TEXT VERSION:
X-Men: Dark Phoenix review
Okay, so annoyingly I was too late to catch the start of Godzilla so I ended up
seeing X-Men: Dark Phoenix instead.
Okay, so annoyingly I was too late to catch the start of Godzilla so I ended up
seeing X-Men: Dark Phoenix instead.
The X-Men films were never reliable in terms of quality
assurance in my opinion, the first two were great for their time and haven’t
aged TERRIBLY but I don’t really feel the need to watch them these days, First
Class breathed new life into the franchise only for Days of Future Past to suck
it right out again, and basically the mainline X-Men movies have been a
nebulous haze of mediocrity ever since, but every so often they have to be total
pricks and inconsiderately make a really good one like Logan so I can’t just
write off the franchise completely. Having said that since Future Past there
hasn’t been much of a continuity worth following just the odd few details here
and there that are largely ignored between movies until they’re not, so with
suitably cautious expectations, X: Men the last stand rema-I mean uh, Dark
Phoenix.
assurance in my opinion, the first two were great for their time and haven’t
aged TERRIBLY but I don’t really feel the need to watch them these days, First
Class breathed new life into the franchise only for Days of Future Past to suck
it right out again, and basically the mainline X-Men movies have been a
nebulous haze of mediocrity ever since, but every so often they have to be total
pricks and inconsiderately make a really good one like Logan so I can’t just
write off the franchise completely. Having said that since Future Past there
hasn’t been much of a continuity worth following just the odd few details here
and there that are largely ignored between movies until they’re not, so with
suitably cautious expectations, X: Men the last stand rema-I mean uh, Dark
Phoenix.
Without going into spoiler territory this is…an X-Men movie,
for good and for ill, you know whether or not you like these by now, I’m sure
it’ll have its fans but since everyone knows Disney are just gonna hit the
reset button in a few years if that there’s really very little reason to be
invested in this. Anyway. While it might just make top half for an X-Men movie,
taken strictly as a piece of cinema it’s still…not very good. Sorry, I wanted
it to be better too. If you can manage to turn your brain off and ignore the
fact that the story kind of just *is* without much explanation as to how it got
there, you might have a good time. There are a ton of characters in this movie
each with a fair few character beats, which would be great if more than maybe
three of them made any narrative sense. But the plot is a mess and the
characters follow suit, even more than usual, the star of the cast I would say
has to be Michael Fassbender as Magneto, who, incidentally, is looking great
for someone who canonically would be in his 60s by now. But I don’t think we’re
supposed to think about that, the writers certainly didn’t.
for good and for ill, you know whether or not you like these by now, I’m sure
it’ll have its fans but since everyone knows Disney are just gonna hit the
reset button in a few years if that there’s really very little reason to be
invested in this. Anyway. While it might just make top half for an X-Men movie,
taken strictly as a piece of cinema it’s still…not very good. Sorry, I wanted
it to be better too. If you can manage to turn your brain off and ignore the
fact that the story kind of just *is* without much explanation as to how it got
there, you might have a good time. There are a ton of characters in this movie
each with a fair few character beats, which would be great if more than maybe
three of them made any narrative sense. But the plot is a mess and the
characters follow suit, even more than usual, the star of the cast I would say
has to be Michael Fassbender as Magneto, who, incidentally, is looking great
for someone who canonically would be in his 60s by now. But I don’t think we’re
supposed to think about that, the writers certainly didn’t.
As for the rest of the plot, it goes eight-ways crazy with
what I imagine are supposed to be surprising twists but just come off as
happening because the plot needs them to happen. As I said, very few of the
character beats make any sense, and partly because of that the scenes that are
supposed to evoke emotion fall kind of flat. The acting is good, but the scenes
are too hard a sell.
what I imagine are supposed to be surprising twists but just come off as
happening because the plot needs them to happen. As I said, very few of the
character beats make any sense, and partly because of that the scenes that are
supposed to evoke emotion fall kind of flat. The acting is good, but the scenes
are too hard a sell.
One positive thing I will say though is that Dark Phoenix
has some of the better action sequences in the series, I don’t know if I’d say “best”
but the fight scenes are definitely top half for me, even if it’s hampered some
by, at times questionable decisions therein. They’ll probably all be up on
Youtube in a week or two, if you just wanted to see the fight scenes I wouldn’t
blame you.
has some of the better action sequences in the series, I don’t know if I’d say “best”
but the fight scenes are definitely top half for me, even if it’s hampered some
by, at times questionable decisions therein. They’ll probably all be up on
Youtube in a week or two, if you just wanted to see the fight scenes I wouldn’t
blame you.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is a tonally confusing, narrative mess
with a few good action setpeices thrown in. Every actor involved deserved
better and frankly, so did we. It’s a 4/10 from me, I wasn’t bored, but that’s
about the best I can say.
with a few good action setpeices thrown in. Every actor involved deserved
better and frankly, so did we. It’s a 4/10 from me, I wasn’t bored, but that’s
about the best I can say.
