Anyway, I'm here now to talk about what may or may not be Fox's last X-Men film. That depends on if the absurdly long-delayed The New Mutants finally sees the light of day next April. Right now, we have Dark Phoenix (notice no X-Men in the title), which sees the directorial debut of the franchise's longtime producer and writer, Simon Kinberg.
It's 1992. The X-Men have given mutants a good name with their superheroics. One day, they're called to save the Space Shuttle Endeavour from calamity. Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) plucks out the crew, but Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) has a close encounter with the space oddity that wrecked the shuttle. She returns with a major boost to her psychic powers and is subsequently nicknamed "Phoenix." But that's not the only thing that comes back.
It turns out Professor X (James MacAvoy) sealed some of Jean's traumatic childhood memories. Jean realizes what's up and she's mad. A melee at her childhood home leaves one of the X-Men dead. Thus, the cause of mutant rights is set back a good twenty-forty years, while the X-Men are split between saving her or killing her in revenge.
Meanwhile, alien body-snatchers called the D'Bari show up. Their leader, Vuk (Jessica Chastain), wants Jean's new power to rebuild their world. On Earth. She says she wants Jean to be her own free person. But that's not true. The X-Men and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) have to be on the same page to stop them and save Jean.
This is Jethro. And I'm here to review the film.
Kinberg's screenplay adapts a comic storyline previously done in X-Men: The Last Stand. Its overall plot is focused, even if it's a bit long winded. But some plot threads get less focus, perhaps due to its protracted production. A major offender is the the threat of mutants getting placed in internment camps after Jean goes wild. The internment camp idea almost never comes up again. Meanwhile, Jean's appeal to Magneto to help her control her violent urges goes nowhere. Magneto and Beast (Nicholas Hoult) get revenge-happy too fast. So where did it go right?
Well, it starts with the X-Men as public superheroes. It's great progress for mutant civil rights, which is something Professor X acknowledges. Too bad it's set back haphazardly. What else did it do right?
The visuals, of course. The opening shuttle mission is a great display of X-Men teamwork. From Nightcrawler's teleportation ability to Quicksilver's (Evan Peters) superspeed, the X-Men get to shine. Cinematographer Mauro Fiore's outer space imagery needs the largest screen possible. The final train battle between the X-Men and the D'Bari makes for a long, memorable battle. There were some signs of progress in aging characters like Professor X and Magneto; subtle, but still there.
Dark Phoenix promises the end for the current cinematic X-Men. It's not perfect but it was hardly boring. Its opening shuttle scene made the 116 minutes worth it. Right now, I am hoping that The New Mutants is finally released, so that all the mystery leads to something. Let's see how Marvel can reinvent its mighty mutants for their Cinematic Universe.
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