Dark Phoenix (2019) User Reviews

A real failure to capture any feeling of story

[siderite · 5/10 · 30 August 2019]

The more I think about it, the least I think of this movie. A story about something that is not named merging with Jean Grey, aliens that are not named coming to take control over it - by using sheer number and physical strength, obviously, a government that goes from hailing the X-Men to mutant detention facilities in a day and characters that switch from love to murderous hate in seconds. Nothing makes any sense! The film connects to none of the previous films, has actors in it just for the sake of killing them off or doesn't have them at all, in some cases. It's just a standalone X-men-like film that just doesn't seem to be part of the same thing. It looks like someone tried to make a Mutant-X film and randomly got the rights for the X-Men in the process. Why was this done at all?

Who wrote this?

[melio10 · 22 June 2019]

Who wrote this - I would like his job. No effort and still got paid.

The conversations are flat and the actors look uncomfortable saying them. There is a plot and in the same time, you feel like there is no plot. I lost interest in what was happening very quickly.

Do not watch.

I'm confused....

[lifestylehealing · 7/10 · 7 May 2020]

Maybe it had something to do with the fact Phoenix came out so soon after Endgame but all the negative feedback now more than a year later seems just a tad OTT. It worked on me. It actually has taken me until now to actually decide to finally give it a couple of hours of my time and I can honestly say 'wassup with all the fuss folks'! Sure it may not be the best Marvel movie by quite a margin, not necessarily even the best X movie but did it warrant the criticism it recieved, hell no. I found it an easy couple of hours and entertaining watch. Did it have faults, sure. Do plenty of other Marvel movies also have faults, hell yes. Did they receive the same level of criticism, hell no. Bit of perspective required methinks peeps. Just my penny's worth.

This Is Not Endgame So Stop Judging it Based on That!

[Theedg3 · 7/10 · 20 October 2019]

This is not Endgame so please stop comparing this to it, giving it low scores because you liked that better.

Ive seen every XMen flick to date and this one is on par with most and superior to Apocalypse.

The mood is dark, serious, moody no Marvel kiddie jokes every 5 mins. Action is top notch.

Magneto needs his own film.

The best storyline in the X-men canon, and they crapped all over it.

[mossow92 · 2/10 · 23 June 2019]

Don't know where to start with this. If you're going to dig up the greatest story in the X-men canon, you need to bring it. And this film brought nothing. It all felt so hollow. The characters didn't ring true. The story didn't ring true. It was all over the place with many nonsensical choices throughout. I was so excited for my favorite storyline and was disappointed more than I can put into words. This political and social propaganda piece missed the mark by miles.

The end of a saga?

[FrenchEddieFelson · 6/10 · 6 June 2019]

I watched Dark Phoenix (2019) Wednesday evening and I globally liked it. In matter of Computer-Generated Imagery, this movie clearly benefits from the same level of quality than the three previous opuses of the current saga. Nevertheless, although the script globally holds water, it's definitely not breathtaking, and I continue to feel the same fatigue initiated during the third opus, X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). Thus, X: First Class (2011) was thrilling but Dark Phoenix (2019) barely conveys emotion, with a few scenes as dull as blank during which I was very nearly bored. Finally, the elaboration of the Phoenix certainly differs from the old trilogy (2000 to 2006) and I admit having a strong preference for the previous Jean Grey played by the gorgeous Famke Janssen.

Otherwise, a little hint of irritation. June the 6th, 10:00 AM Paris time, we may count a total of 2900 voters, with two groups as extremist as weird: 20% of 10/10 and 16% of 1/10. Honestly? The credibility of IMDb is at stake! The IMDb team should urgently harden the notion of 'regular' users, one of the main objectives being to evacuate the ratings with an obvious lack of relevance and/or honesty given by 'weird' users who pollute this website.

Absolutely horrid and dull

[doopie-yes · 1/10 · 20 June 2019]

This movie was a disaster. Starting from the main character, Jean. The acting was sooo bland, colorless and amateur-like. I don't understand how she got such a big role. It also seemed like everyone in the movie was aware of her limited acting skills, so they barely gave her any lines and she was sleeping/passed out for quite some time in the movie.Just watch the movie and her acting basically screams "CLUELESS".

