While I don’t post reviews very often on this blog much
anymore, when I do you might see a pattern forming. I tend to post reviews that
are contrary to the popular opinion about a specific movie. Most are negative
on my end to something that has been widely praised (Halloween, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom). Well, today it’s the opposite. I’m posting something positive
about a movie that’s been absolutely panned by the press.
So this final (20th Century Fox) X-Men film has
been fraught with behind-the-scenes woes. The Disney/Fox merger, multiple
reshoots, redesigning of certain special effects after most have already been
completed, shifting release dates and the fact that this is a retelling of a storyline
that had been played out in a previous movie. The moment that word gets to the
press that there have been “massive reshoots” the rumor wheel goes into
overdrive that the finished product will be a “disaster”. It’s this kind of
word of mouth that murdered Solo: A Star Wars Story before it had even hit multiplexes
(and I enjoyed that film more than The Force Awakens by far) and countless
others.
Reality check: Every.
Single. Movie. Has. Reshoots. You just don’t hear about them unless they are for a movie
with a massive budget and is highly anticipated. That’s how the press works.
Whatever will get them views and attention is what they will focus on. Not some
2 million dollar horror movie, but the 200 million dollar superhero epic. The
sad part is that most audiences subscribe to this smear campaign type of media
immediately instead of giving whatever movie has been targeted a fair shake.
I do not fall for that bullshit. If it's a movie I want to see I'm going to see it regardless if it's been pre-billed as an "absolute shambles" before anyone has even had a chance to see it in its entirety.
Dark Phoenix is one of those films.
When Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) is overtaken by a cosmic
force that amplifies her telekinetic abilities as well as her darkest emotions,
her fellow X-Men (James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Tye
Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Codi Smit-McPhee, Evan Peters, Michael Fassbender)
must attempt to bring her back from the brink before that power consumes the
world.
Yes, it is a retelling of the "Dark Phoenix" saga which was
previously mishandled completely in The Last Stand. Is it done justice here?
Not really. I’ve read the comic book story and while this does have
similarities it’s not an accurate representation. Does that matter to me?
Absolutely not. All I care about is if the movie is enjoyable.
In my case it
was.
So what did I enjoy about the film? The tone. This is a
somber and dead serious take on these characters. This is NOT a Marvel film
where there is ample humor to accompany the action. There are no jokes being
thrown around willy nilly. The last thing I want to hear when we are watching a
beloved character fighting her internal demons is someone asking “Does anyone
have any orange slices?”. The color palette is slightly muted, the special
effects are toned down when compared to most superhero films and the excellent
minimalist score by Hans Zimmer reflects that somber feel as well.
Writer/Director Simon Kinberg went all in on this dour mood to make the film
seem more grounded in reality than any of the previous X-Men outings regardless
of the fact that there are shape changing aliens running about.
I’ll fully admit that I had zero confidence in Kinberg’s
directing ability before seeing the film. The last time I remember the lead
writer of a superhero franchise (Kinberg wrote The Last Stand, Days of Future Past
and Apocalypse) taking over the directing duties of the grand finale was David
Goyer and his horrific Blade: Trinity. I was worried this would be a repeat of
that situation. I am pleased to report that it was not. I was pleasantly
surprised by his confident hand in directing this massive troupe of actors,
filming crazy action in a way that makes sense and keeping the audience
emotionally invested in the characters and story (the scenes between the young
Jean and Xavier are fantastically well written and acted). He made it different
enough to stand out from other recent comic book flicks and I appreciated that
a lot.
The cast is all in fine form with Sophie Turner really
inhabiting her character of Jean Grey completely. I didn’t think much of her
performance in Apocalypse so to see her step up like this was welcome. She
sells the dual nature of her character well and was sympathetic in the extreme.
