MovieChat Forums > X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) Discussion > Oscar Isaac was brilliant in this

Oscar Isaac was brilliant in this

posted 8 years ago by hafabee
29 replies | jump to latest

Saw the movie again last weekend and I was blown away again by Oscar Isaac's performance as the immortal menace, Apocalypse.

Right from the first scene of him awakening in his underground tomb his eyes and facial expressions as he figured out where he was and what he was going to do about it were magnificent! He was so much fun in this and absolutely nailed the "ancient vengeful God of old" with swaggering ambition and overweening pride.

I think you could remove all dialogue of his from the movie and he would have sold the character purely on his expressions and mannerisms, he was that good. Needless to say his line delivery was fantastic too (and the enhanced audio done in editing to his voice which made him sound like he was speaking in a dozen different voices did add to his menace in post production as well).

My favourite scene with him was his recruitment and transmogrification of Angel into his Horsemen of Death, his over-the-top joyfulness at the corruption of Angel was pure cinematic bliss. I don't think any other actor could have done better, he was sublime in this. It is the best villain performance I've seen since Tom Hardy in The Revenant.

What was your favourite Oscar Isaac Apocalypse scene, performance or action-wise?

[–] Steefnesss 8 years ago

Oscar Issac is one of those up and comers that I pay a lot of attention too as he is good in everything he's in, even if it's not a good movie. The first things I remember seeing him in were Sucker Punch and the Russell Crowe Robin Hood movie, neither of which were particularly noteworthy on a whole but had good bits too them, namely Oscar Issac.

In X-Men, it was more of the same, excellent work on his part, although I didn't like the speech he gave at Auschwitz. Other than that I liked his performance. My favorite movie I've ever seen him in was Inside Llewyn Davis, although I might be biased because of my love of everything Coen brothers. If I picked a second I'd say Ex Machina.

All in all, I'll watch anything he's in now.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] iLikemovingimages 8 years ago

All I said was I thought he was great in a movie called 10 years and it was deleted?

Who massed reported that comment ? Lol

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[–] hafabee 8 years ago

I just watched Inside Llewyn Davis and Oscar Isaac was fantastic in it, one of my favourite Coen Brothers performances for sure and my favourite of Isaac's as well, at least in terms of depth.

I really connected with his character a lot in that movie, Oscar Isaac has the ability to communicate so much while appearing to divulge so little, and it's one of the things that made his performance as Apocalypse so much more than it appears. Every eye movement, every slight expression and gesture is saying something. He's a fascinating actor to watch (and was so much fun in every scene of this movie), I think the only movie I've seen him in where he gave a ho-hum, standard performance was Star Wars The Force Awakens. I don't think he made any attempt there to convey anything more than "cocky hero pilot", and much of that has to do with his cardboard cut-out of a character, but if there's a reason I'll be watching Episode VIII it will be for Oscar Isaac's return, and another shot at infusing some dimension into a fairly flat character.

[–] ZakkWyldeMyLittlePony 8 years ago

I thought he was great as Apocalypse.

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[–] 8 years ago

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[–] hafabee 8 years ago

Oscar Isaac on portraying Apocalypse'

"I've always been a big X-Men fan, and collected X-Factor, as well as X-Men. In fact I remember when Apocalypse first showed up on the scene..."

Man, how many actors out there can say that about their characters eh? To have such an intimate understanding and appreciation for the literary character on which their performance is based. The other big one aside from Oscar Isaac's Apocalypse that comes to mind is Christopher Lee's Saruman. Both actors love the material from which their characters were born, and understand both the fundamentals and the nuances of said characters before even showing up for the first day of practice.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2016/may/18/x-men-apocalypse-oscar-isaac-marvel

[–] hafabee 7 years ago

Thread resurrected for IMDb user barbagvido.

[–] LukeLovesFilm28 7 years ago

His performance was totally misunderstood and underrated

Get off your soapbox while I play you a tune on the tiniest violin.

[–] Magnificentman12 7 years ago

Agreed

God dang it I'm good

[–] fiero-49251 7 years ago

I still haven't seen it yet! Did they modify his voice so it sounded more like the animated series'; deep, commanding, & insane? I'm patient, waiting for it to hit cable! 

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[–] hafabee 7 years ago

His voice is augmented a lot, yes. Not all of the time but when he wants to be imposing, which is a lot heh. He speaks with about two dozen voices all shadowing and over-lapping each other, it's quite intimidating. It sounded really awesome in the theatres with full concert-level surround-sound! I own the movie on BluRay but I haven't even watched it yet, I'm afraid the experience will simply not be as incredible as it was on the big screen, with big sound, as the movie was most definitely one made for it (more so than any other X-Men movie to date).

The 3D work on the movie was stellar too, best I've seen since Avatar. Really top notch cinematography and lighting for that.

[–] Suntory_Times 7 years ago

Well it was the only big budget 3d film last year that was actually shoot in native 3d (the flashback are obviously converted as they are from a film that was only shoot and released in 2d). Sure conversions have come a long way and can look great. But native is still what you want if you want the best 3d experience possible.

[–] The_Wolverine_X 7 years ago

I think he was well cast in the role.

[–] hafabee 7 years ago

I can see other actors in the part, but I cannot see any of them infusing the same nuances into their facial expressions, especially all of the little disapproving grimaces, which must have been terribly difficult for Oscar to do under all that make-up and costuming and prosthetics. Beginning with that scene with him awakening in the modern age you can see exactly what Apocalypse is thinking as he awakens, and that stays constant throughout the movie. If you pay attention to Oscar Isaac's performance you can tell exactly what Apocalypse is thinking/feeling, that's good acting with all of that costuming piled on him..

I love his perpetual frown, it's straight from the comics. I think the only time Apocalypse ever smiles in the movie is when he's doing something unspeakably evil, usually in corrupting his minions.

[–] bill-mcdermott 7 years ago

He only does a full happy grin when he is contemplating the powers he will posess when he takes charles body ......that's the one time I think we see him truly happy

[–] Final_Hitokiri 7 years ago

Yes, he was. It's too bad that his talent was wasted with such a horrific plot.

He had this amazing power to basically turn people into sand with barely any effort. So, why did he need an army of 4 Horseman again?

[–] hafabee 7 years ago

False Gods' gotta sleep sometime.

[–] ladydeadpool093 7 years ago

Yes he's a brilliant actor. I love the fact he wanted the role. I hope to see him again as Apocalypse.

Apocalypse creeped me out when he sunk people into walls/floors and suffocated. I thought special effects were amazing during those parts.

http://socialbroadcastnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Screen-Shot-2016-04-26-at-2.20.26-PM.png

Favorite part is when he was defeated by Phoenix.
http://s.storage.akamai.coub.com/get/b12/p/coub/simple/cw_timeline_pic/4595262cb23/222b2ef4bec5a35f560f7/big_1466380571_image.jpg