THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Dark Phoenix was originally going to be a trilogy story arc, in order to do justice to the original 1980 comic book storyline. That changed when Walt Disney purchased 20th Century (Fox) Studios, meaning that not only did it cancel potential spinoffs but also condensing the trilogy arc into a singular film. Was it worth it? I wish I can say so.
PLOT
The final entry in the X-Men franchise takes place in 1992, nine years after the X-Men saved the world from En Sabah Nur. The team has gained popularity overtime, the mutant equality that Charles Xavier has fought for. Their next mission shows them save astronauts in space from a solar flare. Upon arrival with the X Jet, Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler teleports Peter Maximoff to the opposite ship to save them all. One is accidentally left behind and Charles has Jean Grey go with Kurt to hold the shuttle. When Kurt forgets to bring her back with him, she becomes exposed to the solar flare but survives. The only thing that seemed to happen as she returned to Earth was that her powers have amplified. Despite that it appears not to be worse than one would think, Raven Darkhölme/Mystique is uncomfortable how the X-Men have to put their lives on the line in order to keep the equality intact. One night, a shapeshifting alien race known as D'Bari, led by Vuk begin to invade the planet, disguising themselves as humans. That same night, Jean becomes so stressed that the loss of control with her abilities causes a minor shockwave at home. Charles reveals that he mentally blocked her childhood memories to avoid the trauma, claiming that he was protecting her. Jean discovers that her father John Grey (Scott Shepherd) is still alive which surprises her, because she was told he died with her mother in a car crash the mutant survived. When she finds him at his home, she realizes that she was accidentally responsible for the crash when she first discovered her powers; She unintentionally rendered her mother while she was driving. This whole time, John had such resentment for her that she allowed Charles to take her in. She attempts to attack him out of anger, but the X-Men show up prevent her from going forward. She fights off the team, injuring Peter Maximoff in the process. When local officers intrvene, she attacks them too. Mystique tries to talk some sense into her, but she pushes her so hard that she accidentally gets impaled by shrapnel. Shook of what she done, she flees. Hank McCoy/Beast blames Charles for Raven's death not just out of his love for her, but feeling that this could've been avoided had he not tampered with Jean's memories. He also admits that he feels to be in the wrong because originally talked her out of leaving the team, as she felt that she wasn't living her life. Jean goes to Genosha, the mutant refuge of Erik Lensherr/Magneto, hoping to get advice on controlling her anger in order prevent herself from hurting others. She is quickly kicked out after attacking military forces that were looking for her. She would then encounter Vuk who claims to help her with her problems. She explains that what she encountered in space was not a solar flare but a cosmic force. She would than claim that it originally destroyed her home planet because it consumes anything in its path, causing catastrophic destruction until encountering Jean herself. Hank goes to Genosha and tells Erik that she's responsible for Raven's death, which devastates him. Wanting to avenge her, they plan to go after her and kill her, along with two of Magneto's disciples, Ariki (Andrew Stehlin) who can manipulate his hair as a weapon and Selene (Kota Eberhardt) a telepath who was able to track Jean down in New York. When Charles tracks Hank, he discovers what they intend to do. He takes the X-Men (Scott, Storm and Kurt) with him to prevent that from happening. They fight in the streets of New York and Jean overpowers Magneto when he attempts to go forward with his revenge. When Charles gets to her, he allows her to read his mind, showing her that he was the only one to express support and hope for her to John. She feels remorseful and offers her cosmic abilities to Vuk but before Scott interrupts the transfer from being completed, she reveals to Charles that her true intentions are to destroy the world. All the mutants get arrested by the Mutant Containment Unit. As they are on a train, Charles does admit to Hank he was wrong for what he did to Jean but warns everyone what Vuk revealed to him. At this point, the D'Bari attack and attempt to grab Jean, but the mutants defend her. The only ones that get killed during the conflict are Selene and Ariki. Vuk catches up and overpowers the remaining protagonists. Jean protects them all by shielding them as she crashes the train they're on, hoping to finish off the aliens. When it's down to Vuk, they continue their conflict in space. Jean is then able to not only reabsorb the cosmic force but also overload it into on the alien, which kills them both. Some time after this, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is renamed after Jean out of honor, and Hank becomes the new dean after Charles chooses to retire. As we see him have another game of chess with Erik in Paris, the film ends with a flaming phoenix appearing in the sky, hinting than Jean is still alive.
