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X Men: Dark Phoenix Review: Not Sophie Turner, Michael Fassbender's the lone wolf in the glass half empty film
X-Men: Dark Phoenix Review: It's Michael Fassbender as Magneto that keeps you hooked till the very end of a film that should have been more focused on Sophie Turner's character Jean Grey and Dark Pheonix.
X Men: Dark Phoenix
X Men: Dark Phoenix Director: Simon Kinberg
X Men: Dark Phoenix Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, and Jessica Chastain
X Men: Dark Phoenix Stars: 2.5/5
When your film is about and titled Dark Phoenix with Magneto being the lone wolf, you know you have gone on the wrong path. That's exactly how the latest installment from the X-Men franchise took flight and sunk below, to the bottom. At no point in time do you sympathize with Jean Grey's dilemma and instead feel more for the rest of the characters that we have come to know and love. Why? We weren't given enough time to invest in the background story to Jean's to really understand how and why she became the Dark Pheonix.
X-Men Dark Phoenix shows us what happens to a mutant as innocent as Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) when you try to control her, like Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) did when she was just a child. At the brink of her powers, Jean is hit with all her repressed emotions and what we get is Dark Pheonix, a threat to the world and those she holds close to her heart. The hunt then begins for the Dark Pheonix as Professor X does everything in his powers to destroy Dark Phoenix by saving Jean Grey.
Sophie Turner is given the behemoth task of taking up the titular focus but is unable to entice us into making Jean a fan-favourite. We've seen Sophie's acting prowess in Game of Thrones but in Dark Phoenix, the actress fails to shine. And, it's not her fault but a convenient storyline with no essence. The major sequences involving Jean required spectacular VFX backing but somehow you are left with a sour taste. It's the returning favourites like James, Jennifer Lawrence as Raven, Nicholas Hoult as Hank and Tye Sheridan as Cyclops that try their best to invoke emotions out of the audience. Jessica Chastain and Evan Peters being underused, would be an understatement.
#DarkPhoenix #FanArtFriday @mexifunk
However, the real hero of X-Men: Dark Phoenix is Michael Fassbender as Magneto. It's Magneto's calm badassness that will reel you in and keep you hooked till the very end.
It's the weak storytelling by Simon Kinberg that puts you off as you aren't invested in the main character. Jean's background required more spotlight but the haphazard story interspersed with weak editing was a major buzzkill for comic book fans. The reason why we loved characters like Wolverine is because of space and time given to shine. We know Jean Grey for barely a film and to thrust her upon the audience and immediately care for her were parallel lines. It hurts to see a cast as strong as this and have a film even Charles Xavier can't control.
It's unfathomable to believe that the music to the film was provided by the legendary Hans Zimmer. But, then again he tried his best with the weak material that the film provides.
Suffice to say, there were certain scenes that bring back the old magic of X-Men but none of them include Jean Grey as the Dark Phoenix and that's the biggest disappointment.
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