Hey there everybody! Welcome to yet another catch up review where today we will be talking about the finale to the X-Men film series. For those that do not know I am a huge fan of this franchise as they were some of the movies that really got me into super heroes and stuff like that and for the most part I have enjoyed most of them to varying degrees. Now I may not be big on all of them (*cough* X-Men Origins Wolverine *cough*) but even some of the more disappointing entries still have some very worthwhile things about them (if you want to see me go more in depth into those you can check out that post in my list section). So now we come to the end of an era for this franchise with Dark Phoenix which was originally supposed to be a normal entry in the series before the Disney-Fox deal happened and that kind of forced the developers to turn this into a series finale (something that still kind of bothers me, but that’s not the focus of this post). Now the reception for this one hasn’t been great at all with many fans claiming this to be some sort of disaster (the critical reception was a lot more mixed judging from what I read, and that rotten tomatoes score isn’t very accurate in that regard). While I myself didn’t love the movie and do have problems with it, I have to say I do not understand the constant hate for it and to be honest it’s really not even that bad. Disappointing yes, but its in a way that has to do more with other artistic factors (rather than just bashing it for its comic book inaccuracy or demanding that the X-Men just go the MCU). So let’s see what did and didn’t work about the second shot to adapt the Phoenix Saga to the big screen.
Things start off with a prologue in the year, 1975, in which we see a young Jean Grey accidentally using her powers in a car accident leaving her as an orphan. That is until a young Charles Xavier comes in and takes her in to become a student of his school, Xavier’s Schools for Gifted Youngsters. Cut to the year 1992 and the X-Men have become world renowned for their heroic actions after the events of X-Men Apocalypse. In their latest mission they go up into space to save a crew of astronauts from some sort of powerful solar flare. Things don’t go all according to plan as while they do save everyone on board, Jean, is struck by the energy of the flare and absorbs it. She does save the team’s aircraft, and while she initially feels fine she soon begins to realize how uncontrollable these new powers are and after certain things happen runs away. Now the X-Men must go and try and save Jean before she hurts not only anyone else but herself as well. But with a mysterious alien race of shape shifters known as the D’Bari wanting her power as well, and with Magneto getting in the mix as well that task will prove to be easier said than done.
Now with this movie there are things that really worked, and there are things that could’ve been improved. Let’s start with the problems and let’s start with the elephant in the room and that is the comparisons to X-Men the Last Stand which also attempted to adapt the Dark Phoenix story-line to not so great result. While I think this movie does handle it better overall (makes sense considering it is the focus) there certain beats that are similar to that trilogy capper which may be redundant to some. Another big issue I had was that there really isn’t much of a big finale feel to it as it is a smaller scaled, grounded picture that felt forced into wrapping up an entire saga of films and it feels like that. This also ties into another which problem which was the length of the picture. There were certain plot point, ideas, and character development that felt rushed and underdeveloped and they weren’t as strong as they could’ve been had there been a longer runtime to properly look into them. If the movie were a little more longer and if they had did a better job with the whole “it all ends here” here aspect this could’ve very well been a good possibly great picture. With all of that said though, there are actually a number of things that I actually really did like, and found worthwhile. For one while I don’t think the movie works very well as a true blue finale to the X-Men series, the ending is actually pretty satisfying, and nice and is as good a place as any to end things off (granted not as good as Days of Future Past, Logan, or even the Last Stand, but it works). There were also some elements that did do something different from Last Stand and some of them were actually pretty surprising. I also quite liked many parts of the script in particular where there a number of thought and sometimes powerful conversations between characters concerning their beliefs on whether mutants are actually being treated with any respect even with the X-Men doing good, whether or not being these heroes need to be their life, or in one very strong scene where Magneto, tells Jean about giving into her violent anger. These moments really did help in developing the characters and even giving the film some substance. While yes the story does play it very safe, it is similar to Last Stand in that there is actually still quite a bit of meat here to show that with maybe a couple more drafts (and the need to not force it into being a finale), this could’ve been a really solid outing for the franchise.
