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where-theres-smoak-2 · 6 years ago

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Dark Phoenix Spoiler Review.

Ok so I promised I would make a spoiler review once the movie came out everywhere. Also its been a few days since I saw the film so I’ve had time to think it all over and get my thoughts in order. Like I said right after I saw the movie, It was a great movie I really really enjoyed it. Did I think it was the greatest Xmen film ever? Well no I still think that’s DOFP (particularly the Rogue Cut). But it was still in my opinion right up there with Xmen, X2, First class and it was better than Apocalypse and miles better than Last Stand. It was a little hard to rank because it was very different from other Xmen films, it wasn’t as cheesy, comic booky style this one was much darker and very gritty. But anyway I will be going through the film talking about the good parts and the parts that I thought it could have done more with. The rest is under the cut as there are SPOILERS I should also mention that I talk about some spoilers for Avengers Infinity war and End Game and also for the season two finale of Fox’s show the Gifted. As fair warning this is long really long I have alot of feelings and thoughts so can I make a suggestion stop reading for a moment. Ok now pop into your kitchen make yourself a cup of tea or coffee or hot chocolate or hell even pour yourself a glass of wine. Then come back get nice and comfy on your sofa or bed or in your computer chair where ever it is you are and read this review. Alternatively if you can’t be f*cked with that just carry on scrolling ;) But if you do want to read a ridiculously long review written by a girl who is very much in her feelings well I’ve got one right here for you so read on.

The Flashback and The Space Mission.

The opening shot of the film is a flashback to when Jean is a child and she’s in the car with her parents. After getting bored with the choice of music on the radio she uses her powers to turn the radio over. And then all hell starts to break loose and she loses control of her powers causing the car to crash and for it to seem like her parents were both killed. We then see Charles bring her to the school and we have that conversation about breaking things, I actually think these opening scenes did a really good job at setting up the tone for the rest of the movie and it really gives us an insight into Jean and why she fears her own power. I mean it starts out innocent enough she’s just a little girl who wants to listen to something else on the radio so turns it over but then she brings about her parents deaths. I also think that conversation between her and Charles was very important to the rest of the film. When he says ‘whatever you break I can fix’ and she gives that very ominous reply of ‘not everything.’ Its very foreshadowing for what happens later in the film because there are a lot of things Jean breaks and no Charles can’t fix it all.

So then we flash forward and see a space shuttle being launched into space. Not long after one of the, I’m not sure what they’re called but lets say NASA operators, notices a solar flare heading for the shuttle which causes problems with the shuttle. Now I personally feel like solar flares is probably something NASA should have checked for before sending their shuttle full of astronauts into space. But who knows maybe they just weren’t able to pick it up until the shuttle got closer or maybe the flare just moved really fast and wasn’t there when they checked before the launch. I also appreciate that if they had discovered the flare before then there wouldn’t have been a movie and where’s the fun in that so on this occasion I will forgive this fictional NASA for their error. But anyway I’ve gone off on a slight tangent there so bringing it back. We learn from Hank that the X-Jet isn’t designed for out of space travel and that it wouldn’t be safe to try but then the president calls and he needs the X-Jet to be able to get to out of space so we see Hank reluctantly agree. It was a small scene but I did love how Hank just nodded than he beasts out. It sure did put me in the ‘yes its go time lets go on a mission baby’ mood. I also liked that we saw that convo about the X-Jet maybe not making it to space because it added so much more tension to that scene. Despite seeing the trailer and knowing that they do make it there I forgot that in the moment and I was sat there on the edge of my seat thinking oh lord are they even going to get to the shuttle or is the X-Jet going to explode from the pressure.

The scene of them launching into space, along with the rescue mission and then their arrival back was one of my favourite sequences in the film. For me it was very reminiscent of the film Armageddon’s launch. Like seriously go watch that scene then watch the scene of the Jet heading into space and you’ll see what I mean. Even the score (which by the way is amazingly breathtaking, like seriously Hans Zimmer out did himself.) was very similar to the score for that scene in Amrageddon. Again go listen to Gap for the Dark Phoenix film then listen to The Launch by Trevor Rabin they really do seem to both have elements that are similar to me. All of it reminded me of those moments in Armageddon when you’ve got the X-Jet coming out of the baketball and shooting off into space, the news reporters, the people gathered around looking at their tv screens or up at the sky and then switching to the xmen in the jet enjoying the ride into space. Also when they return and everyone is cheering them. Those scenes along with the rescue itself were like a little mini space rescue movie within the movie and I loved every moment of it. But yeah definitely gave me Armageddon or even Independence Day vibes there. The rescue mission itself was also very well done. I liked how the whole team played a part and they worked well together like a well oiled machine. Hank flew the Jet, Raven gave the directions, Scott blasted the thrusters and stopped the shuttle from spinning, Storm closed the holes in the shuttle, Kurt teleported Quicksilver in and the astronauts out. Quicksilver got all the Astronuats to Kurt, Jean held the shuttle together while Kurt rescued the last Astronaut. Every one of them had a role and they utilised each of their powers in a way that worked for the storyline. Also the effects for each of their powers were really cool and again well done. I’ve seen some reviews from critics saying that the effects were sub par and badly done but I’d have to disagree I actually think the special effects are some of the best I’ve ever seen and were a highlight of the film.

