One of the many elements that shook out from the Disney purchase of 20th Century Fox was the fact that the latest X-Men movie would also be the last for this cast. X-Men: Dark Phoenix hit theaters in the summer of 2019 and now has arrived on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download formats.
Now, it is not known what Disney plans to do with their new mutants. Will they incorporate them into the Avengers somehow? Will Marvel reboot the X-Men sooner than later, or perhaps—and this is highly unlikely—the comic book studio will let them sit on the sidelines for a spat while audiences focus on other Marvel properties that inhabit the recently announced Phase Four? If Disney has shown anything, it is that they do not let their cinematic properties gather dust. It didn’t take long after the purchase of Lucasfilm for the Mouse house to announce that not only would there be a new trilogy of Star Wars films, but that there would be spin-offs, prequels and even a TV show!
I would bet that the X-Men deck will be reshuffled and dealt to those passionate comic book movie fans (much) sooner than later.
In the meantime, X-Men: Dark Phoenix will have to serve as the last time we will see the superstar cast that first were introduced to audiences with X-Men: First Class. It’s a brilliant bunch, what with Oscar winners and Oscar nominees throughout from Jennifer Lawrence and Michael Fassbender to James McAvoy and joining the ensemble for this final foray into the mutant world, Jessica Chastain.
After X-Men: First Class rebooted the series, X-Men: Days of Future Past altered the timeline 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 and now we have Dark Phoenix that is meant the end of the road. 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 labeled the Simon Kinberg written and directed flick as such! 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)? There still is Fassbender as Magneto, McAvoy as Charles Xavier, Lawrence as Raven and recent dazzler as JRR Tolkien in Tolkien, Nicholas Hoult.
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.
When it comes to bonus features, the “making-of” featurette is Rise of the Phoenix: The Making Of Dark Phoenix is impressive. What is so fascinating about this BTS look is it does something so many do not … look at the intertwining of the characters and how that was achieved. The five-part documentary has Kinberg coming across as someone who is a helming veteran, even though this flick marks his debut as a director. Of course, he is no stranger to film sets and that experience comes through particularly strongly on this bonus feature. Turner chimes in about tackling the titular role and how it was a challenge to take her character to places that are completely foreign, given her history in the franchise thus far. Lawrence adds her two cents and gets surprisingly personal about the idea of leaving behind the character of Raven/Mystique. There are well thought out BTS featurettes and there is this one that is beyond impressive.
There are six deleted scenes, but the one that you will want to witness first has to be Charles Says Goodbye that finds McAvoy saying goodbye to the school that bears his name. It’s triumphantly touching and further shows why the actor is in the top tier of thespians working today.
How to Fly Your Jet to Space with Beast allows Hoult to get the spotlight as he channels his inner Beast and gives viewers a fun tour of the X-Men jet.
Then, there’s the audio commentary track with Kinberg and Producer Hutch Parker. It covers a lot of ground and fills in many blanks that were not dealt with in the behind-the-scenes featurettes. The thing that comes through more than anything, for me, is the passion that Kinberg has for the series. I interviewed him for X-Men: First Class and this film firmly served as a geeky milestone moment for the filmmaker and that comes through on every second of his audio commentary.
Film Grade: C
Bonus Features: B