DARK PHOENIX – Review

Finally caught your breath from the epic superhero showdown from six weeks ago? Well, you’d better be since another big batch of Marvel characters is battling it out at the multiplex this weekend. So, what’s the big difference? For one thing, many of them are barely out of their teens. Oh, and their powers are due to genetic mutations. Yes, after a three-year hiatus the Marvel mutants return to the big screen, but they’re not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe…yet. Twentieth Century Fox snapped up the screen rights in the last century(!), so this is the seventh entry in a film franchise that began way back in 2000 (along the way there’s been two spin-off series, with Wolverine and Deadpool, five more flicks). Plus this is really a prequel with many younger actors taking over the roles from that 19-year-old initial adventure. Hopefully, any confusion will be cleared up as we dive deep into what may be the finale of the franchise, based on the acclaimed comic story arc that introduced DARK PHOENIX.

At the story’s start, we’re bopping through a couple of decades. First, a childhood trauma brings grade schooler Jean Grey to the attention of scientist/school founder Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy). A quick cut and we’re in 1991 as the space shuttle Endeavor is launched into orbit. Charles is monitoring the flight with NASA back at his School for Gifted Youngsters. When the shuttle comes in contact with a swirling cosmic energy cloud that begins to tear it apart, Charles sends out a rescue team: Storm (Alexandra Shipp), Quicksilver (Evan Peters), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan) and the now-grown Jean (Sophie Turner), all supervised by Raven AKA Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). Things turn deadly when the X-Jet (now really a rocket) arrives for the rescue of the crew. Jean is engulfed by the cloud, yet she somehow survives. Back at the school, she’s examined by Hank McCoy AKA Beast (Nicholas Hoult), who gives her a clean bill of health though he notices some odd energy pulses. But it’s Charles who is most alarmed as he detects that this force is revealing too many of Jean’s childhood memories and amplifying her rage. When she lashes out at a post-mission party and flees, the X-team are in pursuit. The encounter ends tragically and eventually brings Erik AKA Magneto (Michael Fassbender) out of hiding at his island commune/sanctuary he shares with other outcast mutants. Also tracking down Jean is the mysterious Vuk (Jessica Chastain), who may be part of another group wanting to possess the power now residing in the young woman (now dubbed Phoenix). The big question is: will she be the planet Earth’s defender or its destroyer?

Without the constraints of a time travel plot, nor a big baddie (Apocolypse), or even a role (lead or cameo) from fan-favorite Wolverine (this being the first completely Hugh J-free X flick), the young cast gets to explore the drama that springs from these complex relationships. Straight from the finale of that cable TV dragon show, Turner expertly portrays both sides of the conflicted Jean Grey, going from unpredictable unstoppable monster to a fragile teen trying to cope with a past filled with tragedy and deceit. Much of the latter comes from McAvoy as the controlling mentor who twists the truth for his ideas of justice. His foe (and brother who “takes the p*#s out of him”) is the always compelling Fassbender who brings a touch of nobility and passion to the comics supervillain. Lawrence conveys a sense of sad frustration as reformed baddie now pseudo-co-parent Raven. Sheridan is a stoic, devoted beau as Cyclops Scott. Although they’re under tons of makeup, Hoult and Smit-McPhee are excellent as the more outwardly odd mutants, Beast and Nightcrawler. Unfortunately, the guy who seems to be having the most fun with his abilities, Peters as Quicksilver (a scene stealer in the last two installments) is side-lined much too early (now he needs a spin-off). And the incredibly gifted Chastain is wasted as a one-note ethereal baddie who spends much of her limited screentime as the whispering demon to Turner, all while glaring under a white “fright wig”.

First-time director, though a long-time producer and writer on this series, Simon Kinberg captures much of the emotional power of the original comics saga by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and the sorely-missed Dave Cockrum (Simon wrote the adaptation), much more than in the previous screen treatment in the much-reviled X-MEN: THE LAST STAND. And though it’s one of the better flicks in the series (miles above the last dreary, dismal slog from 3 years ago), it still lacks a real coherent plot path, veering off for some alien menace, then stopping dead to denounce the bigoted, evil world at large just before the next big action set piece. Most of these are very involving, making great use of top of the line CGI, but edited with a “jerky’ pace, speeding up then slowing to a crawl, with the camera spinning around so fast we have a tough time figuring out who’s who, and who’s where. The biggest fault with the flick may be that of timing (something out of Kinsberg’s hands) because its original release date was last November. Since then we’ve seen a horrific 1970s car crash in the prologue of another superhero flick (SHAZAM), and just six weeks ago we were treated with a superhero battle finale capped with a noble hero making the ultimate sacrifice. Plus it was packed with charm and humor, elements sorely lacking in this X-adventure. But if this is indeed the end of the series (Disney’s purchase of Fox went through, so the folks at Marvel Studios could relaunch the “mutant movies” soon, which may have prompted a clever “inside joke” during a big battle), it’s going out on a fairly high note (though it lacks the giddy fun of X-MEN: FIRST CLASS and the “grand opera” of X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST), while even tossing in the first movie appearance of a truly obscure character who epitomizes the tacky 70s (hint, the initials are DD, but it’s not Daredevil nor Devil Dinosaur). So we wave goodbye to that “fancy-schmancy” elite school in the last frames of DARK PHOENIX with a strong feeling we may return once more.

3.5 out of 5