If superhero fatigue has set in then 20th Century Fox has borne the brunt of it. Their reboot of The Fantastic 4 flopped. Dark Phoenix was a disaster at the box office and critically maligned. It brought nothing to the X-Men saga and the merger of the film studio with Disney seems to be in the nick of time. The X-Men future lie with the MCU and this film hints at it as when the are forcibly on the train by the Mutant Containment Unit (MCU!)
Dark Phoenix is set in 1992 when the X-Men are called by the American President to save the space shuttle mission when it encounters a cosmic phenomena. The X-Men save the crew on an extremely hazardous mission with Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) absorbing the energy from the phenomena. This leads to her powers going on overdrive and Jean becomes a threat to everyone around her. Jean feels that she has been betrayed by Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) who withheld some vital information from her regarding the death of her parents.
Jean is now vulnerable to Vuk (Jessica Chastain) a shapeshifting alien who wants Jean's power to invade Earth. After being refused help from Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) about controlling her rage, she is finds herself being easily manipulated by Vuk.
Director and writer Simon Kinberg has tried to do something different with the franchise and it is better than the bloated X-Men: Apocalypse. The movie starts with a high moment for the X-Men after the space shuttle being saved, they are feted as heroes. It is a realisation of Xavier's dreams that humans and mutants can co-exist.
However there is also resentment in the camp. Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) thinks that the team is put in the way of unnecessary danger for the sake of glory. Raven even tells Xavier: "The women are always saving the men around here. You might want to think about changing the name to X-Women." In an era of #Me Too at least she does point to the oddity of the name of team being called X-Men.
The story never flies, it limps along with an uninspired plot. It shakes up when Xavier's group combine with Lehnsherr's to fight the shapeshifters. The special effects are very good, the action scenes are effective. Sophie Turner is not strong enough an actress to convey Jean Grey's turmoil, she comes across more as a spoilt brat. Chastain is wasted as the big bad, she is just required to look good in killer high heels and a blond wig.
Dark Phoenix is set in 1992 when the X-Men are called by the American President to save the space shuttle mission when it encounters a cosmic phenomena. The X-Men save the crew on an extremely hazardous mission with Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) absorbing the energy from the phenomena. This leads to her powers going on overdrive and Jean becomes a threat to everyone around her. Jean feels that she has been betrayed by Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) who withheld some vital information from her regarding the death of her parents.
Jean is now vulnerable to Vuk (Jessica Chastain) a shapeshifting alien who wants Jean's power to invade Earth. After being refused help from Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender) about controlling her rage, she is finds herself being easily manipulated by Vuk.
Director and writer Simon Kinberg has tried to do something different with the franchise and it is better than the bloated X-Men: Apocalypse. The movie starts with a high moment for the X-Men after the space shuttle being saved, they are feted as heroes. It is a realisation of Xavier's dreams that humans and mutants can co-exist.
However there is also resentment in the camp. Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) thinks that the team is put in the way of unnecessary danger for the sake of glory. Raven even tells Xavier: "The women are always saving the men around here. You might want to think about changing the name to X-Women." In an era of #Me Too at least she does point to the oddity of the name of team being called X-Men.
The story never flies, it limps along with an uninspired plot. It shakes up when Xavier's group combine with Lehnsherr's to fight the shapeshifters. The special effects are very good, the action scenes are effective. Sophie Turner is not strong enough an actress to convey Jean Grey's turmoil, she comes across more as a spoilt brat. Chastain is wasted as the big bad, she is just required to look good in killer high heels and a blond wig.