REVIEW: Dark Phoenix Fails To Rise From The Ashes
Dark Phoenix is the return everyone’s favorite mutant team, the X-Men as they struggle to save Jean Grey. The terror that is the Dark Phoenix, a powerful dark entity, has decided to call Jean’s body home. The team faces a great tragedy that will leave them questioning one of their own and their place in this world.
The Dark Phoenix saga has been adapted numerous times and across a variety of different mediums since it debuted in comic form in 1970s. It was included in the 1994 hit animated series, X-Men: The Animated Series, and in the 2006 film, X-Men: The Last Stand. Few have managed to get the arc right and this is, once again, another instance. The Dark Phoenix arc is a meaty piece of storytelling and if properly setup can be a well done addition to the X-Men world. One of the best parts about the saga is watching the internal struggle Jean faces as she tries to deal with this entity taking over her body and mind while her X-Men family tries to help her through it. Sophie Turner does a nice job tackling this conflict in the film. Unfortunately, the development of Jean from her first appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse to Dark Phoenix is just not enough time to create any form of connection for the audience to her or her struggle.
The film is still enjoyable, albeit a little long. Directed by Simon Kinberg, the best moments happen when all of the mutants are together and the action is flowing. The ensemble cast has such great chemistry from years of working with one another that those scenes shine and leave the viewers wanting more.
This may look like an ensemble film but really it is Sophie Turner’s. Everyone else, including Jessica Chastain, play a secondary or even background character role to Turner’s leading lady. Turner never truly gets the chance to shine due to surface level of storytelling. Chastain, on the other hand, who plays a character hell bent on finding and claiming the Phoenix’s energy for herself, is vastly underused in the film. Her character has no emotional range at all, it is disappointing to see someone with Chastain’s talent play such a boring character.
James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Alexandria Shipp, Evan Peters, and Jennifer Lawrence reprise their roles and are as good as the previous films, even though they are only seen for short spurts.
Dark Phoenix is a decent end to the FOX’s X-Men franchise. It wraps everything up in a nice little bow with just a hint of a possible continuation in case Disney decides to move forward with what is already in place.
Grade: C+