Originally created by the legendary duo Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the superhero group the X-Men debuted in September 1963. A group of mutants who each have their own unique powers, the series was seen as commentary on social prejudice. While the series had its highs and lows, the characters proved popular enough to spawn movies, TV shows, cartoons, etc. Released in 2000, the first X-Men proved to be a massive success and led to a long running franchise. Much like the comics, the film franchise saw its own highs and lows, but it still proved to be successful. In addition to the main films, there were spin-offs focused on the popular character Wolverine, played by Hugh Jackman. There were also the Deadpool films, and eventually the various spin-offs crossed over with the main series with various results. After several years, here comes the supposed last X-Men movie, Dark Phoenix.
%
Rating
Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) receives a distress call from the President about the Endeavor space shuttle being critically damaged. In response, he sends a team of X-Men led by Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) to rescue the crew. They manage to save the crew, but Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) ends up absorbing the energy of a solar flare. She survives, and the energy she absorbed has increased her powers, but also made her unstable, accidentally attacking her friends. After learning the truth about a childhood incident and accidentally killing Raven, she seeks help from Magneto (Michael Fassbender). At the same time, an alien named Vuk (Jessica Chastain) is seeking the power that Jean absorbed and confronts her. Magneto soon learns what Jean did and vows to exact revenge along with Beast/Hank McCoy (Nicholas Hoult). With friendships strained and Jean’s power becoming unstable, things will never be the same.
While some entries are certainly better than others, I’ve generally been happy with the X-Men movies and have few complaints. Many of the recent entries, like X-Men: First Class, The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Logan, are phenomenal. However, after the mediocrity of X-Men: Apocalypse, and the delayed release of this and New Mutants, I started losing faith. Though this isn’t as bad as critics are saying, I do agree that Dark Phoenix is a pretty big letdown. One positive of the film is that the cast, for the most part, does a great job despite the material. Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Nicholas Hoult particularly stand out, while Tye Sheridan and Evan Peters are wasted. Speaking of, while she does the best she can, Jessica Chastain is completely wasted as a one-dimensional villain. Like I said, the cast is generally strong despite the weak material.
The other positive I’ll give this is that, while few and far between, the action sequences are fun and exciting. Though it was part of the reshoots, the train sequence is the highlight of the film, highlighting the mutants’ powers. Unfortunately, that’s where many of the positives I have end, as this movie is a pretty disappointing mess all around. While the actors do a good job, there’s not much given to their characters and have the vaguest character development. Also, when there aren’t any action sequences, much of the film is delivering exposition and explaining things, dragging things down. These do lead to some good character moments, like Beast confronting Xavier over his actions, but these don’t help much. Since this is supposed to be the finale, it feels more like X-Men: Apocalypse Part Two than a grand epic. Overall, Dark Phoenix isn’t terrible, but it does majorly disappoint.
