Quick Reviews: Dark Phoenix (2019)

After bad press and bad box office, how is the actual Film?  Let me cut through all the noise...

In Flashbacks, we see the origins of Jean Grey and her meeting with Xavier.  He recruits with a silly analogy about how a pen can be dangerous or helpful- thanks, Simon.

This is nice and all, but why didn't we get this in X-Men: Apocalypse?

Now in 1992 (for some reason), the X-Men are called in to help NASA save some Astronauts.

Enjoy this brief bit of them working together as a Team- it's your last real chance!

The Phoenix Force flies into Jean, but she survives.

This is sure to end well, since...oh right, the Title.

Xavier is suspicious as Jean's powers grow and she starts to act different.

This Film leans into the 'Professor Xavier is a dick' thing that Marvel has been obsessed with for the last Decade or so.  It's even less earned here!

As Jean goes off on her own and learns more truths about her past, is she more of a Villain than a Hero?

Will this mystery woman (who's not a Skrull) be the one to turn her fully-evil?  Can Grey be redeemed?

To find out, watch the Film.  I mean, you didn't in Theaters, so why not?

A big, silly mess of a Film.  So let's recap this- Simon Kinberg was a Producer on the previous X-Men Films and a Writer too.  When stuff happens with Bryan Singer (a polite summary), he ends up as the Director.  Yeah, this is his first Film.  It shows.  It's his second attempt at this Story and, yeah, it doesn't really show.  They brought Space into it- good.  They kept it out of the rest of the Film- bad.  The Villains being random Aliens who have the power of minor regeneration was a letdown.  Why can you not just do a version of this Story like it was written?!?  The Acting is a mixed bag, as some legitimately do good jobs with bad material.  Fassbender and McAvoy are good, as you'd expect.  On the flips side, Lawrence and Hoult are practically in 'don't give a shit' mode and others, like Chastain, are far too sedate.  She plays the human version at first and she's also sedate- what's the point of that?!?  Big Set Pieces have been done better in other X-Men Films.  Most of the big moments here are copy-pasted (like stealing from Justice League, The Dark Knight Rises and others) and rarely-interesting.  Character Arcs appear out of nowhere in reshoots, making this even buggier!  There are brief glimmers among the silly and bad here, so it's not 100% a loss.  For instance, a random cameo from Dazzler (that has no payoff)…

A Movie that should be good, but really isn't.  It's too unoriginal and uninspired- not to mention rushed as hell.