Director: Simon Kinberg
Cast Headliners: James McAvoy, Sophie Turner, Michael Fassbender, Tye Sheridan, Jessica Chastain, many many many others
Original Release Date: June 7th, 2019
Dark Phoenix the 12th film in the X-Men franchise so one may expect that some sort of fatigue may set in. Now that never stopped similar ones of high counts such as James Bond or Star Wars but what those films had is years being seperated by directorial styles and feels. X-Men has a bit of this but much of these have been release in a short span of time and being very similar to each other. Even too this time it's literally another take, again , on the plot explored in 2006's X3: The Last Stand by showing a Jean Grey-centric story although here with twists. It also has the meta aspect of being the last major X-Men film released under the Fox timeline (a odd New Mutants delayed straggler and whatever happens with Deadpool aside) before Disney absorbs and reboots them into the MCU... So how does that do at sending things off? Decently if very, very expectedly cheesy.
After a flashback showing someone's youth, the movie picks up in the X-Men glory days of a new decade in1992. It's an altered good timeline where the president praises the hero's and they have toys made in their likeness. The uniforms as shiny colorful and the Charles Xavier School For The Gifted is packed with students. One knows in comics this was a good time but unfortunately it's “90s” aspect is really, really not explored with a couple of minor exceptions when compared to the funky 60s/70s/80s aesthetics of the other “”First Class” prequels. At last the shtick of space is used as the X-Men team is sent to...rescue some astronauts from the mysterious Phoenix Force in low orbit while elsewhere some aliens lurk around. It's not quite the galactic quest the lore deserves but it's a step to differentiate this tale from the past. Where was the classic 1990s animated series theme c'mon now..
This is a team led by the same usual mutant superhero faces this time or whoever could show up to the cast list. That thus includes the older set of Professor X/Charles Xavier(James McAvoy), Mystique/Raven Darkholme(Jennifer Lawrence), Beast/Hank McCoy(Nicholas Hoult), Quicksilver/Peter Maximoff(Evan Peters) along the newer recruits Cyclops/Scott Summers(Tye Sheridan), Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner(Kodi Smith-Mcphee), Storm/Ororo Munroe(Alexandra Shipp) and of course Phoenix/Jean Grey(Sophie Turner). Elsewhere around more grey area forces exist such as Magneto/Erik Lehnsherr(Michael Fassbender) with acolytes Selene(Kota Eberhardt) and Ariki(Andrew Stehlin) who along with the X-Men contend with a third party in mysterious shapeshifting D'Bari (not Skrulls...Captain Marvel influences obvious in) aliens led by Vuk(Jessica Chastain) aided by Jones(Ato Essandah).
As ever it's an ensemble cast but as ever there's an incredibly cheesy script at play too. There's some highlights here and there. It must be noted that this is very much a Jean movie as she takes a bit of a main protagonist / apparent antagonist take. Unlike in 2006 Turner's turn at darkness is filled with more struggle and dialogue than the truly alien-ish take Famke Jannssen did although she has her moments of complete losing control as well. The sometimes in her career mundane Turner does a bit better job as she faces personal stakes, emotions, and revelations although it certainly has its bits of cheese as well. Even moreso in the past she has a personal stake with the Professor and McAvoy really channels his prime Patrick Stewart as the timelines get closer together with the bald helping although some timeline logic definitely gets messed up. Sheridan's Cyclops doesn't have a Wolverine to be a rival with her and has some slight drama, heroics and humor although it's a bit of a minor role.
Everyone else is a bit of a minor role and offers only an attempted quip , expositon, or use of power. It seems that Lawrence's Mystique and Hoult's Beast try just a little more than last time although it really seems like they're cheesily done trying their best in their mutant careers. Peter's Quicksilver has some fun quips although it's even more momentary and they remove him to balance the action once again.
For the apparent grey-area people things are even more of a mixed bag. Fassbender Magneto is likeable as ever and gets to tap more into his dark side here since he always is going back and forth although it's been a long time since his prime stuff although he has some impressive power uses. His henchmen really don't do much aside get in fights. Same too for the aliens. Chastain's Vuk has a creepy hollow eyed take appearance but she's about as generically “ultimate evil” as things can be that's almost down there with Apocalypse or others for “eh”.
The visuals are a very, very mixed bag but maybe a slight improvement is noticed with first time director but past writer Simon Kinberg's touch. There's some extremely cheesy CGI once again although unlike Apocalypse the action scenes can be more memorable and well sharply executed with the powers at play. There's more action than some of these films with multiple chases, fights, defenses an more. Jean's powers particularly are amplified by the cosmic force and the stuff in space is fresh to see even if so brief. There's some very mixed quality to the dramatic talking craft but some of it is alright as things take a darker serious palette. Decent backing music whether electronic or orchestral by legend Hans Zimmer adds to things as well.
What the movie does kind of alright at is being an “ending”. One can tell there's some slight remnants of when it was meant to be a cliffhanger into a two parter but some things truly do meet their time loop end here with a sense of closure. The stuff with Charles, Magneto, Jean, and Mystique goes mostly where one would want or within the cheese. Definitely one to have seen the past few young era the least although there's fun as a whole among the silly.
As a a whole that kind of defines the Fox era of what just came. It was a world of a few beloved characters floating in a sea of cheese. It was once the definitive Marvel experience but has become such a repeat of itself. However the good stuff reminds us of what once was...and what may come again. I'll miss the cheese right along the glory. 7.4 out of 10
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