X-Men: Dark Phoenix
Ten Second Review: An unconvincing version of a film I’ve seen before. The X-Men saga, even with its mis-steps, deserved a better send off than this.
You know that kid in school who tells everyone how cool they are and everyone kind of nods and goes “sure”. The X-Men films have become a bit like that. When they began in the early 00s they were good films that really made a break from the middling and often Camp superhero films of the 90s (even if they were in full leather suits). The problem seemed to come as the producers didn’t know what to do with the franchise, especially as the MCU ramped up. As the films became more frequent they seemed to loose a little of their intrigue and quality. They became crowded both within their line up and scheduling. This meant that few characters were fully engaged with and few narrative lines really carried through in an effective and meaningful manner.
The film starts with a young Jean Grey in the car with her parents. When Jean accidentally swerves the car, her whole family end up a collision with another vehicle. Cut to Charles Xavier offering Jean a place to call home and a place where she can hone and harness her gift. As we are brought up to the present day (or 1992 in this case), we see the X-Men taking on bigger and bigger missions. As Charles sends the team into space to save some astronauts a solar flare hits the mission and Jean gets caught at the center of it. Returning seemingly unharmed, the team wonder what it was that actually hit her and how on earth she survived it. When she begins to lash out at them they realise that the Jean they brought back might not be the Jean they went out there with.
When the X-Men started it was pretty uncontested for that type of superhero film. It was the type of film comic book fans had been looking for and was arguably a catalyst for something like the MCU. Nearly 20 years in, and now surrounded on all sides by other superhero films, the X-Men films just look tired. Dark Phoenix is a film we’ve seen before and not a better version.
The script was tired and really felt as though they had run the past 11 films in the series (bar the Deadpools perhaps) through a script writing program and not even bothered to check how it came out. You can see the plot and the next lines coming a mile off and all you’re hoping is that you’re wrong. I’d rather not watch a film that feels lazily compiled!
It must be said that the special effects were amazing. I can’t say I agreed with their art direction and use all the time but, the execution of it made it a sight to be seen at points. It is a reminder that even on half baked ideas like this one, there are so many talented people working in film at the moment.
The X-Men series really deserved a better send off and the source material for Dark Phoenix gave many hope that this film would be one of the better films in its run. Unlike the comic book the film really struggles with storytelling and ultimately, no matter how good the effects are or how well constructed action scenes are, the film really couldn’t recover from the bland and unengaging storytelling.
