By Ryan Anderson
What a Long, Strange Journey it’s been.
When “X-Men” 1st arrived in theaters nearly 20 years ago, emotions ran high and the fandom went even higher as audiences witnessed the birth of the team up superhero film. What was once deemed impossible had now been given life. These mutants not only spawned countless sequels and spin offs, but the dynamics we see in many super hero films today. Fast forward to 2019 with the latest entry from the world of Marvel’s X-Men, where we find our heroes tackling a familiar foe in a different setting.
We open the film with an entry into the life of a young Jean Grey, who discovers her powers in the most tragic of car accidents, which take her away from her loving family. Fortunately, Charles Xavier learns of her situation and comes to her aid, promising not to “fix her”, because as he believes, she was “never broken”. From here we move ahead to a grown Jean, (Sophie Turner) who appears to be in a good place, despite the events of 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. This Jean has now grown in the ranks of the X-Men and along with teammates Storm, Cyclops, Quicksilver, and Nightcrawler have now become the New Class leading the charge of a team that is viewed as heroes in the eyes of the public. As heroes, the team gets called into action for their 1st mission to space in an attempt to rescue the space shuttle Endeavor. Caught in the crossfire of a “flare”, the team use their powers to save all but Jean, who becomes a casualty of their heroism. This flare is more much more than solar, as it becomes one with Jean and slowly begins to consume her mind and body as she returns to Earth with the team. As her powers grow, so do the concerns from the team, including Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) and boyfriend Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) who seek to help, but only push her further into madness and a search for what actually happened during the car crash of her childhood.
In comes our antagonist, The D’Bari, and their leader (Jessica Chastain) who seek to control the cosmic power that flows through Jean and use it for their own purposes. It is this same leader who attempts to mold and shape this new Jean as her instrument for destruction while promising hope and direction for the troubled hero.
The direction for this latest outing is a unique one, as Simon Kinberg fills in for long time X-Men director Bryan Singer, who was ousted from the franchise amidst continuing allegations about his private life. Kinberg takes a much more intimate and dark tone with this film and it’s surprisingly where the best moments are found. Jean’s struggle within herself and where she fits in, Xavier’s moments of being torn by his choices to protect that are now causing harm, and the impact a character’s death has on members of the team, all work to great effect and help make the finale seem like it has some real weight to it.
Other positives of note include master composer Hans Zimmer’s addition to this film’s score, an exciting and lengthy 3rd act that avoids the 3D/CGI spectacle of the previous film, and some much stronger performances from it’s young X-Men cast.
In spite of those positives, fans of the franchise and more modern superhero storytelling may find these choices to be uneventful, slow, or not up to par with some of the more polished entries we’ve seen in the genre over the last few years. Performances from the senior cast seem to have taken a hit in service of the new cast, but at no point do actors like Michael Fassbender’s Magneto character ever phone in the direction they’re given. The saddest casualty of this film is sadly Jessica Chastain, an incredibly talented actress who plays the spaced out leader of the D’Bari, and plays her character so soft spoken and in such an unengaged manner, that one is left wondering if her character underwent a massive shift as a result of this film’s reshoots.
Despite all this, Dark Phoenix still works as film. Does it leave many things on the table and much more to be desired for a film viewed now as a “Final Chapter”? Absolutely. Thankfully though, there’s still a little light burning here and it should be enough to keep fans engaged. The X-Men aren’t going away, and with Disney and Marvel Studios’ inevitable rebooting and reintroduction to these misunderstood heroes, everyone’s favorite mutants of over 50 years will continue on into it’s next evolution.
Rating: ★★★1/2
Dark Phoenix is playing in Theaters now.