James McAvoy can play Professor X in his sleep by now. The same goes for
Michael Fassbender as Magneto. They are a joy to watch, especially their scenes
together. Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t have much to do as Mystique, but she gets a
couple of stand out moments. Nicholas Hoult really goes for broke when Beast feels
he has been wronged at one point and loses his shit. Alexandra Shipp as Storm,
Codi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler and Tye Sheridan as Cyclops all have their
moments to shine. Jessica Chastain does the creepy vibe well as the villain,
Vuk.
There isn’t a whole lot of action in this film (like I said,
it’s toned down from what we expect from a modern day superhero adventure) but
what’s there is kind of rad. There’s a confrontation between the X-Men, a
couple of rogue mutants and Jean in a posh mansion that was unique and
different. The speeding train finale allows the characters to unleash their
powers in awesomely fun ways. So cool was this sequence that I repeatedly
mumbled “wow” under my breath more than once as it played out.
Everything is presented in a logical way that builds on
every film that has come before it. The story finds the X-Men worldwide celebs
after defeating Apocalypse in the previous entry. The fame has gone to Xavier’s
head a bit as he constantly volunteers his students to take on increasingly
dangerous missions in order to “keep the peace” between mutants and humans. But
Xavier’s declaration that while there is peace between the two species at the
moment, the fact that they are always going to be one incident away from being
hated again weighs heavily on him was a nice touch. Jean Grey’s descent into
villainy is that incident and we watch everything come crumbling down. On the
flip side Magneto, not wanting to be a part of human society, has created a
peaceful community for mutants called Genosha which is something I remember
from the 90s animated series. Actually, this film seems to take a lot of cues
from that seminal Saturday morning cartoon. It just presents it in a dead
serious tone with 100% less spandex. Another plus in my book as that show was a
favorite back in the day.
There's also a few surprises that genuinely shocked me.I won't go into spoiler territory, but I was taken aback a couple of times. I will say that seeing Halston Sage from The Orville playing Dazzler during a keg party made me smile in a cheesy way.
But not all is perfect. The alien D’Bari villains are
woefully underdeveloped. Their motives are kind of spat out in a rapid fire
exposition scene and while their deal does fit into the “rebirth” theme of the
film it isn’t the most thought out plot point. The finale (after the train
sequence) is a little underwhelming and short (this was the reshot bit),
certain popular characters are pushed off to the sidelines (Quicksilver) and sometimes
the special effects that were changed at the last minute were a little obvious
(the glowing cracks that form over Jean’s face when she begins to get pissy).
The movie is also a mite slow in parts.
So what was reshot? The original ending was to take place in
outer space. I’m assuming that once the train sequence ended Vuk took Jean to
the D’Bari ship in orbit and some shit goes down. I read that this scene was
extremely close to the finale of Captain Marvel, and since Disney now owns the
X-Men they demanded changes. The short finale among the remains of the train
was the end result. I also read that the effect originally used to show Jean’s
powers was very much like fire in zero-gravity. Once again very reminiscent of
what Captain Marvel’s powers looked like when unleashed. So the CG cracks in
her skin and the purple/orange glow were used instead. I’m sure there was some
tweaking of certain scenes to make these reshoots feel like they were part of
the plan all along as well. Personally, I didn’t feel that the reworked finale
was out of place at all. It felt natural, but as I’ve mentioned before, too
short. But that’s just me.
In the end I really enjoyed Dark Phoenix. I like it more
than The Last Stand, Origins and Apocalypse combined. It sits right in the
middle of the films in this franchise for me. It’s definitely not a perfect
film. But it is a good one. If people would stop listening to the toxic BS the
entertainment media keeps spitting out about films that undergo significant
changes after principal photography more people would be willing to give films
like this a chance.
3.5 out of 5
P.S. There is a window left open for another sequel, but we’ll
never see it now that Marvel owns the property and plans a complete reboot.
My List of X-Men Films from Best to Worst
1. X2: X-Men United
3.
Logan
4.
X-Men: First Class
5.
X-Men
6.
Dark Phoenix
8.
X-Men: Apocalypse
10. X-Men
Origins: Wolverine