Then, like with any recent movies, they felt the need to include gender politics. Why? Why is there a need for a line that says "We should be called X-Women"? Was that ever part of the comics? I didn't read them, but I HIGHLY doubt it. This is just so pathetic and forced. Political agendas should not be forced into movies.

If it wasn't for James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, I would've left the cinema very early.

All in all, this movie was a joke. I will make sure to exclude it whenever I go for a X-Men marathon in the future.

Very enjoyable.

[sassoo_85 · 8/10 · 1 June 2021]

I enjoyed watching this movie.

I almost did not because of the low rating and negative reviews.

I am glad I took the risk. While watching, I kept wondering why people find it too bad. It is not the best X-Men movie, but it is very enjoyable.

Also, Sophie Turned did a very good job. I loved her face expressions when Jean went dark.

Very Enjoyable

[nonibabs_06 · 7/10 · 15 May 2021]

I struggle to understand the terrible reviews. Personally, I thought this was a solid watch. I could write a laundry list of things I loved or didn't love... but overall enjoyable.

I'm sorry, but these need to stop

[mosesloki · 1/10 · 17 June 2019]

Sophie Turner seems like a wonderful person but acting just isn't her thing. she barely pulled off Sanaa in Got and giving her the lead here was just a mistake.

She has no charisma, I don't identify with her character (which is the best thing one of the main protagonists) and just don't care about her.

The movie is also a mess and seems like editing made it worse. For me, I just couldn't get behand the protagonist at all and wasn't invested.

X-fans will like this movie

[tobyrage08 · 7/10 · 7 June 2019]

If you are a fan of the other X-men movies, you will definitely like Dark Phoenix. All the main characters do a good job, especially McAvoy, Fassbender and Sophie Turner. I wasn't sure about Sophie as Jean, but she captured Jean's turbulence well. The story barely follows the original Dark Phoenix, but it still does a good job finding its own way, and it touches on two or three impactful scenes from the original story, which helps connect it to the comic book version. Another nice touch is that the fight scenes seem much more coordinated in this X-movie, it's not just random fighting. Finally, the score and especially the sound effects were great. Very immersive.

As Dull, Disappointing & Redundant As Any Sequel Can Get

[CinemaClown · 1 September 2019]

Tackling the story arc of Jean Grey for the second time yet ending up with the same disappointing results, Dark Phoenix concludes the 20th Century Fox's X-Men saga on an underwhelming note and is one of the blandest entries in the franchise. Dull, predictable & utterly forgettable, it is as redundant as a sequel can get, and happens to be terrible on most levels if not all.

Poor Acting

[thederekmichael · 6/10 · 28 June 2020]

The storyline is pretty decent. But Sophie Turner's poor Acting skills just kills the whole movie. Rest of the characters are alright with the kind of script they have got. McAvoy and Fassbender are more of a saving grace to this film.

Wouldn't even want to give 1 star !

[peef-09312 · 1/10 · 18 June 2019]

What a waste of talent of the A lister stars to play like a supporting roles for Sophie Turner just simply not workout. She's just like a wooden stick, flat and boring. About Raven also not make any sense., so why should we care about all this characters at all then? Story line seems to be rushing all the way, this is 2019 so I think the director insulting the audiences intelligent. I felt sad and angry after the film finished.

Why such low scores!

[k123abc · 7/10 · 13 September 2022]

I don't understand why this is berated so much. I thought this was a solid film. Entertaining and something a little different from the usual all guns blazing trope.

I enjoyed it and think its actually one of the better X-Men offerings. I enjoyed both this and Apocalypse and liked the way both start connected to the first X-Men film.

One of the standard outs for me was Sophie Turner as Jean Grey. I find Jean a fairly dull character but Sophie brings real strength and emotion. It makes Jean a much more well round and indepth character which is what she should be.

Also it was good to see Storm and Beast used more and make up for their lacklustre parts in the first X-Men films.

I hope they keep going and really fill in the gaps between this and the first X-Men film.

