Turned up at Morley Event Cinemas for a 10:30am screening of X-Men: Dark Phoenix only to be told it was a BYB showing. What's this, you ask? Apparently, it's a Bring Your Baby session. Ohhh no. But in fact, one quiet baby and a potentially scarred 3 year old didn't cause much fuss. The bloody lights were kept half-dimmed, though. No matter, onto the film itself.
This has taken a pasting online and in the film press and I can't quite see why. It's not brilliant but it's a clear head better than Apocalypse and surely a few lengths closer to the post than the Wolverine Origins fiasco. There are some well-structured action sequences that elicited a touch of excitement, some of the performances are solid (Fassbender, McAvoy) and the story plays with a couple of meaty themes - mainly abandonment and sacrifice, much in keeping with the earlier (better) films.
But, that said, there are some sizeable missteps. A few of the characters' decisions didn't ring true for me. Mystique railing on Xavier for supposedly putting himself above the team felt forced. Beast getting the hump and switching allegiances also. This whole approach felt crowbarred in. Instead of focussing on Jean Grey's story and the actual issue with Xavier 'scaffolding' her mind, we are subjected to the Mystique disillusionment angle. Maybe this is due to Jennifer Lawrence both wanting some hefty screen time AND wanting out of the franchise as soon as possible. Or maybe writer/director Simon Kinberg thinking she required some 'fridging' in order to give the lads something to get agitated about. Whatever the reason, this shifted the focus away from the central theme of Xavier and Jean's relationship, to the film's detriment. Kinberg has form with the Dark Phoenix storyline - he wrote the lame X-Men: Last Stand in 2006 - so you'd think he'd want to explore that pairing a bit more, I don't know, maybe even killing off Xavier, as was done in the comics (AND Last Stand). It's not like these actors are coming back anyway, now that Marvel have acquired the rights.
A couple of extra quibbles. Some of the dialogue phoned ahead to let the audience know it was on the way. Quicksilver was massively sidelined, probably with good reason. His star turn in Days of Future Past was great but followed by a similar, but much less inventive one in Apocalypse. As Groucho Marx once said, "Ah, ah! Bad luck, three on a midget!" Jessica Chastain is total bobbins too. Sure, she plays a hybrid Skrull/Terminator alien, but she just doesn't sell it. Oh, and there's a massive Huge Action shaped hole in the film.All things considered, Dark Phoenix had a crack at it but didn't quite succeed. Still not as bad as popular opinion suggests, I'd wedge if firmly mid-table in the X-Men league standings.
See also:
To re-engage with the series, head back to the original X-Men (2000), directed by Bryan Singer or James Mangold's gritty gem Logan (2017).
SPOILERS IN POD (for what it's worth...)
Listen to "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" on Spreaker.
