Dark Phoenix

It's interesting what happened to the X-Men film series from Fox when their debut entry in 2000 was a success and ended up launching a franchise it never initially intended. The journey has seen the stubborn studio enter a pattern where after 2 good films are made, a couple of bad ones blemish that reputation (repeat). This rollercoaster has resulted in rushed storylines, messy continuity, lack of character development, and other troubles to show what not to do when creating such a universe. After resetting the timeline in Days of Future Past, any hope of doing things correctly was squandered by the previous X-men title (Apocalypse) and its horrible execution I hate the most in the series. This leads us to Dark Phoenix, which was written and directed by Simon Kinberg, who had co-written The Last Stand (it adapted the same Phoenix story but was the first failure in the franchise). Developing circumstances weren't in this movies favor and the lack of buzz towards it wasn't surprising. I entered the auditorium ready to see how it would fair in the series and left it feeling numb by the dull experience as I see it as the worst X-Men movie (I owe an apology to Origins Wolverine, Apocalypse, and The Last Stand).

Behind the scenes obstacles: There have been many troubles plaguing this production that it would be best to get out of the way to explain why it ended up the way it did. Disney purchasing Fox meant that this would likely be the last entry from this franchise (New Mutants is a different situation). With Bryan Singer not involved this time, long-time writer and producer Simon Kinberg decided to take reigns in the director position (his first time in that position...which is for a high budget studio film and generally not a good idea). There have been reports of reshoots for the third act following negative test screenings and had been delayed twice (initially to be released last year and then Valentines Day before being pushed to the summer).

What's it about? After a rescue mission in space takes a turn for the worse, the X-Men try to prepare for the dangers regarding a hidden powerful force awakened within one of their own. If there's an element from the famous comic story that's involved here, it's that the group travels into space (whether it's faithful to how that part truly went down, I doubt it). There's a moment or two that can be kinda neat such as Magneto struggling to save soldiers in a helicopter from Jean Grey. It certainly doesn't hurt to have Hans Zimmer bring in a solid score to accompany this movie (it's nothing that's going to be iconic but it's good for what it is).

However, the biggest hurdle it can't overcome is the difficulty in finding any investment in this story since these these characters who were just introduced in a previous entry are suddenly dropped in this arc. It falls into the camp of these people serving whatever the script wants instead of the other way around (which is noticeable). As a result, it's manufactured to the point where all of the troupes they've utilized hold it back from being something unique instead of just another standard forgettable feature. It fails to recognize that this storyline from the original source worked the way it did due to how much these characters in question were developed up until that point (I'm unfamiliar with the Dark Phoenix arc in the comics but I would imagine they didn't jump into it right away and took their time before reaching that point). Despite trying to change things up with the reshooting of the third act climax, it's a different energy that's disconnected from the dullness of the previous 2 acts and some actions that take place don't feel consistent with the nature of certain characters. Overall as a final movie for this group (Logan is technically the true finale in the timeline), the small scaled bland nature is perhaps the most underwhelming for this genre that deserved more care that the writers failed to recognize until it was too late.

The main problem with the characters: In regards to these individuals, the impact that they all have doesn't exactly work as well as the movie thinks it does. In regards to both the First Class veterans and the newbies introduced in Apocalypse being involved here, most of them feel like they're phoning it in acting wise while being stuck with their usual lines that are very recycled. As per usual, some of them like Beast or Cyclops are manipulated by the plot or some lacking motivations to doing certain actions (including an awkwardly delivered line that has an f-bomb in it). Because there's a first time director here, the acting feels weird to where there are pauses in the dialog to pad out the runtime and some deliveries are odd to listen to. The acting MVP shoutout goes to Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) for giving the best performance in the film primarily for being allowed to show emotional range. Dishonorable mentions goes to Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) and Vuk (Jessica Chastain) due to the formers flat and uninvested performance with her very limited screen time in the first 15 minutes while the latter is an incredibly bland villain.

Overall Consensus: Dark Phoenix is a culmination of the weaknesses of a franchise that refuses to learn from its mistakes with underdeveloped heroes, rushed plot lines, lackluster action, and lack of emotional investment. ⭑1/2💻 Runtime: 1 hour 53 minutes PG-13

Reasons to watch it: You are a fan of this series and want to see how it compares to the previous entries. You don't mind generic forgettable foes and weak mutants (including one that uses his dreadlocks as whips...yes seriously). You don't mind repetitive relationships or those that lack chemistry. You are curious about the finalize product from the troubles it had.

Reasons to avoid it: You want to wait a couple of years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe does a better job for this property. You are bored with the cliches from Apocalypse and want something unique with these people. You don't want to see how much of a disaster it actually is.