Y’know, I honestly have no idea how X-Men: Apocalypse is gonna shake up, in terms of quality or box office performance. Not that I can usually predict these things with any sort of accuracy, but it seems like the kind of movie that would be just as likely to under-perform as it is to be a hit. It doesn’t have the (usually) reliable Marvel Studios stamp, and while the allure of an X-Men movie might have been enough to guarantee a return a few years ago, it feels like that allure has largely dissipated by now. Or maybe it’s that every trailer and ad for the film thus far has made it look so spectacularly…..there, ya know? I don’t know about anyone else, but it just feels hard to raise any enthusiasm for the thing. And I’m not even one of those people who thinks Oscar Isaac’s Apocalypse getup is some kind of affront or blasphemy….and you’ll recall I’ve already had some choice words about the costume design in Apocalypse.
So if anything is gonna get me excited to see the thing, it’s some clever marketing. And look! Here’s some now, a new viral video made to look like a promo for a History Channel or BBC documentary show tracing the origins of the film’s main villain, the ancient mutant Apocalypse aka En Sabah Nur. The short video does a pretty good job of emulating the look of TV specials of this kind, making copious use of old stock footage, as well as footage from the film with a grainy, sepiatone filter thrown on top of it. And perhaps most notably, the video is clearly narrated by none other than George Takei! If anything, the video actually makes me kind of want to see a whole TV-episode length special done in this style. It wouldn’t be that hard to produce, either. Get some actors in to do fake talking head interviews, maybe even Rose Byrne’s Moira McTaggart if she has a day off, get Takei to narrate the whole thing, it’d be fun.
But until such a special is created, this neat little promo will have to do. Take a look below.