DARK PHOENIX: A Dull and Uneventful End to the Storied X-Men Franchise

Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Superhero

Produced by: Simon Kinberg, Hutch Parker, Lauren Shuler Donner

Directed by: Simon Kinberg

Written by: Simon Kinberg

Production Company: 20^th Century Fox

Starring: Sophie Turner, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Nicholas Hoult, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Evan Peters, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp 

Runtime: 114 minutes                                                         

SYNOPSIS: 

During a rescue mission, Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) suffers a cosmic accident, which turns her into an extremely powerful mutant. However, her inability to control such powers also makes her a bigger threat to mankind and her mutant friends. Realizing that the impact could be cataclysmic if her powers fall into the wrong hands, the X-Men must work together to try to save Jean, both from herself and the alien beings taking advantage of her powers for mass destruction. 

REVIEW: 

Nineteen years. That’s how long the X-Men cinematic franchise has been going, the one that started the whole modern-day superhero craze. While there were other superhero movies before X-Men (2000), none of them took the genre to the next level the way that first movie did. 

But every beginning must have an end. With the acquisition of Fox by Disney, it means that the rights to X-Men now belong to the Kevin Feige-owned Marvel Studios, hence a goodbye to the Fox-Marvel era of X-Men movies.  

It is a sad occasion indeed for long-time X-Men fans, but it is also one that should be celebrated for its contribution to the genre. If X-Men hadn’t worked, the idea of a shared comic book cinematic universe would only be a pipe dream. At the same time, it was not without its own missteps. 

One of the most notable was X-Men: the Last Stand (2006). It is not the worst in the franchise by any means, but it is somehow the most irrelevant. There is even an X-Men time travel movie called X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) made specifically to wipe the Last Stand out of the timeline. And it went down to the way that movie handled the Jean Grey/Phoenix storyline. Everyone was unhappy with the Last Stand’s Jean Grey arc, particularly the writer Simon Kinberg. And to this day, he still considers his bungling of that storyline his biggest screenwriting failure. 

So, X-Men’s latest installment Dark Phoenix is a chance for Kinberg to redeem himself. The Last Stand writer gets a second crack at adapting the Phoenix storyline to the silver screen. And in a way, it is fitting that Fox-Marvel’s X-Men saga ends with the comic’s most iconic storyline. 

But again, a recurrent theme with these movies, it is not without its own missteps. Dark Phoenix was plagued with so much bad buzz, from production problems, extensive reshoots, underwhelming trailers to the constantly changing release dates. Especially after the failures of X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), everyone fears for the worst. 

As an adaptation of the Phoenix storyline, Simon Kinberg takes Dark Phoenix on a different direction than the Last Stand. In that sense, this is the more focused movie of the two. At least, Dark Phoenix commits into telling Jean Grey’s full story, which more than makes up for the Last Stand’s lack of commitment. Here, X-Men’s main and only problem is Jean Grey, without any power-sucking mutant or anti-mutant cure to complicate matters. 

Still though, that does not make Dark Phoenix a good movie. It’s also not bad. But it’s unfortunately bland and forgettable, which is not typical of an X-Men movie, even the lesser ones.  While Kinberg’s slow burn approach with Jean’s story should be appreciated, he often mistakes an exercise in restraint for making a boring movie where nothing of interest happens. It’s not only because the movie lacks action. It’s also because there’s nothing of dramatic interest happening either, which is strange considering the fact that it is usually the franchise’s strongest point. Anything resembling dramatic interest is just characters engaged in philosophical jibber jabber that leads nowhere. 

And it’s not helped by the fact that there is also really not that much dramatic interest happening with the Phoenix storyline. Kinberg’s Dark Phoenix is yet again another bungled attempt at properly adapting the comic’s beloved arc to the silver screen. His full narrative commitment can’t quite offset a shallowly-written character study that lacks the nuance, depth and complexities required to make a compelling Jean Grey story. 

And what hurts this movie is Kinberg’s perceived disregard of her character development in Apocalypse. Such disconnect between the Jean Grey of Apocalypse and the Jean Grey of Dark Phoenix is pretty odd, considering the fact that Kinberg was also one of the writers for the former movie. Later, there is another choice he takes with Jean’s character that would only further mess up the franchise’s already messy narrative continuity. 

Apocalypse wasn’t the best X-Men movie, but it had a pretty important foreshadowing moment that was surely meant to pay off in Dark Phoenix. That movie was about how she became the Phoenix. On that end, her origin story was kind of a done deal. By the time Dark Phoenix comes around, it should be asking a new question: how does Jean Grey cope with her Phoenix alter ego? But rather than answer this question, the movie decides to “correct” the answer from the previous question. 