The worst X-Men movie

[arabnikita · 4/10 · 7 June 2019]

I love X-Men, I watched every single one in the past 20 years multiple times and while I did enjoy some more than others, I never hated any film. I closed my eyes to small mistakes and forgave them anything. Not this time.

Instead of going out strong and leaving a good impression after so many years, they did the exact opposite. The movie is distorted, rushed, predictable, flat and overall unimpressive. Everything looks cheap from the costumes to the decorations. The actors are uninterested in the movie and look like they just want to deliver their weak lines and get done as soon as possible. Nobody at Fox cared about this movie so why should we? I am sad for what was done to my beloved franchise.

#moviesshmovies

So this is how far the X-Men movies have fallen

[Jared_Andrews · 3/10 · 22 January 2020]

Yikes.

It's a rough one. From the seemingly robot-generated dialogue, to the hollow characters, to the wooden acting, to the utter incomprehensibility of the fight scenes - this movie is a laborious and completely unrewarding watch. In fact, I would prefer hard labor to sitting through this sorry excuse for a movie again. With so many talented actors, it's utterly astonishing that anyone could create such an unpleasant film. But these people pulled it off. Amazing.

The only fortunate person to take part in this movie was Jennifer Lawrence, who didn't stick around for long. Smart move.

I put off seeing this movie for months before finally watching it. It's too bad I did. What a waste of time.

A film that deserves better.

[Iangelov · 8/10 · 21 October 2021]

Honestly, this is not a bad movie. Not a ground-breaking one also, but defenetly something that you can enjoy.

The story is good. It is well paced and has a good balance between story and action. I would have liked a bit more development on the villans, but for the last film before Disney got and renamed 20th Century Fox, it did not have time.

If it happens that you read this short review - give this movie a chance. I think the so called critics doomed this movie for no reason.

All Substance, but no Style

[jaystcloud-51308 · 6/10 · 30 June 2019]

This film ain't the best nor the worst, but it was below-average for me. Like, I've seen worse. I would say the the only pros I could give about this movie would be the acting was good for the most part, the music (done by Hans Zimmer) was electrifying, and the 3rd act was the best part if the movie. But the rest is just blatant exposition, cringe-worthy dialogue, some wasted potential shown there. But like I said earlier, it ain't like "Fant4stic" or the recent "Hellboy" movie, but I would say it falls behind the disappointment that is: X-Men Apocalypse.

See it for yourself first

[dereksmitho · 7 June 2019]

I just got out of seeing Dark Phoenix and here are my early thoughts, all together I'd say I enjoyed it. Is it a great finale? No, but due to the Fox and Disney circumstances I'll cut them some slack. The ending left me wanting more and in this case that isn't a good thing. Some of the story telling in this movie I really liked but there were scenes I wish they would have taken a bit further. I felt this was one of those movies that would have really benefited from an R rating. The final act was what really held it back for me, although there were some really great visuals it just felt like a mess. I think if you go in with the right mindset you will enjoy this film. It's a shame these actors will all be recasted by Disney because there are some AMAZING actors in this cast. I'll give the movie overall a 6.8/10. Certainly not worth the hate it's getting.

Dark is how X-Men should be

[MovieMattic · 7/10 · 19 June 2019]

Professor X finally sees his own flaws and how manipulation of the mind, no matter the positive intentions, can really screw things up. Dark Phoenix has a simple storyline with some poor performances from Sophia Turner yet I still loved seeing her in action.

I also loved the fact that Storm, Beast, Cyclops and Magneto got a lot of action scenes. Overall the film seems flat yet has some interesting concepts that if explored deeper and with greater emotion could have made the film stand out.

you are fired

[clegorju · 1/10 · 14 June 2019]

I don't understand, why would you choose to Adapt a comics book or any existing writing to a movie, if you can't even respect the essence of the original story. Why re-writing the entire story to your taste? In this case the writer is obviously confuse, or is it the Version of the X-men found in the Twilight zone? I am a fan and a purist, I owned the entire collection of the X-men and sub publications, and am choked by this last version of the X-men saga, when you have so much material at your disposal to write a real scenario. This movie is a disaster, let's say it clearly, it is so bad, from the story line to the acting to the special effects, to....It doesn't reach the level of a Sci-Fi B movie. Wishing I could give negative rate to this...