THOUGHTS
I truly hoped that this film would be at least decent of a movie like Apocalypse, but this movie honestly feels as bad as X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Simon Kinberg, who had been producing this film franchise since the beginning, is unable to contain such a complex story in his directorial debut. You think he would know what he was doing, but I hate to say he didn't. I really hate the fact that this is only one film and not a trilogy as that could've helped the franchise to go on some sort of high note. There are so many moments with the story that I just couldn't stand at all. The reshoots really ruined this movie from being average. I can dig an easter egg but not ones obviously pausing the story like 2017's The Mummy. The Mutant Containment Unit is an actual militia in the comics, but the initials 'MCU' are a forced reference to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I know Beast chooses to side with Magneto on killing Jean because he's taking Mystique's death very hard, but seeing him fight the X-Men was forcibly resembling the Avengers' conflict in Captain America: Civil War. If I haven't made it clear how much I hate continuity errors, this one continues to make it my biggest gripe. Jean flies away after accidentally killing Mystique and her shirt is spotless. But by the next time we see her crying in the rain, she's wiping off blood on her shirt. I know that had to be Mystique's blood not before Erik pointed it out but the fact that editor Lee Smith didn't notice and nor did anyone else during post production is infuriating. And why the hell is Quicksilver sidelined? Evan Peters was the best thing about the prior two films and having him get injured was stupid. I wish I can say I like the ending, but I'm starting to get more upset within every time I think about it. It is so anticlimactic because we'll never see Jean return despite the foreshadowing, nor will we get to see the timeline tie in to them meeting Wolverine. And renaming the school after her? I don't see that lasting. Getting into the story, the opening was weird because of how Charles is able to take in Jean before the government. Sure he uses Cerebro to look for mutants, but we don't know if he used his powers to allow taking her in. I like that Mystique wants to avoid putting the team in danger, but she taken off immediately and ignored. Kurt could've teleported on his own and not really need Jean. Storm was able to help for a while but it really was Charles' fault as he insisted Jean's involvement. Had he not done that, she'd be trauma free and cosmic free. I'll defend the performance of Mystique later, but the character had a poor choice of words. She says she doesn't remember the last time he'd risk something, yet she knows damn well she took a bullet for the world in the 60s during First Class. I support feminism but when she says 'the women are always saving the men' and suggests renaming the team name to "X-Women" is the stupidest thing I've ever heard because that is not true in this franchise. If the D'Bari knew that the cosmic energy was on Earth and were nearby when the X-Men had their space mission, why didn't they just follow them? If they weren't noticed than, It feels certain it'd remain the same. Magneto is badass whenever we see him in action but did he really need a train to enter the building Jean was at? Dramatic entrances are cool, but that one was unnecessary. Speaking of Magneto, why the hell does he have a mutant refuge like Genosha? It is a thing in the comics but in this film franchise's standards, it's hard to believe he would get such a right considering that he almost killed President Nixon and is accused of killing President JFK. Aside from Hans Zimmer's great score and improved visual effects, the true reason I have some joy to this film because it's character driven. I've grown up seeing these characters and I think the cast makes the best of everything that was given. Sophie Turner is obviously the star in this movie as the spotlight is on her role of Jean Grey. I think she does great showing her at her most vulnerable as she is afraid of what she can't control. I was more terrified of her than the villains because whenever she lets loose on her rage, you just know it won't be pleasant; I mean it was really uncomfortable when she made Charles walk to him when he literally couldn't. However, seeing her overcome her hate after reconciliation in order to sacrifice herself shows how much of a great character she truly is. James McAvoy gives another interesting chapter for Charles Xavier. He is again at a conflicted part of his life whereas he makes decisions out of best intentions, but doesn't think on how it affects everyone. Seeing this situation play out for him was smart to see because it reminds us how superheroes still make mistakes and don't intend to. Michael Fassbender is still great with Magneto because while getting to se him temporary his sophisticated side, he still has rage in him because pain always comes his way. Seeing him break down over Mystique is an acting lesson everyone should be looking at because he owned it in my opinion. I know this isn't Jennifer Lawrence's best outing as Mystique but I still get this character. She is compassionate towards the team and doesn't think they need to put themselves in danger for the greater good of mutant kind. Her death was predictable because the trailer gave it away but it still impacts the story as we see how it affects everybody. She lived up to being a role model that kept the team in line and without her, order was lost. Nicholas Hoult is still good with Beast because his character may have acted out of grief but saw both sides. He may have thought Charles was being protective but knew he was out of line on not letting a child live with the trauma. All he wanted was Charles to admit it was wrong, which led to going to Erik. Once the professor finally did so, it was quick for him be on the same page. Tye Sheridan is good with what's given for Cyclops because he's mainly the caring boyfriend. Seeing him not give up on the woman he loves suited the story because if he didn't have hope for her to come back, than no one would. Alexandra Shipp doesn't have a lot with Storm but there was one scene that stuck with me. When she says how sometimes you can doubt who people are deep down when it's too late, she's implying her encounter with Apocalypse. It works because she implies a new form of self awareness. Kodi Smit McPhee didn't have a lot with Nightcrawler either, but I still enjoyed his presence as well. Here, we see him being pacifistic as he avoids getting tactical. But when push come to shove, it was satisfying that he understood that sometimes, you just can't hold back. Lastly, the only one that failed to impress me was the new character Vuk. Jessica Chastain was not intimidating at all with this character. She acted more robotic than whatever kind of personality an alien would/should have. Being stone cold evil was not enough for me with this one. Even giving away her plan to Charles was dumb because we already knew it when she was killing people throughout, we didn't need a verbal reminder. God it can get annoying when villains exposit their plans before it's ever close to being complete. To get this over with, Dark Phoenix is an abrupt finale, whose potential was wasted due to studio interference. If you enjoyed the past X-Men films, good luck getting through this one.
Comments