X-Men: Dark Phoenix

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Starring Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jessica Chastain

Directed by Simon Kinberg

The Story:
As the human world has grown accustomed and appreciative of mutants, the X-Men have thrived in a world full of thankful citizens.  Led by Professor Xavier (James McAvoy), the team  - consisting of Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) - receives a distress call from a spaceship that's out of control, with a solar flare in its path.  The team rockets to space to save the astronauts, but in the process the solar flare absorbs into Jean, but she doesn't die.

Instead she becomes stronger, and begins to exhibit rage and anger at repressed memories that Xavier implanted in her mind to keep her from remembering her traumatic childhood and how she ended up at Xavier's school.  With her anger - and her newfound powers - she sets out to get revenge against those she felt did her wrong, with the help of alien Vuk (Jessica Chastain), who wants the Phoenix Force that's inside Jean for herself.

The Synopsis:
Suffice it to say, the "X-Men" film franchise has been a bit of a mixed bag.  It was the first superhero movie that really set off the insane fandom that's developed since then, but it's also included some real stinkers in the process.  "Dark Phoenix" was supposed to be the final send-off for the original franchise, since Fox has now been bought by Disney so therefore the X-Men will now be a part of the MCU, but instead of a culmination of nineteen years of movies, "Dark Phoenix" went out with a whimper than a scream, and no one will expect - or want - this particular phoenix to rise from the ashes.

The Dark Phoenix saga has been one of the most iconic comic book moments in history, but to really do it justice, you need to do at least a few movies to tell the tale.  I'm not going to base my thoughts on the film from the source material, but let's just say in this case, reading the story is much better.  They tried to do the Phoenix story with "The Last Stand," and that became one of the worst films in the franchise, and while "Dark Phoenix" deserves much of the harsh criticisms, it's not the worst in the franchise, but it is a very poor sendoff for such an iconic series.

In this iteration, Jean Grey is absorbed by the Phoenix Force in space, and learns that her newfound powers come with a heavy price - her past, which Xavier has kept secret from her, begins to surface, and the rage she feels combined with her almost unstoppable powers turn her from one of the best X-Men to one of their greatest foes.  You would expect with a story like this to find loads of exciting action, intense dialogue, high stakes moments, and edge-of-your-seat anticipation - but instead it's just a yawnfest where you just wait for it to thankfully end.

So what did "Dark Phoenix" do right?  The action in the film is as exciting as ever, but nowhere near the scope you'd expect for a possibly world-ending event.  Jean Grey's Phoenix Force is unstoppable, but seems to stop a lot, particularly at the moment you'd expect her to literally wipe everyone out of existence.  The fights on the street, in the train, and on the road were fun and fast-paced, but those were mere snapshots of what should've been something even more grand and epic.
Now for what the film did wrong:
-Franchise fatigue.  You can tell that none of the actors in the film had any excitement to keep going on with the franchise.
-Jennifer Lawrence clearly just wanted her role as Mystique to end, as she didn't seem to have one joyful moment in the film at all.
-James McAvoy's Xavier was supposed to have a deep dark secret that threatened to tear the X-Men apart, but he rarely shows any emotion whatsoever, and we don't get any deeper meaning to anything that happened before.
-Michael Fassbender (who, along with Lawrence, didn't even want to do this film in the first place) seemed totally disinterested in his role entirely, especially when you see his stronger performances in "First Class" and "Days of Future Past."
-Jessica Chastain (who should never be a blonde) was unemotional and robotic throughout her performance - true, she's playing a shape shifting alien, but it seems she conceived her role by watching every other film featuring shape shifting aliens who show no emotions whatsoever.
-Sophie Turner plays Jean Grey like a robot.  When she gets her new powers, she's overjoyed with them, like being overclocked, but then she starts winding down and becomes an emotionless automaton who just goes through the motions.
-I never thought I'd say it, but I found a romance that's actually worse than "Twilight," and that's the so-called romance between Jean and Cyclops, which feels incredibly forced and totally unbelievable - the chemistry between the two is as lacking as when you had your science class in high school but your partner called in sick and you forgot to go to class in the first place.
-The film is muddied with typical superhero dialogue, and worse repetitive ones.  If you played the drinking game every time someone said, "she has to die," or "she's our friend," you'd be drunk halfway through the first half of the film.
-For such high stakes, it seems no one cares.  There's a particular moment where you'd expect true emotions to rage through the cast, but it feels about as emotional as when you loose your favorite soccer ball on the roof of your neighbor's house.

So with all those negatives, you'd expect me to say this was the worst "X-Men" film in the franchise - but you'd be wrong.  Maybe it's because I had absolutely no expectations going into the film, but I found myself overall pleased with my experience.  The action was fun, and it was cool seeing everyone on screen again, but it's probably not one I'd watch again - but it's still not the worst the franchise has to offer.

The Summary:
Ending on a whimper, "Dark Phoenix" turns off the lights on the long-gestating "X-Men" franchise to prepare it for a true phoenix rising within the MCU, and will be one of those forgettable films in the franchise that most people will claim never existed.

The Score: C-