Dark Phoenix Will Not Be Reborn

Dark Phoenix (2019)

Dark Phoenix is not as bad as everybody is saying it is. It isn’t good, but it isn’t the worst movie of this year or even this franchise. X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men: Apocalypse are much worse than Dark Phoenix. While so many superhero movies just go through the motions to produce similar results of varying quality, even MCU movies, Dark Phoenix actually tried to be different. It didn’t succeed, but it tried. Dark Phoenix took the bold stance that comic book movies don’t need to be light-hearted at their core, which only Logan has succeeded with so far. Dark Phoenix had serious themes and made some heroes toe the line of villainy. It was a nice change of pace to not have somebody making quips to undermine any serious situation, but it would be better if the dialogue in those scenes wasn’t terrible. The script was weak from start to finish, and it affected the quality of acting from everyone in the movie. Jennifer Lawrence in particular seemed like she was just there for a paycheck. While the script was awful, part of that problem was clearly due to studio interference. There were scenes that seemed to have a tonal change halfway through because the studio was sold halfway through the post-production of the movie. A scene would begin and would feel like it would lead to something either in this movie or in a future movie, but then it would shift to a very final tone. Dark Phoenix was a mix of a movie that was to lead to a continuation of the franchise and another movie that was the end of an era. Because of the finality, Dark Phoenix did have a satisfying ending. I actually enjoyed the last act because it gave every remaining character a moment and had some great action. The characters actually had more development in that final train battle than in the rest of the movie. Honestly, you should just watch the train scene at the end. It was the best part of the movie and its saving grace. Overall, Dark Phoenix is a daring attempt to end a franchise with something different, but its boldness lands with a thud. I give Dark Phoenix 4 out of the 12 Fox X-Men movies.