So next I want to talk about the Phoenix Force and the scene where Jean comes in contact with it. The SFX for the Phoenix energy are the best of them all. The way it moved was both incredibly menacing and somehow stunningly beautiful at the same time. Also the moment when Jean pulls the energy away from the X-Jet and her family and into herself made me hold my breath. One thing this film got right was how it built tension. I mean pretty much from the beginning of the film they were building the tension slowly, the scenes in the flashback and the ominous conversation between Charles and Jean, NASA discovering the ‘solar flare’, not knowing if the X-Jet will get to space, rescueing the astronauts, finding out one was left behind, knowing they only had 30 secs to get that man left behind, Kurt arriving back without Jean every one of those moments took the tension up another notch and then it comes to a head when Jean is overcome by the ‘solar flare’. Also seeing her team’s reactions was very emotional particularly Scott and Raven’s and then when Scott is cradling her in his arms and she slowly opens her eyes. You would think you’d feel relieved but you don’t because as an audience you know whats coming next and you know she should be dead and so instead of that moment dissipating the tension it only racks it up some more. And then it’s kept up throughout the rest of the film you never get a break from it.

So they arrive back home to cheers and its made pretty obvious that the Xmen are very much loved you know they are the world’s heroes. There are kids with faces painted blue and the little girl with the mystique doll and people holding up signs with their favourtie Xmen’s name on it. The Xmen are being celebrated, Mutants are being celebrated. I mean that shot of the little boy with his face painted blue was really touching to me I actually got wierdly emotional about it because in previous films we’ve seen how much being blue has affected Raven and Hank (and to some extent Kurt) how they never thought they would be accepted looking the way they did and yet heres this kid who not only accepts them but so badly wants to be like them that he’s painted his own face and for some reason that punched me right in the gut with all the feels. I loved that they were getting that validation after everything they’ve been through and struggled with that that part of them was also being celebrated and loved.

However as we see from Raven and Charles’ conversation this adoration and love comes at a price. Raven points out to Charles that they are taking bigger and bigger risks and wonders if its because of Charles’ ego. But while I do think that factors into it I also think the situation is a little more complicated than that. I mean think about it what do you think would have happened if the Xmen had said no to rescuing the astronauts. How quickly would the world have started to turn on them, you just know that the next days headlines would have been ‘Xmen Leave Astronauts To Die’. And just like that they’d be the bad guys again. I do think this is also shown in Hank’s sudden turn around when the president calls, and the convo between Jean and Raven, its also pretty obvious that no one else in the team feels particularly good about going on this mission. Everyone thought it was a bad idea but as I said they can’t say no. They worked so hard and fought so hard over the years to get to this place where they are accepted but now they are trapped in this damned if they do damned if they don’t situation. So I do understand Raven’s frustration at the situation and I think she’s also frustrated with Charles because she feels like he cares more about the image of the Xmen than he does the actual people in the team and to be honest in that moment he did come across that way. Now I don’t think they portray Charles as a bad guy here more as someone whose ego combined with good intentions are leading him to make alot of bad mistakes. That is one thing I have always loved about the Xmen films that despite having superpowers and being portrayed as mutants and different the films have always focussed on how they still have very human flaws and failings and are often influenced by very human feelings. So anyway that’s the beginning of the film, that’s our set up, you know the whole reason for the space mission was to bring Jean into contact with the Phoenix and now we can move on to the next stage of the movie.

Beastique

Ok so if you are not a fan of Beastique you might want to skip over this section because I am a huge Beastique shipper so in the next couple of paragraphs I am going to be gushing, crying and sighing over what could have been. After everyone arrives home Charles tells them to go enjoy themselves as they have earnt it. And so the younger folks go off and throw a party and we get a scene between Hank and Raven who are together in the lab. During this scene they are watching the kids on the screen (which as a side note did anyone else find that a little weird that they were spying on the kids like that? I mean I guess it kinda makes sense considering there were also school kids there and they had a fire and I think alcohol so some supervision was probably warrented but I also found it a bit strange.) But anyway they start by reminiscing about how they too used to throw party’s like that and how they are the last of the First Class team. Which leads to that scene. That scene where she’s trying to convince him to run away with her. My God my poor Beastique heart. I mean I went into this movie knowing what was going to happen to Mystique they spoilt that pretty early on so this scene was very bittersweet for me. I also liked that it was Raven who was asking Hank to leave with her as oppose to the other way around. In previous films I did feel like it was mostly Hank who was trying to put effort into their relationship and who was chasing Raven so it was nice to see the roles reversed a little and see Raven showing her feelings. I just thought that scene was so sweet, I mean she wanted to leave with him and for them to have a life together. It really made me long for might have beens and it made Mystique’s eventual fate all the more sad and tragic because she could have had that life if she and Hank had left together. But she didn’t want to go without him and once Jean disappeared she knew she couldn’t leave without making sure she was safe first. Which brings me to her death scene. Like I said I saw this coming but I said before I went into the movie that so long as we got some scenes that showed that Raven and Hank had spent the years that had passed happy and together I’d be happy which we did. The one other thing I wanted was an I love you and let me just say... I didn’t mean like that!! Now I will however hand it to them they wrote Raven’s death scene very well. I know JLaw’s portrayal of her wasn’t the most popular but I personally loved her portrayal of her I liked that more vulnerable side of the character and that it was different from the original it was one of the things I liked most about the prequel series that with all the characters we got to explore other sides of the characters that were in my opinion more complex and nuanced than the originals more than just this is the good guy and these two are the bad guys. Don’t get me wrong I love the originals as well but I liked getting that other side of them. But anyway I do think it was a satisfying end for Raven’s character. She died protecting her family. The scene itself was very well shot and played the tension and shock value brilliantly and her goodye scene with Hank tore me apart. His just utter disbelief and him reapeating no no no over and over and her whispering out I love you as her last words because she just has to say it to him in that moment. It was incredibly sad and both actors did a fantastic job with the scene.

