The last X-Men film in the hands of Fox should have been something besides the Dark Phoenix story, something we've already seen. Although there are a few good moments in the film, and it's beautifully done visually, a lackluster plot and an underdeveloped Jean Grey hurts the film immensely.
“Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence fire up an all-star cast in this spectacular culmination of the X-Men saga! During a rescue mission in space, Jean Grey (Turner) is transformed into the infinitely powerful and dangerous DARK PHOENIX. As Jean spirals out of control, the X-Men must unite to face their most devastating enemy yet – one of their own.”
X-Men: Dark Phoenix has the distinction of being the last of the Fox owned X-Men films prior to its purchase by Disney. While the franchise was reinvigorated by Matthew Vaugh in X-Men: First Class, it has unfortunately slowly gone downhill, giving a poor sendoff to a few great characters this reboot produced.
As the film title suggests, the story centers on the Dark Phoenix story arc of Jean Grey, now played by Sophie Turner, whose powers are unlocked by a mysterious anomaly in space. Taking place in 1992, almost a decade after the events of X-Men: Apocalypse, the X-Men are now the team of heroes you know and recognize, on call to save the world when needed. Lead by who else, but Mystique? As much as I’ve enjoyed some of the earlier films, this point always bothered me about this franchise, which is the exploitation of Jennifer Lawrence’s increased popularity after the first film, thrusting her character to the front of every story as little sense as it made. Even though she is the leader of the team, her character is relegated to assigning blame to Charles Xavier’s past actions of building walls in Jean’s mind to prevent her from realizing the destructive power she’s capable of, constantly asking him: “What have you done, Charles?”.
This is supposed to be Jean Grey’s film, yet her character is overshadowed by so many other things that I never felt that connection with her and the Dark Phoenix story. Mystique’s story arc, Jessica Chastain’s alien character along with the others of her kind who are also after Jean only further to convolute the story which was so much simpler the first go-around as a love triangle.
So, why didn’t this work?
My biggest issue with featuring an entire film on the character of Jean Grey is the fact that in this reboot, we’ve only been exposed to her for a brief period of time in the previous film, a film where she didn’t even play that prominent of a character in the plot. Just as before, it seems Fox wants to gamble the future of a franchise on rising star power, and the popularity of Sophie Turner in Game of Thrones seems to be all the reasoning they need for this. I never felt the same connection to Sophie Turner’s Jean Grey as I did to Famke Jannsen’s. This Jean Grey doesn’t have the depth of character for us to care about her, including all the characters surrounding her, especially her paper-thin relationship with Scott Summers.
Then, there’s the more than confusing timeline to consider, with Days of Future Past changing the past to create an entire new set of sequences that wipes the original trilogy from history. So, Jean Grey becomes the Dark Phoenix in 1992 instead of 2003, and let’s not forget that in these short 11 years between Dark Phoenix and X-Men, James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are supposed to be Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Whatever they changed in the past that prevented them from aging, please share with the rest of us. The point is, these stories don’t do well in overlapping with each other, and is a giant confusing mess for fans to muddle through to figure it out.
With the news of Disney purchasing Fox well-before the film was released, it’s also possible, and most likely, that audiences just didn’t care what happened to these characters before they were redone and brought into the MCU. A story that has already been told in the X-Men universe that will be rebooted, let’s face it, much better than it ever has been, doesn’t create a lot of draw for audiences.
There are some good aspects of Dark Phoenix, but unfortunately are few and far between. Whatever your thoughts on Dark Phoenix or Fox’s handling of the franchise may be, there were some great moments in the X-Men universe that won’t easily be replicated in the MCU.
Video
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is presented in 4k 2160p Ultra High Definition Widescreen 2.39:1. The 4k transfer is absolutely stunning, easily the best thing about the film, providing the brilliant brights and deep darks, with the HDR giving us the more lifelike colors. If I could sum up the film in one word it would definitely be ‘colorful’, and there is no better way to see it than in Ultra High Definition to take full advantage of this.
Audio
The audio is presented in Dolby Atmos, another highlight of the disc. The track is done extremely well, with a great balance between the surrounds and center channel. The atmospheric effects the Dolby Atmos offers are stunning, including a great helicopter sequence and other battle sequences that totally immerse you in the action.
Special Features
Extras are located on the Blu-Ray disc and include:
- Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary by Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker
- Rise of the Phoenix: The Making of Dark Phoenix (5-Part Documentary)
- How to Fly Your Jet to Space with Beast
- Audio Commentary by Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker
With the X-Men saga coming to a conclusion under the helm of Fox, one can only speculate on its future. Though the franchise has had its ups and downs, its future looks to be bright in the hands of Marvel, and I for one cannot wait to see where they fit in to the MCU.
