Slightly forgotten among the craziness as Avengers Endgame stampeded into 2019, X-Men: Dark Phoenix has been biding its time to prove that mutants were the first to do comic book movies right (along with the Blade).
Professor X and his mutant team return to once again save the world, only this time its from one of their own. In the previous film X-men Apocalypse, friends and foes trade sides constantly, ultimately to the utter destruction of the godlike Apocalypse. And for those who viewed the film, you know that Jean Grey ( played by Sophie Turner) was the raw power that brought him down.
Building upon that, we find Jean and the rest of the team as super heroes and goodwill ambassadors for the dream of coexistence between humans and mutants. During a mission in space, a freak accident exposes Jean to unknown cosmic radiation that changes her in ways even she doesn’t understand.
As she fights to control her powers and emotions, alien beings invade the Earth with unknown motivations. Multiple sides fight for what they want, with death and destruction following in their wake. History unfolds for characters with regrets and hidden pain, while new history is made during a power struggle that could destroy the planet.
As one of the last films from the Fox franchise completed prior to the purchase of the studio by Disney, you’ll get the same sense of separation and compartmentalization the franchise has held to since its inception. Which in this case, isn’t a bad thing. These characters had multiple films to complete their arcs, and while I wasn’t a fan of X-men Apocalypse (Outside of the Quicksilver scene), I understood they were taking the film in a direction they felt was best for the characters. This film completes that process, and pretty well at that. Having read the Phoenix Saga in comic-book form, I was unsure how the story would progress to accommodate for changes in the film universe and the subtraction of many characters and events. And this version, while light on the comic reasoning, did well enough to deliver a cohesive story.
To break it down, this film is fun with lots of super powered action, watch it in Imax if you get the chance. And the story culmination works for me as a fan of the franchise and the comics. I of course wish we could have expanded the world before the next reboot, this film shows us a couple mutants living at the school that would have been fun character additions, Dazzler most noticeably. Though it seems we’ll have to wait for Disney to restart the franchise and roll it into the Marvel universe proper.
Grade: B-
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1hr 53m
Review
Rating
RN review of Dark Phoenix
Fun action and adequate story culmination make for a ho-hum ending to this X-men franchise.