One thing I do wish when it comes to Beastique as a whole is that they had spent more time on it, this couple have been criminally underdeveloped throughout these films. I mean they set it up brillantly in First Class I left that film very much feeling like they had that whole first love/ love at first sight/ starcrossed lovers vibe. But then they kinda dropped the ball on it. I mean if you were going to do this relationship then do the relationship don’t give me no half baked thing and don’t start what your not going to finish. I do feel like a lot of their scenes were filmed but then ended up on the cutting room floor I mean I will always both be very bitter about the Beastique scenes from the Rogue Cut being cut from the theatrical realease and very grateful that we did at least get to see those scenes in that extended format. I will confess that Beastique or the lack thereof has been one of the things that has frustrated me most throughout this series of films. Mainly because they always gave me just enough to keep me invested in this ship but never enough to fully satisfy me. Don’t these people know that I am an obessed fangirl whose hapiness and misery in life revolve around these fictional ships and I demand to be fed. Of course they did give me nearly everything I ever wanted for Beastique in this installment. I mean guys my OTP were having the lets run away together talk and then we got I love you’s as well so I should be a very very happy shipper right now, but unfortunately that’s the eternal plight of the obsessive fangirl sometimes you get everything you ever wanted for your ship and then it is snatched away from you. The Kinberg giveth and the Kinberg taketh away again. But anyway emotionally unstable rant over with, the obessed slightly crazy fangirl me has been put back in her box and rational reviewer me is back so let us continue.

The Drawbacks

Ok so I will and can admit that this film did have a couple of issues. And I’m going to talk about them here because the two biggest issues I had with the film have happened by this point in the film. My first issue with the film, which I touched on a little above, is that I feel like they should have spent just a little more time building the relationships between the various characters before Jean loses control at her father’s house and before Mystique is killed. In particular I feel like Scott and Jean and Hank and Raven needed just a couple more scenes for each couple to show the growth in both relationships. But also I think there needed to be more scenes between Raven and each of the members of the rest of the team. And again with Jean and each of the other members. I mean it wasn’t a huge problem we still got enough to know that Scott and Jean were in love and to feel the impact on the relationship when Jean went Dark and Scott’s desperation in trying to get her back. We got enough to know that Raven and Hank were in love and felt that impact of her death and to make sense of Hank’s decisions and motivations after. We got enough to know that this group of people were a family and what was happening with Jean and what happened to Mystique was tearing it apart. So yes we still got enough for it make sense but I feel like with just a few extra scenes spent building those relationships it would have added just a little more punch to those emotionally charged scenes.

The thing is when me and my sister left the cinema one of the first things she said to me after ‘that was good,’ was ‘but it seemed really short it was only like an hour long.’ At the time I argued that no it must have just seemed short because it was fast paced but actually she was right this film wasn’t even 2 hours long (the runtime was 1hr 54 min) making it the shortest in the prequel series. And to be honest I don’t understand why they didn’t make it longer. I do feel like the film suffered a bit from the shorter runtime and alot of the issues with the film could have been fixed if they had just added an extra half hour and brought it to around the 2hrs 30min mark. They would have had more time to develop those relationships and also explore the backstory of the Alien villians a little which is another place where the film fell a little short. The film was very fast paced and I do wonder why I mean they were not messing about they got right into it, It was only like 10-15 mins in when Jean was infected with the Phoenix. I do wonder if some of it was down to the reviews from Apocalypse saying it was too slow in places so they tried to conteract that in this film and went too far the other way. It does appear like a lot of stuff was cut out there were several moments from the trailers and screenshots that didn’t appear in the film. For example when Scott asks Charles tell me what to do and Charles bursts out I don’t know what to do. I don’t remember seeing that in the film. Also that screenshot of Eric in a wheelchair and Hank, Storm and Kurt are with them that wasn’t in there either. Now me personally one thing I would love is if when they release it to DVD they do the same thing they did with DOFP The Rogue Cut and release an extended version of the film.

So the next thing that bothered me was that there wasn’t enough Quicksilver. His scenes have been highlights of the previous movies and I was hoping to see that big Quicksilver sequence but sadly we never got it instead we got two smaller scenes (which I loved them both) before Quicksilver is badly injured and taken out of comission for the rest of the movie. I am happy they gave us that scene at the end that showed us he was ok. But I do wish we had gotten more scenes with him. That being said I have learned that the reason why Quicksilver had such a small part in this movie was because Evan Peters had conflicts in his filming schedules for this and American Horror Story. So I can forgive them for the smaller part as it wasn’t really the film producer’s fault. I have decided instead I am just going to be grateful that he was in the film at all and appreciate the scenes we did get. Obviously it was disappointing that we didn’t get a conclusion to the whole Dadneto storyline but then I read an interview where Simon Kinberg talked about why and he said that he chose not to do it because with the limited time they had with Evan Peters he didn’t feel like there was enough time to do the story justice. To be honest I actually have a lot of respect for him for making that decision and sticking to it I mean he could’ve caved and done a rushed scene where it gets resolved but it wouldn’t have given the storyline the time and attention it deserves. As he said it was the story that deserved to be told properly and I think that him deciding that if he couldn’t give that storyline the attention and time it needed to be done well then he wasn’t going to do it all shows that he cares about and has a lot of respect for the characters. I am also glad that as they couldn’t do the story they didn’t have any scenes with Quicksilver and Magneto because that would have been too painful to see them in the same space and not have that reveal. So yeah as disappointed as I am that we never got any Dadneto scenes I can appreciate and respect Kinberg’s reasons behind it. Personally I’m holding out and praying for a solo Quicksilver film.

Every Hero Has a Dark Side.