After working on prior X-Men features in the past, Simon Kinberg finally gets his shot at the director’s chair and all things considered he does do a solid job in crafting a mostly coherent picture given the circumstances (the film went through huge re shoots and in some areas it shows). The film looks fine even if I wish they played up the 90’s setting more as one of my favorite things about these recent team X-Men films is how they really took advantage of time period and are not only able to craft some nice sets, and costumes but also relate to the tone, and story of each individual picture whereas here the story could’ve taken place in modern times and it would still be the same. There are some things things that do stand out about this one visually though as there are a number of genuinely creative sequences throughout the runtime. Like in the beginning for example we get a nice showcase of the X-Men working together as a unit to save astronauts and while it might feel a little awkwardly staged it still is neat seeing them work together in an environment we’ve never seen them explore. Same also applies to a really fun fight in a dimly lit street that takes advantage of the location as we see the different mutants fighting against one another. But easily the stand out action sequence is the finale involving a battle on a train which was changed drastically so as not to be similar to the climax of Captain Marvel and not gonna lie I’m glad they went with it because it is a really fun, and creative fight. We all get to see the mutants utilizing their abilities in order to take down a common enemy inside this train and it is just a sight to behold! Also helps that the CGI is pretty good as well with the effects for the Phoenix herself being really cool looking and all of the other mutant powers are a lot of fun visually as well. I also forgot that it was Hans Zimmer who did the score for this and it was actually really great as it was intense and elevated the proceedings. Nice to see him giving it his all even if the movie is merely average and for what the movie is trying to be, the technical aspects were really well done for the most part.
Given that this is an re imagining of the Dark Phoenix saga, it is only natural that the Phoenix herself, Jean Grey would be the focus and the way her character is done her is a bit of mixed bag. On the one hand Sophie Turner is really good in the role, and does a good job of conveying the different feelings, and selling the pain, and trauma that Jean is going through. On the other hand, while I still really enjoy X-Men Apocalypse, Jean Grey wasn’t really the focus and didn’t get a whole lot of screen-time and so we aren’t really as invested in this version of the character as much we should be. This makes me think that the studio should have released another movie before this one that develops the newer cast more so that they have the audience’s full investment. If they had went in that direction and not rush into adapting the Phoenix Saga again it would’ve helped this movie a lot. It also would’ve helped in giving the newer incarnations of certain characters more chances to shine as Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops (who I liked in the last movie), Alexandra Shipp’s Storm (who could’ve greatly benefited from more screen-time as she never got the chance to do much with the character), Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Nightcrawler, and Evan Peters’s Quicksilver (who sadly does not get a cool scene showing off his powers) are sadly underutilized despite the actors doing a fine job in the roles. On the bright side though, James McAvoy, and Michael Fassbender are once again excellent as Charles Xavier, and Magneto respectively. Both have some great interactions with one another and bring a lot of gravitas to their roles with McAvoy in particular doing a good job of portraying Charles as someone not as perfect as some may truly think (I am going to miss them as these characters that’s for sure). Nicholas Hoult also reprises his role as Beast and he too is solid in the role and has some great scenes with Jennifer Lawrence’s Raven (AKA Mystique) who is also good yet the choice to (spoilers) kill her off in the middle limited her screen time and wasn’t as impactful as it should’ve been. As for the D’Bari their main purpose is just so that their can be an opposing threat to the X-Men and convince Jean to use her power for evil and they were really underdeveloped acting as replacements for the Skrulls who were used in Captain Marvel with Jessica Chastain really the only one who does much as the leader, Vuk, though even then she’s just there to serve as a plot device spouting exposition. Still this new batch of X-Men had a lot of potential, it just wasn’t as fully realized as it could’ve been.
In the end, Dark Phoenix is not as great as it could’ve been though neither is it the disaster people claim it is. Yes it has many beats that are similar to Last Stand, it should’ve been longer to develop its ideas, it isn’t as eventful as it should be, the cast of young X-Men were used that much, and the finale factor just felt tacked on at the last minute. Yet I still think there are some legitimately good things that show signs of greatness like the ending itself is a nice place to end things off, the script has its moments of great dialogue, there are some great action beats, the cast does well, and like I said I still believe that there should’ve been another one made before this so we could’ve had the chance to get to know the newer team more. I think its about on par with Last Stand as both do certain things very well while also having area that could’ve used more work (and both not as bad as their reputations would suggest). While I am curious to see what Kevin Feige does with these characters and there are places that could be improved, I still would’ve liked to have seen this iteration go on for a bit more. But hey at least we mostly had a good run with these movies and credit should be given to this series for helping kick off this wave of comic book super hero movies that we are still getting to this day. Whether you like them or not there’s no denying the huge impact they made on the genre as a whole.
Rating: C+
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