Dark Phoenix - Review

Release Date: June 7, 2019​​​​​​​​

X-Men Isn't Even In the Title

​After 19 years, this marks the end of the X-Men series. With no more planned entries, this finishes 20th Century Fox's hold on the brand. It has been a bumpy ride to this point. X-Men(2000) was among the first to popularize comic book characters coming to the big screen. Today, it represents all the lessons that have been learned to adapt these stories correctly, by not following them. Sadly, Dark Phoenix continues the trend of being a cautionary tale.

Plagued by sloppy storytelling and overall bad plot structure, minimal enjoyment can be derived from this film. Characters are unrecognizable as their entire personas are altered to fit the narrative. Gone are the people that have been built up in the last three movies, born are their fake replacements. The story is constantly compromising itself to push the movie forward by having characters say and do things for no reason. Even when you pull back to look at the whole plot, it comes across as nonsense.

There are pieces of the film that are useless. The "villain" is unnecessary as they are barely on screen. 

The entire subplot attached to them is also superfluous and adds nothing to the movie.

The story is not the only problematic area though. A summer blockbuster with a $200 million dollar budget shouldn't feel as cheap as this one does. I swear this could have been on a streaming service and been par for the course. I don't have a problem with the limited scope—it was the fact that the production quality was so low. It was apparent in normal shots, but stuck out for any effects-heavy scenes. Storm's lightning was thick as spaghetti and the sloppy camera work was too obvious. The quick camera movements paired with up-close shots of fight scenes try to hide clumsy choreography and other blemishes. 

The music also stuck out to me as being very inappropriate. The tone of the score always seemed to be more somber than the movie ever was. With tracks utilizing a choir in the wrong moments, it seemed like the music was never in sync with the film.

The only time this movie works is in the first 10 minutes. Stripped of most characters, the audience gets to focus on two. As a flashback, it sets up the rest of the film and lets you understand what is going on. At this moment, I wondered why everyone hated the movie. It's the only time the score works, the only sequence where I care about the characters, and the only scene good all on its own.

I don't see the need for anyone to go see this in theaters. The effects aren't good enough to enjoy on a big screen and there isn't enough action for the general audience to enjoy. Some critics might pretend that fans of the series might want to see how it ends but this is a ridiculous sentiment. It's just a really bland movie. There isn't anything special about it but its also not atrocious. It's not worse than Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

3/10
​It's not even worth talking about performances since the characters suck so bad