So as all of the promo posters for this movie suggest this theme of a person’s inner darkness is played on throughout the movie. The thing I really liked about this movie was even though the main focus was on Jean and her struggle with this Dark Force that had taken over her all of the characters have moments where their darker side comes through with varying degrees. I mean during the fight scenes no one was holding back because they were up against a friend or family member I mean I really got the sense that they were gunning for each other which for me was both surprising and horrifying which you know I think it was suppose to get that reaction from you. But yeah every character had that darker moment. So starting with the ones that had less of a conflict going on to the ones who had some really dark moments (I am not going to include Jean, Mystique or Quicksilver here because I want to discuss Jean in her own section and the other two weren’t really in it enough to have much to talk about). Storm doesn’t go that dark but has that moment of doubt about Jean where she goes to Scott and says that she thinks Jean did mean to kill Mystique and has that line about how sometimes you think a person is something but then by the time you learn they are something else its too late. It’s obvious Storm is very conflicted about the whole Jean thing but in the end she goes along with Scott because its Scott and she has a bond with him and Jean. I do wonder if in the previous version Storm also goes against Jean as I did feel like there were hints that she also believed Jean was a lost cause and should be killed but ultimately sided with the Xmen because Scott asked her to so I do feel like Storm’s darkness is displayed in her considering killing Jean and turning her back on her as I feel she more went along with the team out of support for Scott than out of actually wanting to rescue Jean. Scott’s dark moment came later and again like Storm wasn’t so overly done that it seemed wildly out of character. That was when he tells Eric ‘if you touch Jean I will f*cking kill you.’ You know what? He meant it, I believed he meant it in that moment. Actually little tidbit for you but in the cinema like 50% of the audience gasped and the other half made oooh sounds at that moment. I actually loved that scene I think it showed Scott as being someone who was strong and would protect the ones he loved at any cost like I knew that he would kill anyone who tried to hurt Jean. Scott’s story in this film is one of desperation. I mean you have to look at his journey in the story. The woman he loves is doing all these awful things to their own family, He had to watch her kill someone who had a maternal role in their lifes who he had love for, and then I think Hank’s decision to go after Jean had a big effect on Scott as well. I know the film seems to set Charles up as Jean’s father type figure but in regards to Scott especially when you look at their relationship in Apocalypse I would argue that Hank has that more paternal bond with Scott. Charles is definitely a mentor role but I do think we need to remember that its Hank and Raven who helped raise these kids up too. So for Scott this man (Hank) who he does have a father/ big brother type bond with, a man he would ordinarily turn to in tough times and who he admires is trying to kill the woman Scott loves. Scott must feel so betrayed and like Hank has turned against him too. I really think the characters darkest moments though (and this includes Storm) come out in their fight scene against each other when they are trying to get to Jean. Like when I saw the two sides approaching each other I thought oh they’ll hold back a bit because they won’t want to accidently hurt each other. But nope there was no holding back and actually it did seem like they wanted to hurt each other. There was a lot of hurt and anger behind those scenes and I was actually shocked by how agressive they were being towards each other. It was horrifying and heartbreaking. Ok so next on are list is Kurt. Oh lil baby Kurt. Kurt is one of those characters that is so sweet and innocent and so very child like that you can’t imagine him ever doing anything that could be deemed even a little dark despite his father being a literal demon. But there is one moment in this film where poor little Kurt just snaps. And I loved it. It also made sense to me in that moment it was the only way I could ever see Kurt being agressive like that. I mean again if you look at his journey in the film so far, he’s had to leave behind one of his team mates during the space mission which he believes at the time had lead to her death only by some miracle she survives and he thinks its all ok. Then he finds out that actually she wasn’t fine at all and being hit by that energy has changed her, he witnesses Jean who is like a sister to him kill Mystique who I feel like she very much had a mothering type role in all of the younger team members lifes. He also sees Jean actively hurting other members of his family. Which he must have some sense of guilt over because in his mind he left her behind. Then he has to watch the world that had come to love and admire and basically worship him and his team mates turn on them and treat them once again as dangerous. And I think the final straw was the man who tells him his son used to be a fan, the same man who lets them go when the aliens show up because he trusts that the xmen can protect them, is killed. Kurt knows that this man has a son at home, a son that once admired Kurt and hero worshipped him, a son whose now going to have someone come to his door and tell him his dad is dead. Kurt is such a soft soul that he was able to feel a connection with this man and his child and so when that man dies Kurt is devastated and it leads him to snap and go full on BAMF on them all. I mean I loved his fight with that alien woman. My favourite part was when they were on the train tracks and she’s all yeah I’ve won, I’ve got you, I’m gonna kill you and Kurt just gives her the look. The ‘uh uh b*tch I’ve got you’ look then teleports away leaving her dumb ass to get hit by a train. Again another side note here but I actually laughed at that moment when she got hit by the train, I don’t think I suppose to but yeah me and my sister just looked at each other (the only time we did make eye contact during the film) and just smiled at each other then laughed. I mean in regards to Kurt I was conflicted during his fight scene because one part of me really wanted to see him rip that woman to shreds, I wanted to see how powerful he was and I loved them showing him using that power in a different more offensive as oppose to defensive way. I wanted to see him win that fight naturally. But at the same time when I thought about everything he had gone through to lead him to that moment of snapping I just wanted to wrap him in a hug and wish he could go back to being that innocent childlike cinnamon roll. Because its tragic what happens to him, well what happens to them all really they are all put through hell in this film and its a very tragic and sad story but one that I thought was told well.

