Warning! Spoilers Ahead!
Dark Phoenix is the second last installment of the X-Men saga which falls extremely short of the franchise’s high expectations.
The most disappointing aspect of the movie was the storyline which was confusing and over complicated. While the movie’s trailer showed Jean Grey as a power-hungry supervillain, the movie portrayed her as an overly emotional mutant who doesn’t really use her powers deliberately to hurt others as the trailer portrays.
The dilm simply brushes aside who and what these aliens are. The film doesn’t explain how humans have made the first contact with extraterrestrials, where they came from or if they already knew about these extraterrestrial’s existence? It never explores them beyond being The Other who need to be feared, which is a truly odd and negative message for an X-Men movie to send. These emotionless aliens did, however, give Jessica Chastain the opportunity to show off her acting abilities as she changes from a happy go lucky human to a stone cold alien. It looks like Jean Grey is supposed to be the anti-hero and the aliens the main villain, but both fall short of a strong character arc.
One of the things that this movie did really well as it made its audience question who was on what side. The X-Men who are usually seen as the protagonists progressively turn against each other, leaving the audience to evaluate who has the most moral cause. This is done especially well with Charles Xavier who can be seen in a new light by audiences as his not so pure intentions are revealed. This aspect can also change the way that audiences see Xavier in past movies. For example, his intentions for erasing Moira’s mind at the end of X-Men First Class and using his students to act like ‘superheroes’ to save the ‘humans’ just so Xavier can be praised by the president and to protect the mutant race.
The movie also created visually stunning fight scenes for the majority of the film that made up for the lack of storyline. The combination of VFX and CGI to create the illusion of what the Phoenix force would look like through vibrant colours running through her veins. The effects used for both end fight scenes (train fight and the final face-off between Jean and Jessica Chastain character) the scene uses the same camera technique/style as the scenes in X-Men Apocalypse for Quicksilver but repurposed for Jean created an amazing final fight scene to truly show off her power.
The MCU may prove better suited to give so many of these beloved mutant characters the rich dimension and care they deserve. The property itself deservedly needs a good long rest before the X-Men return to the screen.
Callum and Jennifer