It does so by abandoning Apocalypse’s idea that Jean’s Phoenix powers come from within her. In this movie, she got her Phoenix powers from a cosmic explosion during a space rescue mission. And throughout the movie, Kinberg’s script keeps on insisting that this particular moment matters in Jean’s transformation when it’s just isn’t. She had been the Phoenix before in Apocalypse. How is this cosmic explosion relevant in Jean Grey’s transformation when she’s already the Phoenix? 

As a mental health allegory, Dark Phoenix is a missed opportunity. It’s clear that Kinberg is way too wrapped up in Jean’s external struggle to care about the most powerful aspect of her story: her internal struggle. In fact, there are really only a couple scenes where her mental struggle takes hold of her as she alternates between being Jean Grey and Phoenix like in a snap. For the most part, Kinberg just wants to get to her doing the supervillain stuff as soon as possible, without the necessary build-up. And with that mentality, her character development stalls. She spends the rest of the movie being a human ticking time bomb waiting to explode, which is suspenseful at first until it becomes tiring as it goes on. 

A movie adaptation of the Phoenix storyline would not be complete without Jean Grey’s romance with Scott Summers/Cyclops (Tye Sheridan). It’s a crucial plot thread that takes the storyline from just a psychological drama to a tragic love story. It’s Romeo and Juliet but with superheroes. It’s clearly an aspect that was given little to no development in the Last Stand, which Kinberg attempts to fix by giving Dark Phoenix’s Scott more screentime. 

Yet, two things are sorely missing from their relationship arc: tragedy and romance. At times, it’s kind of irrelevant. How their relationship goes from being friends to lovers in Dark Phoenix seems rushed. The lack of romantic chemistry between Jean and Scott doesn’t do it any favor either. As a summer fling relationship, their chemistry works, but as a true love relationship, it doesn’t. In that aspect, it’s hard to be emotionally invested in their love story. 

At the same time, there’s never a moment where Scott proves his worth as a Romeo-type figure. Even when he’s rambling on that the destruction Jean caused wasn’t her doing, it just comes off as all talk and no action. If Scott loves Jean so much, he should be breaking the rules, running out of the X-mansion and trying to find Jean. Instead, he just sits around, waiting for Charles Xavier/Professor X’s (James McAvoy) order. 

But Jean Grey is not the only villain in Dark Phoenix. After all, she is more of a reluctant villain than she is the pure evil villain. In other words, this movie needs the presence of pure evil to puppeteer Jean’s every move. 

Out comes an alien shape-shifter named Vuk (Jessica Chastain), a character that’s been described as “the devil in Jean’s shoulder”. Like any shoulder devil, Vuk’s purpose in the story is to tempt Jean to do bad things. So, she is obviously going to play a pivotal role in Jean Grey’s character turn, right? Well, no. In fact, she’s not as important as the script might have suggested. Vuk only has two scenes together with Jean, and it comes much, much later in the movie. Other than that, she’s not even there from the beginning. What makes Vuk so influential then? And also, Jean doesn’t really need someone to push her over the edge, since she’s already over the edge before Vuk shows up. Why is she in this movie? 

As a villain on her own right, Vuk is not menacing. Just because she can suck people’s energy out with a touch of her finger doesn’t automatically make her threatening. It all means nothing if she’s not worth giving a damn about as a character. Vuk is mostly bland, with the exception of her entertainingly hilarious introductory scene. 

But Vuk is not alone. As the leader of an alien race called the D’Bari, she also has the typical bad guy army. They are faceless goons with the same strength as T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) but lesser personality. As a T-1000 rip-off, the movie often breaks its own rules regarding these D’Bari’s powers. At one point, they can sustain the blast of a rocket launcher. At another point, they can be taken down by a simple bullet.   

Besides Jean Grey, there are also other characters that have been there since 2000’s X-Men. Since this is the X-Men: First Class (2011)-era X-Men, this movie is its own thing. But still, the First Class characters are the same people as the 2000’s X-Men characters. James McAvoy’s Charles Xavier is the same person as Patrick Stewart’s Charles Xavier. But the way this movie deals with their characterization, choices or mortality doesn’t reflect that. Anyone who expects this prequel finale to tie in with 2000’s X-Men, then this is not the movie. In fact, now, 2000’s X-Men makes no sense anymore. And no, Avengers Endgame (2019)’s branched reality theory is not a good enough excuse. 

 

In Dark Phoenix, Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) suddenly switches characters. Erik’s actions and beliefs in this movie make more sense than Charles’. On paper, that could be an interesting twist. 

Charles Xavier would be a boring character if he’s an all-too-perfect saint throughout the movie. Here, he’s done some bad things, particularly with the secrets he’s hidden from Jean about her past. It’s the kind of flaw that makes a character human. But the script’s idea of humanizing Charles is by turning him into a douchebag. Usually a figure of calm and wisdom, Dark Phoenix’s Charles likes to provoke people. At one point, he lashes out at a mutant for no reason. Earlier scenes never indicated that Charles had any problem with this mutant. At another point, he takes pleasure in ruining a grieving mutant’s self-esteem. 

