Movie article