- Is X-Men: Dark Phoenix the worst X-Men movie ever?
Ah, summer, Where another week at the movies
means another superhero blockbuster,
and this week's entry comes to us care of the X-Men
with Dark Phoenix, which officially hits theaters Friday.
It's one of the final outings of the 20th Century Fox era,
made long before Disney ever got its hands back on the X-Men
through the Disney/Fox deal.
And while new mutants is still in the pipeline
and will reportedly undergo even more re-shoots
before it drops next year,
Dark Phoenix is essentially closing out
the nearly 20 years of the merry mutants on the big screen
under the Fox banner.
Now this summer has already seen one of the best conclusions
to a major superhero series with Avengers: Endgame,
closing the book with the epic and mostly satisfying ending
to its 11-year Infinity saga.
And it appears Dark Phoenix is attempting to do the same
with the almost-two-decade franchise.
However, with the reviews hitting the internet
all this week,
the question on every X-fan's mind is,
is Dark Phoenix good, bad, or ugly?
In a word, sadly enough, bad.
- I'm sorry.
- Of course, there's always going to be
a mix of positive and negative critiques
mixed in with fan reactions,
but the overwhelming consensus at this point
is that X-Men: Dark Phoenix might just be
the worst X-Men movie ever.
And that includes X-Men: The Last Stand.
- I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!
- So let's take a look at what people are saying!
First, the positive:
fans praised Game of Thrones alum
Sophie Turner's performance,
with @Lieeeezz tweeting,
"Done watching X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
"Queen of the North to Dark Phoenix @SophieT
"is really great!"
And @KariellyFP adding,
"I just saw Dark Phoenix and I fell in love.
"You are amazing, @SophieT!"
Now, many critics also pointed out
the success of the film's hand gestures.
It's a very specific compliment,
but I think it's a really cool one!
And it popped up in multiple reviews,
with Polygon's Matt Patches stating,
"Sophie Turner and Michael Fassbender,
"technically playing a 62-year-old Magneto,
"spend a large chunk of the movie
"hand-gesturing at CG objects.
"They're masters at it."
WIRED's Angela Watercutter, best last name ever,
also mentioned the achievement of hand motions
was outstanding, saying,
"The perfect execution of superpowers is a thing of beauty,
"and while the story of Dark Phoenix is so thin/predictable
"it's almost laughable,
"the cast makes it work by executing all of those
"mutant powers with a flourish reminiscent of the legends
"of the silent film era.
"This impressive handwork is most apparent
"in the Dark Phoenix herself."
But beyond these flourishes,
the reviews and reactions have been mostly negative,
tearing into the film on almost every single level,
starting with the action.
Nerdist's own Lindsey Romain put it frankly,
"So yes, the action is bad,
"Simon Kinberg's direction is misjudged,
"the script is wooden, and the acting is barely passable."
Indie Wire's David Ehrlich is also dismissive of Kinberg
and the film's look and feel:
"Without question, however,
"the most damning thing about Dark Phoenix
"is that it feels like it's exactly the film
"that 21st Century Fox, RIP, had in mind
"when they hired franchise screenwriter Simon Kinberg
"to step behind the camera: safe, insubstantial,
"and skirting the surface of powerful ideas that even
"the kid-friendly animated series was unafraid to tackle."
To be fair, the animated series was dope.
However, the Atlantic's David Sims notes
that some of the action is worth watching,
it just seems to fall flat amidst everything else:
"It has some spectacular-looking action sequences
"where superpowered mutants do glorious battle.
"But despite the epic nature of the story it's adapting,
"the whole project comes off as chintzy and slapdash."
Moving on to the acting in Dark Phoenix,
reviews swung back and forth between blaming
the film's script and/or the lack of conviction
from the actors in bringing the material to life.
Multiple reviews mentioned Jennifer Lawrence's performance
as ineffective,
with our own Lindsey Romain noting,
"The most indefensible performance
"comes from Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique.
"Lawrence has clearly been over her role in these films
"for at least two movies now, and here she's barely trying.
As the only real female foil to Jean's growing power,
"it's especially unforgivable."
Matt Patches at Polygon was similarly critical of Lawrence:
"She sleepwalks through a fourquel
"that could use her female energy to complicate Jean's arc,
"and flexes a contractual superpower over the logic
"of when we would and wouldn't see Mystique in full makeup."
And WIRED's Angela Watercutter gives one of the best burns,
that is also a compliment:
"Jennifer Lawrence's Thank God I'm Done with This Franchise
"face does all her work for her, but she's still flawless."
Getting into the mythology,
how does Dark Phoenix handle its source material?
io9's Charles Pulliam-Moore writes,
"Dark Phoenix is a pale comparison to the iconic
"Claremont/Byrne era X-Men saga it gets its name from,
"for the simple reason that most of the core hallmarks
"of the source material,
"like Jean Grey's relationship with the Phoenix Force
"and the cosmic scale of their shared power,
"are wholly absent from the film."
Or as Nerdist's own Kyle Anderson
summed it up best when he tweeted,
"The Dark Phoenix saga is nothing without The Phoenix saga,
"the crazy space opera where Jean Grey gets to save
"the (bleep) universe."
Now we agree with Kyle,
the Dark Phoenix saga is one of the most important
and heartbreaking stories in the X-Men comics history,
regularly listed as one of the greatest
comic book storylines of all time.
However, judging from critics' reactions,
it appears the movie missed the mark
with this second attempt at an adaptation.
But for longtime X-Men fans,
maybe it's Forbes' Scott Mendelson's review
that answers the real question on all their minds with,
"Dark Phoenix is worse than X-Men: The Last Stand."
- But nobody cares anymore.
- Well, if it isn't better than The Last Stand,
is it better than 2016's poorly received X-Men: Apocalypse?
In another word, but ironically, the same word:
no!
Dark Phoenix has garnered the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score
of any X-Men flick,
yes, even lower than X-Men: The Last Stand
and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
You know, the one where Deadpool had his mouth sewn shut.
- Wha? Oh!
- Based on this response,
it's not hard to guess that Disney is going to let
the X-Men cool off for the time being,
and probably give audiences enough time to breathe
until they're ready for a rebooted take on the X franchise.
So not counting 2020's New Mutants,
what is Disney's next move with the X-Men and mutantkind?
Especially when you take into account
how low Dark Phoenix is tracking at the box office?
One word:
- Chimmy (bleep) changas.
- We expect the first real mention of an X gene
or mutant-related character
will come in the form of Wade Wilson,
whether it's through Deadpool 3
or as a cameo in the next Spiderman film,
using the mark with the mouth to officially introduce
mutants to the Marvel cinematic universe
might be the perfect way, financially and critically,
to bridge these two worlds, because, sadly,
it doesn't look like Dark Phoenix is going to do it.
But what do you folks think?
Is Dark Phoenix the proper farewell to the X-Men franchise?
When do you think Disney will bring the X-Men
into the MCU fold?
And how do you want Deadpool to address
that all the X-Men look different than he remembers?
Let's discuss.
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