With Disney acquiring Fox (and the X-Men with it) there’s little reason to watch Dark Phoenix. Even if you are a die-hard fan of the previous movies, there’s little that waits for you except disappointment.
This is the second film to tackle the Phoenix storyline. Directed by writer Simon Kinberg, this once again poses the eternal question: what can Jean Grey do once she’s possessed by a cosmic force? Well, other than having tantrums (and accidentally killing people), not much. The plot is complicated by Xavier’s attempts to protect Jean from childhood trauma, which backfires on the X-Men spectacularly.
Unlike X-Men: the Last Stand, this film focuses solely on the Dark Phoenix storyline. There is an urgency to the plot, as Xavier tries to reach Jean before the government- and later, Magneto- does, all the while he is dealing with internal strife.
The pacing is uneven, and the main villains, a group of shapeshifting aliens lead by Jessica Chastain, are poorly developed. The third act fight scene on a train is noticeably better than the rest of the movie, but it ends in an anticlimactic fashion.
The action in this film is competent, but both the pacing and plot are messy.
Sometimes, it seems like there is drama for the sake of drama, such as the differences between Xavier and Mystique, and when Jean goes to meet Magneto at the commune. Both Lawrence and Chastain are wasted in their roles, and although Sophie Turner tries to shine as the lead, there’s not much material for her other than a stressed damsel trying to control her power outbursts.
That’s a pity, because the potential is there to tell an involving story about a woman who chooses to deal with her life’s circumstances. However, Turner is undone by a melodramatic script that often spins its wheels. Multiple characters change allegiances, and then change back, in the space of minutes.
While Famke Jansen’s Jean Grey, there was a prior connection, built up through the previous two movies. Although Turner was there in X-Men: Apocalypse, her character and connection to the rest of the team isn’t as well developed.
To the film’s credit, McAvoy and Fassbender try their best to elevate a mediocre script. However, the rest of the cast is mostly phoning it in.
This is a deeply unimaginative story that grounds everything to a halt early on in favor of emotional drama. Although it ends on a hopeful note, paying homage to the original X-Men films through Xavier and Magneto playing chess, it’s a sorry end to a franchise that had so much promise and delivered gems like Days of Future Past.
If you haven’t seen it yet, you can wait a while longer for the Blu Ray release. Perhaps, when Marvel reboots the franchise in a few more years, they will eventually get the Dark Phoenix storyline right.
