It’s hard to feel sympathy for the X-Men when it comes to their cinematic journey. Financially, they have been a box office boom more often than not. But in the all-important realm of public perception, X-Men: Dark Phoenix has the feel like it’s DOA.
It’s now understandable for this writer to feel sorry for those involved in the latest X-Men journey, all because the superhero entity has appeared to have become a casualty of the Fox and Disney merger. The Simon Kinberg written and directed fourth installation since the “reboot” feels an awful lot like a lame duck movie. That’s a term usually reserved for politics, but X-Men: Dark Phoenix is as close as Hollywood can have one of those on the outs politicians asking for votes when the election has already been called.
Perception is 90% of the reality in Tinsel Town. There were those who hadn’t seen it, and yet were still proclaiming, “We’ve seen this movie … when it was called Last Stand.”
After X-Men: First Class rebooted the series, X-Men: Days of Future Past shuffled the deck with its time travel wizardry (that was brilliant in my mind). Then producers followed that up with the wholehearted disappointment that was X-Men: Apocalypse. Once the merger between Disney and Fox went through, comic book fans and movie business “experts” saw the writing on the wall. Whether it was supposed to be or not, the next X-Men movie would serve as the final foray with this cast. For that there is no question. Disney and Marvel would surely seek to employ their own cast, their own behind-the-camera talent and find ways to integrate it into this Marvel Cinematic Universe that is the gold (platinum, really!) standard in comic book storytelling endeavors. Therefore, by merely looking at the facts and movie history, Dark Phoenix meant the end of the road.
But, did it necessarily mean that the film itself was a “disaster” or “dumpster fire?” No, it did not. Many of my fellow film critics and journalists have labeled the Kinberg’s flick as such! Also, it’s not as horrible as many critics would have you believe. It’s no Logan by a longshot. But seriously, can anything truly match that marvel of a movie (pun intended)? This is an ensemble of actors that is comprised of Oscar winners, Oscar nominees and clear future Oscar winners among its members. Even though they were contractually obligated to return to the film, do you think they would have added their name to something that was an upon-arrival resident of people’s worst of 2019 list (as several of my fellow critics have labeled it)?
We still have Michael Fassbender as Magneto, James McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Jennifer Lawrence as Raven and recent dazzler as JRR Tolkien in Tolkien, Nicholas Hoult. Not to mention there’s a new addition that arrives in the form of a two-time Oscar nominee in Jessica Chastain as Vuk.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix commences with a flashback to an all-important moment from Jean Grey’s (Sophie Turner) youth. It involves her parents and a devastating tragedy. Moments later, we arrive in the 90s-set “present” and the President of the United States has called on Xavier to help NASA. The Space Shuttle has encountered an outer space anomaly that finds them without power and likely only hours to live before their ship completely comes apart at the seams. Kodi Smit-McPhee’s Nightcrawler and Evan Peters’ Quicksilver have rescued all save one, the mission’s captain. With merely moments to spare before even the X-Men’s ship is in danger, Nightcrawler grabs Grey’s hand and they teleport into the imploding ship and in the chaos of the mess, he brings the captain back to the X-Men’s ship and leaves Grey behind. As shown in that stirring X-Men: Dark Phoenix trailer, as massive explosion occurs and somehow, Grey survives.
They return to earth as heroes, Charles is given an award by POTUS and his effort to have the public see mutants as heroes instead of monsters has taken a giant leap forward. It doesn’t last long. The mutant kids at Xavier’s school have given Jean a nickname, Phoenix, and she rather likes it. The issue is, she’s stronger than ever. Even Charles can’t get inside her head and if she is aggravated, she can seriously hurt those she cares about most, including Tye Sheridan’s Cyclops—her boyfriend. That, rightfully, freaks her out. She leaves the sanctity of the school. No spoiler here, but let’s just say that she discovers something about her past that will send her on the most terrifying of trajectories that jeopardizes not only herself, our major players and where mutants fit into society once and for all.
Kinberg’s script isn’t as tightly wound as it should be and it’s not that the film is overtly long (it clocks in at a reasonable under two hours). The thing is, Dark Phoenix finds itself meandering quite often and even has some moments that are sadly boring. That is not a descriptor that should be used to describe any movie going experience, much less a thrilling superhero franchise with a history of action sequences that push the envelope (Days of Future Past’s Pentagon escape with Quicksilver, for example).
Turner is given a chance to soar with an antagonist role that is rich in its far-reaching arc. She is fantastic, but … the way that Kinberg pieces together her scenes within the vast scope of the entire story is jagged and even at times jarring. The combination of a placid script and a director that is making his big screen debut (despite being around filmmaking endeavors for decades) adds up to a shaky overall flick in terms of cohesion, pacing and character development. Yes, that latter aspect is frankly shocking. This is a screenwriter whose work has included Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Sherlock Holmes and X-Men: Days of Future Past. Perhaps adding the element of helming to his equation threw him off his game? Then again, he did write X-Men: Apocalypse, which was truly a storytelling mess.
Now, if you look now at Dark Phoenix and its predecessor collectively, it becomes clear (in hindsight) that this is in fact a franchise that needs a break. It’s been “new” since 2011 and every actor and actress involved has gone on to prolific other work, right on down the line. Fate is a funny thing, isn’t it? One starts to wonder if Disney hadn’t purchased Fox and the fabled studio could keep making X-Men movies with this cast and filmmaking team, it would have kept steamrolling downhill until a reboot of the reboot was required.
Let’s be clear. X-Men: Dark Phoenix is not a complete mess. It’s a bit convoluted, sure, but that doesn’t make it a disaster. Some have argued that the cast knew that this was it and the entire script was garbage and therefore, their visibly clear pained performances reflected that. I saw no “mailing it in” turns by anyone in the cast. Besides, does Fassbender know how to not give 100%? Does McAvoy and Lawrence ever do anything cinematically half-assed? No! Some even argued that Chastain’s character is awash in a sea of muck and that her desire to be anywhere except making this movie was clear from the moment she arrived onscreen. I didn’t see that either. Sure, her Vuk is not exactly the most fully developed soul she’s ever inhabited. But she does try her best to bring something to the person who helps Jean explore her darker side? Yes. It’s just that there is not much there to work with… then again, how much do you need to know about an alien being from another galaxy whose sole desire is to destroy humans?!
X-Men: Dark Phoenix will still resonate with fans who have weathered some questionable movie moments in this universe. As such, they should still turn out in droves. The response from fellow critics, for me, is classic. There is a “pile on a perceived loser” moment that sadly happens frequently. That is exactly what is happening with the critical response to Kinberg’s flick. These reviewers, I’m convinced, went into the theaters with their minds already made up. This movie was going to be terrible and nothing they saw could alter their opinion. Sometimes my fellow movie writers can feel like they’re lemmings. No one wants to be the only person who found an ounce of redeemable quality in a perceived DOA stinker. I have major issues with the film too, but I never entered the theater with my knife already unsheathed.
Do these extraordinary actors deserve better? Yes. Are they all virtually running for the hills throughout the flick? No. Hell, no.
Grade: C