Ok so next one to talk about the dark side with is Charles. Now Charles is the anamoly I think in this story because where the others all primarily start out good and then throughout the film slowly become darker Charles is the opposite way around. When we see him again in this film after Apocalypse he is well he’s a bit of a douchbag. I do wonder how much the events of Apocalypse have played a part in his new attitude I mean being mindf*cked by Apocalypse like that must have had some impact on him. But anyway he’s enjoying having his ego stroked by all these powerful politicians and influential people. He’s getting awards and being on magazine covers and he’s eating it all up, having a good old feast. Which again makes sense for his character in this storyline as he says to Raven when she says ‘you enjoy it don’t you’ and he replies ‘as oppose to being hunted and despised well you know actually I do’. He knows that things are going well at the moment the world believes they need the X-Men but Charles also knows as he says they are only one bad day away from being hated again. He does care for his team and want to keep them safe, I mean he does express concern for Jean when she does return but he’s also willing to go to extreme measures to achieve that dream of complete acceptance. When he says its all about a means to an end and Raven says something about even if it means risking the teams lives to save their people (meaning the humans) and he replies yes I got the sense that he would be willing to sacrifice one of the team if it meant keeping what they had gained and built over the years.I’m not saying he wouldn’t be distraught if something happened to one of his team or that he wouldn’t grieve but he’d consider it a sacrifice that was worth being made for the greater good. He considered the danger he was putting the team in as an acceptable risk. There is also the fact that he lied to Jean and manipulated her mind. Again you could understand why, he was trying to protect her and he had good intentions but they were really misguided you know waht they say ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’ and this is truly shown within Charles’ storyline. Charles’ story in this film is once again one of tragedy and was designed to warn of the consequences of letting your ego and selfishness get in the way. It was about a man who had good intentions but in the end he let his ego lead him down the wrong path and a lot of people suffered for it. He’s not set as the villian of the story but as the cautionary tale, at his core he’s still a good man. It was incredibly sad to see him watching everything around him unravel and know that a lot of it was down to his own choices. Of course as the film goes on he does try to redeem himself by attempting to get through to Jean. I said above that I thought he would be willing to sacrifice one of them but as the film goes on this changes because the more things fall apart the harder he fights for Jean and the rest of his team. Unfortunately he’s never really able to fully turn things around as Jean said in that opening scene he can’t fix everything she breaks and I do think come the films end Charles himself is broken.

Ok Eric. Here’s another one that is set to a different formula this film. Where in most of the other films he’s pretty much the bad guy from the get go or at least morally grey, in this film when we first see him he’s used his time to move on from his vengence and has built a homeland for mutants. He looks like he’s doing really well for himself. But then it all goes to hell when first Jean then Hank show up. One thing I will say is I liked how Eric was willing to help Jean no questions asked when she first showed up. I mean obviously he did ask questions but he was still willing to help her even if she didn’t answer. Like you could see he wanted to help her and he answered all her own questions despite how troubling they were. Of course he does eventually have to cast her out in order to protect his people. Then Hank shows up and he learns that Jean killed Raven. Another thing I liked were those scenes between Hank and Eric who up until this point had very much been at odds with each other but their love for Raven unites them. It was something new and unexplored and so it felt fresh it was interesting to see that dynamic. Obviously Eric going a bit dark isn’t really that much of a shock considering his previous actions in other films but I do think it was well done here. Again as with all of the characters his motives for it made sense. I do think that the point of Eric’s story in this was to show that even when you escape your inner darkness and better yourself you can always be pulled back into it again by trauma. Eric is also the figure for how trauma can turn someone into a morally flawed person its always been his story how he tries to be a good man but circumstances and tragic occurences in his life always bring out that vengeful spirit in him, that darkness. He’s very much the equivalent of the frankenstein story, are you born a monster or do circumstances make you one.

Now its time for Hank. I loved what they did with Hank’s character in this movie. I loved that they gave more time to him and I loved that we got to see that darker side. Now I’ve put him last because I do think that out of all of them his was the most drastic change in character so for him this was the darkest he’s ever been. Again it made sense for the character. He was in love with Raven and has been for years and the tragedy of this story is that he lost her when they had finally got there shiz together and were happy. Also he clearly has a lot of guilt and regret over not leaving with Raven when he had the chance. I mean it comes through real strong in that moment when he tells Charles ’Raven was going to leave and I convinced her to stay.’ He is utterly destroyed by Raven’s death and on top of that he’s lost all faith in Charles who is one of his longest companions, some of the blame for her death he puts on Charles. Because it was Charles’ choices that led them to that moment and it was Charles who physically stopped him from taking out Jean with that taser which may have prevented Raven’s death. I think for me one of the saddest storylines in this film was seeing that rift between Hank and Charles. I mean if you think about their history Hank has always stood by Charles. I mean just take a look at DOFP when Charles had no one else he still had Hank. Hank acted as Charles’ carer for years and was with him even in his darkest moments and yet this is what makes Hank get up and walk away from him. Because Charles himself can’t even admit that he was wrong. I mean that scene in the kitchen between them was amazing, both actors were amazing I felt their pain and grief. I felt the tension between them. It was awful to watch these two characters who have been through so much together get torn apart. But again, and I will keep saying this, it was done well. It was done with alot of care and attention and respect and you know alot of thought and heart was put into this film. So anyway Hank decides that Jean needs to be killed and you know Hank is a genius he knows that without Charles he doesn’t have the resources to find Jean by himself. So he goes to Eric for help in finding her. Which makes sense from a strategic standpoint. He and Eric might have their issues but Hank knows that Eric loved Raven too and that he has resources so Hank uses that to get the help he needs. Now the fact that Hank wants Jean dead is naturally kinda dark. I mean this is a woman that he has known since a child and who is very much like family to him. But I also believe that after Jean killed Raven Hank made up his mind that Jean was gone as he says ‘Jean isn’t Jean anymore.’ In his eyes Jean died up in space when she was hit by that solar flare and whatever this thing is that looks like Jean now this thing that killed the woman he loves it isn’t Jean. So he’s not just grieving Raven he’s also grieving Jean too and again I think this comes through when Eric says ‘if I find her I will kill her’ and Hank answers ‘I know’. I mean that scene did make me tear up a little because you can hear the pain in Hank’s voice and you see the tears in his eyes and you just know this is cutting him up inside. He’s not making this decision lightly it is effecting him deeply. Seriously though hats off to Nicholas Hoult because he did some serious to God amazing acting in this film. I mean Beast has always been one of my favourite characters especially since First Class so I am a little biased but I really did think his performance in this film was so emotional and he did a really great job in all of his scenes. I also loved that ultimately he was able to overcome that darkness and in the end did what Raven would have and protected Jean. It was another moment that just gave me chills I mean when the aliens are like give us the girl and he just growls out that ‘no!’ It was so powerful and like I said I got literal chills.

