The supposed final edition of the ‘X-Men’ series, ‘Dark Phoenix’ is nowhere near as bad as you’ve heard…and I imagine you’ve heard it’s pretty bloody awful, as this summer superhero popcorn flick has weathered some of the nastiest criticism in years.
It’s not deserved. Not that ‘Dark Phoenix’ is a great movie….far from it. But despite the fact that it probably bites off more than it can chew (not exactly a rarity with this franchise), it’s more compelling than anticipated and attempts to be more intelligent than your average comic book film. Whether or not it accomplishes the latter is up for debate for among ‘X-Men’ faithful – and again, the debate is raging – but you have to give an ounce of credit for at least trying to add a brain to a whole lot of muscle.
Set in 1992, the story opens with the X-Men going into space at the request of the President to rescue the crew of a space shuttle trapped in some sort of wicked cosmic force. While successful in their mission, Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) takes the brunt of a big outer space kaboom, leaving her more powerful…and thus, more dangerous…than ever before.
From there, Grey wrestles with demons from her past, resulting in violent bouts of anger which once again puts the human trust in mutants as severe risk. Meantime, Jessica Chastain plays the leader of an alien race that wants to suck (literally, yo) that aforementioned cosmic force right out of Grey and use it for herself. Thus, our planet becomes a bit of a battleground for the two sides, which means bad news for cop cars, residential homes, a few city blocks and one big long freight train.
The fact that the Dark Phoenix saga was so instrumental on the pages of the X-Men comic is probably causing much of the backlash against this sequel, for diehard followers just don’t think the cinematic offering is up to par. Fair enough, I suppose. But if you ARE a fan, and you’re able to separate yourself from the sentimental attachment to this universe, I think you’ll find a movie that offers a relatively satisfying- if not decent – closure to things. It’s likely a case of franchise fatigue – not only has the X-Men series unleashed a mind boggling number of films (even Wolverine died of exhaustion), but it’s twisted the timeline in so many confusing knots, it’s high time these characters get a good rest. They’ve earned it.
