The X-Men franchise has had a tumultuous ride of highs and lows. Over the course of Fox’s venture with the mutant heroes, we’ve been introduced to many characters In X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and X-Men: Apocalypse. Dark Phoenix serves as the final send off in the series, yet it doesn’t capture the totality of the franchise run. Its even safe to say that Simon Kinberg’s directional debut is quite joyless and just bland. Filled with empty, and tedious dialogue, sub-par boring action scenes, Dark Phoenix has all the ingredients of a lifeless cash grab that tries to say goodbye to its iconic characters.
When Jean Grey was a child, her parents were killed in a car crash that manifested from Jean’s raw psychic tendencies. Causing her mother to fall asleep at the wheel and the vehicle flipping over, Jean becomes an orphan and is adopted by Charles Xavier (James McAvoy). He believes he can help Jean harness her immense abilities and also provide some stability to her young life.
When she becomes older, Jean (Sophie Turner) is part of a rescue mission conducted by the X-Men. The president of the United States asks the X-Men to rescue a shuttle crew in space. In what becomes a very cool rescue sequence where all the mutants involved in the plan combine their powers to shine, Jean ends up taking the burden of the damage. Surrounding the damaged spacecraft is a “solar flare” which in fact is some sort of interstellar “planet destroying force” and it essentially decides to reside inside Jean.
After the successful mission, many of the mutant students start calling Jean “Phoenix” after she cheated death and rose again. As everyone is enjoying themselves at a late-night shindig, Jean begins to experience vivid memories of her past. Filled with confusion and rage, the entity within her begins to control her. Not to mention she is also encouraged by a shapeshifting lifeform named Vuk played by Jessica Chastain, where she exhibits one of her most plain and forgettable performances ever. After a slew of CG infested explosions and battle scenes, Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is brought back into the fold. Sadly not even Fassbender’s or McAvoy’s solid performances can lift this edition to a respectable level.
The main dilemma with Dark Phoenix is that the film doesn’t hold a similar subtext that the previous films installed. Everyone says exactly what they mean, and your typical superhero context is spewed to the point of nausea. Previous X-films dealt with complications of being an outsider, or not understanding one’s self, instead we just get mutants saying things like “When I lose control, bad things happen…” The film also lacks any comic relief or charm. At least the previous installments allowed characters such as Logan to provide some spark and wit. Instead we get Jennifer Lawrence’s bored face staring at us as if she’s also wondering when all of this can be just over.
The cast of course is incredibly talented, but they can’t seem to muster up any late magic when it comes to this “finale”. Besides Fassbender and McAvoy’s established performances, I just didn’t seem to feel that Sophie Turner could carry this film. Hot off her Game of Thrones decade long life, she fails to provide her character with any substance and provides us with a very robotic routine. It seems like nobody cared to convey any kind of conviction to this so-called closing title. I honestly didn’t even feel that this was a finale of any sort, as it didn’t present itself to a conclusion that would define this path. Overall Dark Phoenix serves as the last of the X-venture for a while. With Fox being engulfed by the Marvel empire, we probably won’t be seeming much of our X-Heroes for a while, but then again perhaps that’s something to look forward to.