Whose Got The Power!?

They all do, oh boy do they. One thing that alot of the other X-Men films got criticism for was not utilizing all of the characters powers very well. There was always one character that got left on the sidelines I am pleased to say however that is not the case in this film. Every one of our characters gets the chance to fully display their powers and you know what its epic. The special effects for each of the powers are fantastic. Also I loved how creative they were with how they used their powers I touched on it a bit in the first part of this review but they do cover all aspects of each of their powers and not just one facet of them. For example with Storm they don’t just show her pulling down lightning bolts. We do see her do that and its electrifying (pun intended) but we also see her use her powers to freeze over the holes in the space shuttle or to quite literally at one point blow her enemy away with the force of the winds she’s controlling. With Hank they show us his super intelligent side of his powers when they are talking about the modifications he’s made on the Jet and him treating Jean but also show his strength and fighting finesse. Scott uses his powers both in a productive way when he stops the shuttle from spinning and in a destructive way when he’s blasting his foes to hell. Kurt uses his to rescue people and to teleport people in front of trains we again see both the defensive and offensive sides of his powers. The same with Quicksilver we have one scene of him rescuing another of him attacking. Mystique we see her shapeshifting but we also explore more of her leadership skills too. Charles uses his power to both communicate and to control. Eric uses his in close quarter hand to hand combat but to also crush things around people or to pull subway carts up and use them as a shield and battering ram. Jean uses her powers for literally everything, it seems like there’s nothing she can’t do and we get to see it all. So yeah I definaitely got excited and went full fangirl whenever I saw them use their powers and it is alot.

The Train Fight.

Ok yes I am going to say it, I am going to put this statement out there for everyone to see. This was the greatest fight sequence in any superhero film ever. And I mean ever. And yes I am including those huge epic battle scenes from Infinity War and End Game. Which don’t get me wrong were epic but this scene for me was even greater than those and here’s what I think gives it the edge. There are less characters involved. Now you might think that would lessen it but I actually think its an advantage for this film. Because there are less characters involved it gives it a much more intimate feel than those other battle scenes. Because there are less characters you can focus on each of them more and follow them through the battle more closely. There is less confusion of what is happening because you can focus more on those characters and what each of them are doing. Yet it still manages to be as dramatic and exciting and just downright cool and epic as those other scenes. I mean I just I don’t think I even have the words to describe just how epic that scene was. But I will try.

So I am going to start at the very beginning of the scene where they are all on the train chained up. The thing that is poignant about this scene is at this point all the characters are still at odds with each other. You can feel the tension between all of these characters and the discord. We also get a quite sweet and really emotional scene between Charles and Hank where Charles finally tells Hank what he wants to hear. He was wrong and he’s sorry. This becomes a turning point because it has a huge part to play in what happens next. So right after we hear banging noises and over the radio the security following the train inform the guards in the train that they have multiple hostiles on the roof. Then Eric says she’s coming for us. In the trailer this is actually really misleading because there you think they are talking about Jean but actaully in the film Jean is on the train with them and the ‘she’ coming for them is Jessica Chastain’s character Vuk who wants the Phoenix Force herself and her people who are an alien race who can shapeshift and seem to be nye on near indestructable. I mean these guys are really hard to kill trust me which really helps in building the tension. But anyway they say to the guards let us go because we can help but they refuse until most of them are killed and one guard smartly decides to let them go. There comes another of my favourite moments which again is a small but very powerful one. Once they have been released, the door is blown off and in walk our alien adversaries. Our X-Men all stand up and form together and do what I like to call the superhero stance, you all know the one I mean. The one that tells you they mean business and the bad guy better watch out. Again this is another moment where I just got chills. I said earlier that Hank and Charles’ conversation was important because of what it meant for later scenes and this is the one I meant because it makes Hank change his mind and he refuses to stand aside and let them at Jean, when Eric asks him what he’s doing he replies what ‘Raven would have’. This also causes Eric to have a change of heart and so you get this moment where the people who were at each others throats about 10 mins before are now choosing to band together and fight for each other and it is a truly intimate and beautiful moment. And then all hell break loose and the epicness begins.

A highlight of this fight and something they do really really well and something that makes it really fun and interesting to watch, is that it is on different levels of the train. You have them fighting in the train carts, you have them fighting on the roof of the train, hell you even have them fighting on the damn tracks and on the bridges along the train tracks. They’re in the train, they’re on the train, they are the train. But in all seriousness it is so well choregraphed and has a great progression.

Some highlights of the scene were Eric firstly crushing the train cart around the aliens and then just with a casual flick of the wrist tossing it away like it was no biggy at all. Two when Vuk shows up and Eric brings out the big guns literally. He uses his powers to point an arsenal of assault rifles at her then just blasts the crap out of her. She just stands there calmly taking it all and then heals right up in a very sinister and creepy way. But the shot of Eric there with all the rifles assembling around him is again just an epic moment and very very Eric if you know what I mean. Micheal Fassbender is so good at playing Magneto always so sauve and smooth.

Kurt fighting that female alien and then leaving her on the train tracks. We really got to see his powers in this scene and in some ways it was remencient of Azazel in First Class in how he uses the powers. He grabs a person and then teleports them somewhere else before they get he chance to get their bearings and its that very fast get a shot in then teleport and get another shot in kinda style. Though naturally Kurt isn’t anything like his father character wise, he is far too much of a sweet little cinnamon roll I do think a little of his darkness came through here.

