Film Review | Dark Phoenix

Dark Phoenix is directed by Simon Kinberg and stars Sophie Turner, James McAvoy and Jennifer Lawrence.

Superhero/Fantasy/Sci-Fi. Released 2019.

There have been a lot of questions surrounding this film. The release date being postponed three times, Disney's acquisition of Fox, actor's contracts, the Disney+ streaming service, all leading to the ultimate question as to whether this film would ever hit the big screen. However, knowing that this would be the last film with this X-Men cast, and they are dealing with a famous and beloved comic book story line, I was rooting for this film, and hated the notion that I may never get to see it.

Having said that, however, after seeing Dark Phoenix, I actually wish that this film never got made. In a world where Avengers: Endgame now exists, it is reasonable to expect or at least wish for something much grander than this as the final installment of a franchise which has lasted for almost 2 decades. Even with my cautious expectations, I am disappointed. With the exception of the indisputably brilliant Deadpool films, the last X-Men film was James Mangold's Logan, a pretty-much-perfect sendoff to the man who defines this franchise and has been the face of it for all this time, and the perfect way to say goodbye. It is rich, tender and poignant, and strengthens the X-Men legacy. Now that Dark Phoenix is going to be the last taste of this X-Men franchise, its legacy has been tainted, which is upsetting.

Don't get me wrong, there are positives to this film, but the negatives really drag it down. What I will say is that if this wasn't the final installment in the franchise, I wouldn't be as disheartened, but it is, and because of that it feels painfully unnecessary and simply a waste. The film fails to emotionally resonate in the way that it wants to - there is a death of a character which should've been so much more impactful than it actually was and I would've expected it to have a similar effect to that death in the midpoint of Endgame. 

Moments where I felt actual stakes in Dark Phoenix barely occurred - quite a shock considering the amount of time we have spent with these characters. Yes, McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence joined in 2011, as opposed to 2000 like Hugh Jackman and the rest of the original cast, but that still means we have spent 8 years with them over the span of four films. As a fan of the previous three, even the divisive Apocalypse, I was supposed to be invested from the outset, but I simply wasn't. I feel that a big factor of this is because the under-used Jean Grey character from Apocalypse is suddenly front-and-center in this sequel, but as a collective audience, we just don't care enough. This is no discredit to Sophie Turner, who does a stellar job when working with a script which is mediocre at best. This goes for the rest of the cast as well. They all are committed enough, they all get the job done, but I felt so disconnected and removed from the situation, which again, at this stage in the franchise, simply should not happen. 

Visually speaking, there are some strong elements; Jean Grey's power-set is exciting to behold and some of the action sequences are fairly well executed, and thankfully there is quite a lot of that. From a technical standpoint, I would've considered the third act to be pretty good if this film wasn't the finale, even though, again, no emotional stakes were felt, and that is the key element of how Dark Phoenix falls flat for me. An all-round disappointment... I will forever see Logan as the defining chapter in this 20-year-old saga.

C-