And since Charles is this story’s villain, Erik now takes the protagonist mantle. Here, he is the leader of Genosha, a secret mutant community. Like in the opening scene of Apocalypse, he has left his criminal life behind. Like in all the First Class-era movies though, Erik’s arc is the same old story. He starts out good, goes rogue and then becomes good again, times four. Kinberg cannot find a way to reinvent the character whose part in the story is shoehorned rather than necessary. While seeing Erik and Charles clash minds once more is never a flaw, the novelty has worn off this time. 

But where Dark Phoenix jumps the shark is with Raven Darkholme/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence).  

On a technical standpoint, her blue make-up is awful.  In every X-Men movie before Dark Phoenix, Mystique in her natural blue form always looks like she is Mystique. Here, Mystique looks more like a cosplay version of the character, albeit a very poor one. And also, the movie makes a bold decision by changing her natural dark blue skin to light blue, as if she has developed the power to change ethnicity. Granted, she is a shape shifter who can just become anyone, but does that also give her the ability to change her own natural skin? If it is so, then why do they have to wait until now to introduce that? 

Even on a narrative standpoint, it is difficult to see how Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique would later grow up to become Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique. In the comics and most of the movies, she has always been a mutant radical who would do whatever it takes, even kill, to protect mutant’s rights. Here, she is reduced into being a goody-two-shoes mutant activist who serves as the movie’s forced agenda on female empowerment. Who could ever forget her cringy “X-Women” line? 

Later, something happens to Mystique that pushes Hank McCoy/Beast’s (Nicholas Hoult) relationship with Charles to the breaking point. And it’s massive enough for Beast to run away from the mansion and try to find Jean Grey, with the intention to kill. Up to this point, Beast’s character turn works, considering his feelings for Mystique. But the way the movie wraps up his arc does not work, which turns him from a consistent character in the first two acts into a flip-floppy one in the third.  

Ororo Munroe/Storm (Alexandra Shipp) has no character development. Kinberg’s idea of giving Storm a “character” is by mixing her power with another mutant’s power. There’s a scene where Storm is making ice cubes for Jean and Scott’s drinks. Ice might be weather-related, but still, that’s the Iceman’s territory. It acts as both a foreshadowing for a climactic moment where she would use ice to kick some bad guys’ butt and a lighthearted showcase of her power. On both occasions, Storm’s Iceman power just comes across as dumb. 

Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver (Evan Peters) fares much worst. This movie doesn’t even have the signature Quicksilver sequence, which is a massive letdown. Anyone who expects him to run in slow motion while a pop song plays in the background, seek its predecessors. Also, set up to have a bigger role in Dark Phoenix, he only has a cameo role here, which greatly impacts his unfinished character arc. He is Magneto’s son, isn’t he? His whole motivation is about him trying to find his estranged father and tell him that he is his son. It is not addressed here, not even close. Maybe it will be answered in Kevin Feige’s Marvel universe, but not in Fox-Marvel’s Marvel universe. 

All narrative and character beats aside, the least Dark Phoenix should offer is spectacle. After all, this is a $200 million project, meaning summer blockbuster budget. But the final product leans closer towards a $200 million TV movie. 

Dark Phoenix is a spectacular visual feat in a small screen, but pales in comparison to its giant competitions when translated into the bigger screen. This is where Kinberg’s inexperience as a first-time director shows. He doesn’t quite have the eye for aesthetics to realize his vision. It doesn’t help that his actors are given corny-looking costumes. But still, an experienced director makes the most of very little, something Kinberg has yet to achieve. A lot of the CGI sequences, particularly Phoenix-related, just doesn’t have the immersive touch that past X-Men movies had. 

That translates into the action as well. One of it (though to be frank, there’s only really one) takes place on a train, which is easily the best part of the movie. Based on reports, this is the reshot scene. Originally, it was supposed to take place in space, but it was changed due of its similarities to Captain Marvel (2019). It’s a good decision, since something of interest finally happens in the movie. If only they had reshot those sluggish first two acts. As far as presentation goes though, it is disappointingly serviceable. 

In terms of acting, Dark Phoenix serves as an opportunity for Sophie Turner to showcase her wide range. And Turner’s performance as Jean Grey has everything that the script lacks: nuance, depth and complexities. Her mature versatility delicately depicts Jean’s personality struggle. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr respectively effuse intrigue and charisma, whether they’re by themselves or sharing the screen. 

Other than these three actors, everyone is mostly sleepwalking their way out of this franchise. Jennifer Lawrence reprises her role as Mystique with the same effort of a wounded bear who is just begging for someone to snap her neck and end her misery. 

CONCLUSION: 

Dark Phoenix closes the curtain on the storied X-Men franchise with a dull, uneventful and surprisingly cheap-looking retelling of the comic’s most iconic storyline that lacks the nuance and depth that Sophie Turner’s lead performance provides. 

Score: 4.5/10