Jean waking up and saying ‘I know what I have to do, protect my family’ then rising up out of the train and shielding her friends before lifting the train from the tracks and smashing it back into the earth with the aliens inside. The special effects for that scene were amazing and it was just a really cool scene to watch.

It’s An Alien Invasion

So the true bad guys of this film are the aliens who come after the Phoenix Force. The race isn’t actually given a name in the film but from what I understand they are a race called the Skrulls which are shapeshifting aliens who seem to be ridiculously strong and impervious to harm. Their home planet was destroyed along with the majority of their people by the same cosmic force that now inhabits Jean and they have spent years tracking it across the universe hoping to capture and harness its power so that they can remake their home world. When you take just this part of their story you actually feel quite sorry for them. I mean at least I did like these poor aliens watched their home and all the people they love get destroyed just out of the blue one day and they are the last few survivors and they just want to start over anew. It must have been so traumatic for these poor guys. Of course any sympathy I had for them was soon thrown out the window when I realised that their way of getting their world back was by using the Phoenix Force to remodel Earth into their home planet which means wiping out all humanity. Then I was all like these peeps need to die.

I will say that I think a little more time needed to be spent on this group of people. I get that they were going for the mysterious vibe with them but I think they might have been a little too mysterious. I mean I think they did enough with the main one Vuk. I also understood the backstory and why they were doing what they were doing but there were I think about 7 other aliens or so (I don’t remember the exact number) but we don’t get to know any of the others really. We only have time with Vuk so I do think they would have benefitted from building up some of those other background aliens.

That being said there were some good things about the villians. There arrival was a good scene. It was very creepy and again very like those Alien invasion films. That shot of them creeping out of the trees through the darkness was very very spooky and chilling. Also the scenes where Vuk is killing and torturing people by putting her hand on their chests was also very disturbing. I mean overall as villians they did come across as frightening and creepy and yes mysterious but I do also think they could have been built up a bit more. As I said above in the review this is one thing they fell short on and I do think it could have been combated with making the film longer.

The Dark Phoenix

Sophie Turner let me fall to my knees and bow before you, you absolute Queen. Sophie did so good, so so good with this film. Sophie played this role masterfully. It had so many waves through out the character development and she sold every one of them and made it so believeable. From that elation she displays when she first gets back and she wants to party and drink and you can see she’s on top of the world, to her pushing Charles out of her head and causing him injury, to her joy and childishness when she sees her father again to the rage when she goes up against her friends. I brought every damn thing she was selling me. I also liked how the Phoenix powers slowly emerge within Jean. At first we get subtle signs of it like when she is floating out in space right after being consumed by the energy and those little cracks appear on her skin with the firey glow under them. Or when she does open her eyes and for a brief moment they also have a fiery colour. Then it continues to grow bit by bit until eventually by the end of the film she’s full on glowing and vapourising sh*t like a BAMF. But I liked that it wasn’t just a case of she gets hit by it and all of a sudden she’s super powerful and turning stuff to dust right away they reveal it to us slower, showing us a litlle bit then a bit more which again adds to the tension and anticipation and makes you want to see more to want to know just how much more there is, how powerful is this power and what is Jean going to do with it?

So lets walk through Jean’s transformation into the Dark Phoenix and talk about her journey throughout the movie. So I already covered her flashback scene above so we don’t really need to go into that so I think we should start with is right after she gets linked with the Phoenix Force. Once they’ve returned home Jean is sent for a medical exam with Hank to make sure she’s ok. Hank sees that everything is ok but there’s an anomaly in her powers. She’s grown so powerful that the machine isn’t even picking it up anymore, she’s literally off the charts powerful. Hank tries not to let it trouble him too much and just makes a quip about how he needs to build a better machine and sends her on her way. I just said above that Sophie did a fantastic job at showing the fluctuations and changes within her character’s moods throughout the film. Well in these beginning scenes Jean is very much feeling elated and powerful. There’s one part of the film where Charles says that Jean is ‘all desire and rage’ and at this point we see more of the desire part of it. She has that heated moment with Scott where they kiss which actually reminded me abit of when Jean kisses Logan in Last Stand. Then they go to the party and she wants to drink and dance and you get this general feeling of desire from her she wants to have a good time. It’s almost like she’s high on the feeling you know that feeling of being on top of the world that you get. Again another side note here but just wanted to say I loved that cameo of Dazzler and her powers looked real cool. But anyway back to Jean, so then things around her start to blur and she can feel that power building up in her and the voices start and its that same feeling she got in the car with her parents and it frightens her. She clutches her head and tells the voices to be quiet but then the power explodes from her knocking the people around her to the ground and blowing over trees and she’s then unconcious at the center of this charred circle. This then leads to Charles looking into her head while she’s asleep and having to confess to Hank and Raven what he did and informs us that the walls he put up or the scaffolding as he called it is starting to come down. Jean walks up and is none to happy to find Charles in her head and pushes him out after a bit of a battle for control that leaves Charles needing medical care and Jean to leave because we learn that she heard her father’s voice and she realises that her father is still alive and did not die in the car accident like she believed. Although we saw a little of that rage during her argument within her head with Charles she is still very much at this stage driven by desire. This time its her desire to see her Father again. Which as an audience and as Charles knows this is a very bad idea considering the unstable mood she’s in. Upon meeting her father what she learns is that her Father gave her away, when she looks at the photos and sees loads of her mother but none of her she realises that her Father knew where she was but did not come looking for her, her rage builds and during the heat of their fight her Father tells her to come all the way in and to not forget what she did. Upon reading her father’s mind she learns that she killed her mother. This was another thing that Charles had manipulated her mind into forgetting in an effort to protect her. Unfortunately that now means all of that pain and horror of realising what she did to her mother comes out at this moment when she’s unstable. So when the X-men show up they find her emotionally distraught. This is when all the rage comes and with it the desire to hurt those she feels have wronged her and unfortunately that person she feels is Charles who lied to her and kept the truth from her. Her rage is directed at him and anyone who stands with him. So when the police cars show up she sees them as a threat and destroys them which leads to Storm throwing the lightening bolt at her and then things just escalate. At one point she even throws Scott across the lawn which really shows how out of control she’s becoming and how the power is warping her mind. One thing I do want to touch on quickly is that I don’t actually think this cosmic force she comes in contact with is necessarily evil on its own. When I first saw the trailer I thought it was a case of shes overtaken by this evil energy and that turns her evil but having seen the film I actually don’t think that’s the case at all. I don’t see the energy as being evil or good its just powerful. It’s like Charles says when he gives child Jean the pen it’s what you choose to do with it. I also don’t get the impression that the power has a mind or feelings of its own. I don’t think it was there or that it destroys things because it has some kind of cognitive ability and it gets enjoyment from destruction and has some sinsiter ulterior evil motive. I actually think its more like a product of nature like a tsunami or hurricane or volcanoe. It’s powerful, it’s destructive but it’s not got a mind of its own that overtakes Jean’s. No what I think happens is that Jean absorbs this energy and it’s so powerful that it causes her mind to become unstable and for her to go a little crazy. Her mind breaks under the pressure of the power, basically its just too much to handle.