It's Not as Bad as People Say it is!

[gbl1771 · 6/10 · 8 October 2021]

I honestly don't know why this movie received so much hate. The special effects were spectacular. The acting was above average. The worse part to me about this movie was I felt the absence of wolverine.

All in all it was an entertaining Marvel movie that sets up the new classes of mutants to come. They could go anywhere from here.

Time's Up for the X-Men Series as Charles Xavier Gets MeToo'd

[Cineanalyst · 4/10 · 19 June 2019]

"Dark Phoenix" is a listless conclusion to Fox's X-Men movie series that manages to fail to live up to even the previously-much-panned adaptation of The Dark Phoenix Saga comic-book arc, "X-Men: The Last Stand" (2006). Once again, Jean Grey comes in contact with some cosmic steroids that make her overly powerful and extremely unstable. "My emotions make me strong," she contends, failing to mention that it makes her strong at killing and otherwise harming people on a whim. Once again, Professor X squares off against an antagonist over her soul--except, this time, that includes some underdeveloped and generic aliens (led by what's-her-name devil on Jean's shoulder as portrayed by a wasted Jessica Chastain) in addition to a briefer confrontation this time around with Magneto.

The non-mutant people of Earth are here again, too, but their attitudes towards mutants are as erratic and sudden as Grey's mood swings and mostly occupy the background to the super-powered action. In prior X-Men movies, the politics between regular humans and mutants was one of its most interesting parts--rich in allusions to real racial, gender and other forms of discrimination--but not so here. The camerawork, CGI and other effects are rather standard superhero movie fare from a first time director, but one who has been producing them for a while now. At least, Hans Zimmer provided the score, and it's paced rather quickly after all of that test screening, re-writing and re-shooting that has delayed the release for several months. So, what else is there to raise this above a pedestrian exercise in having something to look at while one eats popcorn? I know it's not Jean strapped down in a crucifixion pose. Was Wolverine's time traveling in vain?

The most intriguing aspect here methinks is the added emphasis on the alleged harm Charles Xavier has brought upon children--beginning as far back as with Mystique, but continuing most notably with Jean, as he turns them into soldiers. With feminist suggestions sprinkled throughout (Mystique's quip about replacing "X-Men" with "X-Women," the school renaming and the story's general focus on female relationships and the fate and powers of one woman in particular as mostly men try to control her), "Dark Phoenix" seems to be asking to be read as an allusion to the contemporary, Hollywood-born MeToo and Time's Up movements, but minus any sexual references (in, perhaps, too Freudian of a reading, replaced here by non-consensual penetration of others' minds and bodily injuries, including impalement, due to objects thrusted via superpowers). In this sense, Professor X stands for the since-disgraced likes of Bryan Singer and Brett Ratner, both of whom directed prior pictures in the X-Men series. As potentially subversive, however, as that subject may be, unfortunately, it seems as easy to dismiss such a reading of "Dark Phoenix" as it was for me to consider it. Indeed, none of the other reviews I've yet read have mentioned such a connection beyond the obvious feminist flailing.

Also unfortunate is that the movie itself is dull--a retread largely full of characters we never became as invested in as we did with those the first time around. "The Last Stand" built upon two features that developed the love triangle between Jean, Cyclops and Wolverine. Moreover, Jean's transformation the first time was, if little else, more dramatic, whereas Sophie Turner's Jean had already gone through a bunch of Professor X's mind games in "X-Men: Apocalypse" (2016)--making "Dark Phoenix" seem rather redundant. And three of the characters who have been well developed since "X-Men: First Class" (2011) and "X-Men: Days of Future Past" (2014)--Magneto, Mystique and Quicksilver--are given short shrift this time. Too bad. I suppose it'll be the Marvel Cinematic Universe's turn for the next evolution of The Dark Phoenix Saga.

Not as bad as everyone says

[wichard-duvenage · 7/10 · 2 September 2019]

I don't know why everyone hates this movie. The story is good, the CGI was great and the battles was great.

I personally think this deserves at least 1 viewing and then you can make up your own mind.

Everyone hyped up Black Panther and Captian Marvel, for me personally this movie was better than both.