X-Men: Dark Phoenix Film Review

With Disney now owning the X-Men franchise, Dark Phoenix is the last one from 20th Century Fox. Does this movie end the series on a high note or does it say goodbye on a whimper?

Let me start this review by saying I didn't absolutely hate this movie like everyone else so far. While Dark Phoenix is far from a perfect movie, it's not the worst X-Men movie I've ever seen.

The movie I still hate the most from the X-Men franchise is X-Men: The Last Stand from 2006. That movie killed off characters left right and center, plus it felt rushed and very sloppy.

While there are a few deaths to see in Dark Phoenix, I think the story was executed a little better this time around. We get a bit of backstory to Jean Grey's past and her fractured relationship with Charles Xavier.

As for the main story, Jean Grey earns her phoenix powers up in space and becomes more powerful than every mutant in the world.

Some people are out to kill her, others want her power while the good guys still want to save her.

I thought the motivations for the characters were explained well, although some of them flip flop their opinions.

The only character I feel that acted out of place is Beast. I won't spoil anything for you, but he doesn't act nobly in the film.

The only reason I feel some people might not like this movie is that it lacks a lot of super hero style action sequences.

Dark Phoenix is more like a slow moving drama so some people might hate waiting a long time to see the action unfold during the third act.

Surprisingly though, I did not get bored watching this two hour movie. I felt engaged with the story and characters and was intrigued long enough to watch it until the end.

Another thing I liked about Dark Phoenix is the acting. Sophie Turner shows a lot of range playing Jean Grey while Michael Fassbender always shows off his charm playing Magneto.

I also feel most of the X-Men characters are portrayed well. We don't see anything as ridiculous as Deadpool looked like in X-Men Origins: Wolverine or anything like that.

Another reason I feel some people won't like this film is that it feels small and contained.

The end train sequence is fun to watch, but it pales in comparison to the epic fight scenes we've witnessed from other comic book movies that have been released in the past.

Overall, I feel Dark Phoenix is an okay movie that's better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the horrible X-Men: The Last Stand.

That being said, the fact that this film is a slow drama and not a big budget action movie will not please a number of movie going fans.

Verdict: 3/5 stars

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