Dark Phoenix (2019) Movie Review
Dark Phoenix had so much potential! But alas, it was a major let down, particularly because Jean is one of my favorite X-Men. We begin the movie in 1975 with a young Jean causing a car crash that kills her parents. Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) comes to her rescue and brings her to Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
We then flit to the year 1992 where the X-Men are asked to rescue a space shuttle in distress. Jean (Sophie Turner) manages to absorb all of the energy of some type of solar flare, which saves the X-Men and the astronauts in distress while simultaneously amplifying her powers. Around the same time Jean discovers her powers are basically out of control, some type of shape shifting aliens arrive on Earth. Their apparent leader, Vuk (Jessica Chastain), reveals that the force that Jean absorbed destroyed the aliens’ planet. It’s so powerful that it has killed everything it’s come into contact with, except for Jean. Vuk wants to harness the energy and doesn’t seem to care about Jean’s fate.
The rest of the movie involves Jean going on a quest of self-discovery and the X-Men trying to either save her or kill her, depending on which faction they’re in. The usual gang’s all here: Hank (Nicholas Hoult), Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) etc. So if you want to see any of your favorites back in action this is your chance.
Despite the usual cast of likeable characters, Dark Phoenix felt like a let down. I expected more of an interesting plot for a movie with Jean at its center. It constantly feels like the writers don’t know how to give Jean her own story without having Wolverine or Professor X trying to control her in some way. While Jean’s powers on steroids certainly sounds intriguing on the surface, the delivery left something to be desired.
Not to mention they completely wasted the insanely talented Jessica Chastain. Vuk’s flat affect throughout the movie was obviously to differentiate her as the alien, but I would have liked to see Chastain be able to let loose and play an all out villain. Vuk was the most boring character on the screen. Overall, if you love X-Men you’ll want to see this. If you don’t have strong feelings either way, this is very skippable. I’ll admit I only saw it because my girl Jessica was in it and not even she could save Dark Phoenix from crashing and burning.
Film or Movie: Movie
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You love the X-Men movie franchise
2. You want to see a bunch of mediocre fight scenes
3. You want to see your favorite X-Men reunite one last time
