Dark Phoenix - Just Enough

           The problem with the LAST Dark Phoenix film is that it chose spectacle over character

     Dark Phoenix (2019, 20th Century Fox) is the twelfth film in Fox’s spectacular X-Men franchise, directed and written by Simon Kinberg, released on June 7 2019. It has a cast featuring James MacAvoy (Charles Xavier/Professor X), Micheal Fassbender (Erik Lensherr/Magneto), Jennifer Lawrence (Raven Stockholm/Mystique), and Sophie Turner (Jean Grey). As the final film made before Fox’s merger with the Disney Corporation, it’s the last film that will feature this incarnation of the X-Men, as Disney is likely to reboot them down the line to fit into their Marvel franchise. Phoenix is still associated with the Marvel brand, it just isn’t part of the wider filmic universe that’s been in place since 2008.

     The X-Men franchise has been in place since 2000’s X-Men, which took the world by storm and helped prove that superhero films could be profitable. The wave of super-films we’ve had this year (Shazam, Spider-Man, Joker, to name a few) is a sign of how prescient X-Men was, and since then, they’ve released two more sequels, three Wolverine spin-offs, a series wide-reboot, two sequels to that reboot, and the Deadpool franchise. Their total box office receipts probably add up to about four billion dollars, not even thinking about merchandising and video sales. Overall, X-Men has been a juggernaut (heh) franchise that has helped heroes go mainstream, brought new pathos to super-cinema, and paid for MANY leather costumes.

     This film is the final piece of that franchise, and the one entrusted with tying off loose ends before the franchise eats it. It also tries to re-tell the story that near-torpedo’ed the franchise, the disastrous X-Men: The Last Stand’s adaptation of the comics’ Phoenix Saga, which was adapted there with all
 the grace of a one-hand Etch-A-Sketch. Making matters more complex, the makers learned it was the last installment AFTER they’d finished wrapping, and had to undergo reshoots to make it work better. This delay of the production, its already-poor word-of-mouth, and the potential for franchise exhaustion after twenty years of films has not done wonders for audiences. It’s likely that it won’t be great, and even that it might not be liked. But that’s not its fault.

     Dark Phoenix is a surprisingly solid character film that retells its story with grace and nuance. It doesn’t have the spectacle of previous films, or the sci-fi bones of its great entries, but it keeps it consistent, measured, and original, not succumbing to the flaws of its last film outing.

     The premise is that on a mission to space, X-Men Jean Grey absorbs a living “space storm”, taking it into her, and gaining unexpected powers. With it, comes the potential for everything to go wrong, for the goodwill the X-Men have built to be undone in a fit of fear and panic. The X-Men - and Jean - must work together to stop the Phoenix - the Force inside her - or watch everything
they’ve built fail.

     Sophie Turner turns in a good performance as Jean Grey, expressing fear and (usually) justified anger in just the right amounts. It’s hard to carry a franchise at 23, but she does it alongside the others. The film uses its cast well, giving everyone a time to shine while keeping the focus on a main few. The over-steps of the last film - overdoing everything that worked in previous films - are avoided by using new locations and a new Big Bad, a hostile alien race.

     The film may look like it’s about Jean, a relative newcomer, but it’s really about everyone; the community of X-People the franchise has built up. A scene with Magneto in his island mutant community does a great job of showing that the heroes have essentially grown up. “I killed to stop the pain,” Erik explains, “but the pain didn’t stop, so I stopped killing.” The contrast with Xavier, who at the start is high on the X-Men’s fame, is an unusually nuanced look at the premise, and while the film isn’t perfect, the ending essentially leaves the heroes in a good place while not stretching the story too much.

     This film’s no Days of Future Past, no Logan, but as an installment in a wildly fluctuating franchise it stands out as okay. If you’re a fan of the comics, or even a proper fan of the films, you’ll like it. And if you’re neither, it’s a good enough film to justify a few dollars on it. Check your expectations, and talk with your friends about who you think is right.

Dark Phoenix, 20th Century Fox, 2019 - 7/10