Dark Phoenix (2019)

 

I really don't know how to feel about this one. It's got some very cool scenes of mutant vs mutant warfare but it left me cold. The death of a long time character should have made me feel 'something' but it did not because I didn't care and I think most of the cast didn't care and the writer's certainly didn't care. But at the same time I enjoyed the battles which is weird. Some CGI of mutant powers in use is pretty spectacular stuff. But in the end it all adds up to a whole lot of nothing. This does not do justice to the story told in the original X-Men comic book.

The Death of Jean Grey was a milestone in comic book storytelling. They were fighting at uphill battle telling that story and for the most part they compensated for all the parts they couldn't film in live action in an interesting way. So why don't I like this film more than I do? Maybe I am just tired of X-Men movies which is something I thought I would never say. I feel like I have seen it all before and I have seen it all before. This movie has nothing new to offer from the last X-Men movie and the one before that.

I could just see thing that was going to happen from down the street. The happy ending seemed totally undeserved. Much of the line reading was bad. But much of the script was bad and recycled every single line from every single comic book ever written. The 'Jean is still our friend.' bullshit really worked my last nerve. I hate smart characters saying or doing stupid things like that. It's always the ones closest to the monster who are last to realize there even IS a monster.

Maybe it's for the best that the X-Men are now owned by Disney so we can reboot the current universe by going back to the sixties beginnings. This film is not done with love. I get no sense that these characters are part of  a team or even like each other in real life. You can wait to see this one on regular TV.