Things do calm down for a moment though when Raven approaches Jean and tries to talk her down. For a moment it looks like its working. Jean is clearly still struggling but she’s not throwing things and people about or destroying the buildings around her anymore. But unfortunately for Raven the voices in her head are back and Jean can once again feel the power rising and taking over and it blasts from her implaing Raven on some shards of wood in the process. In this moment all of that rage disappears and instead she’s left with the horror of what she’s done and the knowledge that not only did she kill her mother she’s now killed someone else who she had a maternal like bond with. So unable to face it she just runs. She goes to Eric looking not only for a safe place to lay low at because now she’s being hunted for attacking the town and the cops but because she’s looking for advice. She knows that Eric is very powerful and that he too has used that power to hurt people and she also knows that he turned things around and stopped. She goes to him because she too wants to know how to stop because she’s not evil she’s been corrupted by this power. That’s what her story is about how power corrupts and how those with it need to be more careful with it and choose how to use that power. It’s a metaphor my friends. As she says to him that power feels good and of course it does. She must feel like a god. Like she can do anything she likes she could raise civilisations out of the ground or turn the whole world to dust. She can destroy any threats with a wave of her hand she is unstoppable, she can do anything her heart desires and that is filling her with a feeling of euphoria and elation. And because it feels good she craves it more. So when those army guys show up in their helicopters two things happen. One she feels threatened because she knows they are there to take her away and that fills her with that rage again. Two she craves to use her power again to show these men who are threatening her that she’s the one in control, she’s the one with the power. Which leads to that amazing scene of both Jean and Magneto vying for control over the helicopter. Once the helicopter makes it away Jean attacks Eric and just flicks him away. Again this is coming from anger her mind is warped and she believes he should be on her side because she was just trying to stop the bad men and doesn’t understand that there are consequences to her doing that for Eric and Genosha. That land was granted to them by the government and if they go around attacking the men who were sent there by the government then they will take it away from them again. All of this leads to him casting her out which again she’s angry about because he’s suppose to protect mutants, protect her.

This is when she is found by Vuk who wants to manipulate her into using the power for Vuk’s own needs. By this point Vuk has learned enough about Jean to know what things to say to manipulate her. She plays on the anger Jean has for Charles and also puts the notion in her head that all of the X-Men want her dead because they don’t understand her and what they don’t understand they seek to destroy. So when the X-Men show up she has this deep sense of mistrust for them. On top of that she has fully given into the power and embraced it let it overcome her. She’s also had this woman standing there telling her that she’s the most powerful being in the universe and that she needs not answer to anyone they all should answer to her. So when she comes in contact with Eric again she lets her anger at him out telling him that first he cast her out and now he seeks to kill her and she destroy his helmet and throws him from the building like he’s nothing. And in this moment you can see her rage. Next comes Charles and we get that very disturbing scene where she forces him to walk to her. It comes right after he tries to win her back by reminding her what he said years ago when she first trying to learn to control her powers that she feared. You can do anything you set your mind to. Her reply is ‘then show me, walk to me.’ I get what she’s saying here, she knows that Charles can’t get up and walk to her and that’s her point because despite him saying that, there are some things that are beyond your control and that you can’t do no matter how hard you put your mind to it. In her warped and corrupted mind its another lie he’s telling her, she sees it as him trying to manipulate her again and once again while being egged on by her new alien agony aunt, her rage over takes her. In an effort to mock him and prove that actually she has ultimate power now and she can unlike him do anything she sets her mind to she uses her powers to force him to stand from the chair and walk up the stairs to her. It’s a scene that is thoroughly disturbing and uncomfortable and upsetting. And it’s suppose to be, you’re definitely suppose to be feeling all those things during the scene and I think it is suppose to show you just how twisted the power is making Jean. That being said I do feel like this scene could be quite triggering for some viewers so if you are reading this review having not seen the film yet and you do think that is something that would trigger you but you still want to see the film then this would be your moment to go to the bathroom, just when you get to the bit where Jean and Vuk are on the balcony above Charles in his chair and he starts talking about doing anything you set your mind to get up and go then, by the time your finished with your toilet break it’ll be over as it’s thankfully a short scene. So with that trigger warning over lets continue. Eventually Charles does get through to Jean when she reads his mind and gets reminded of the fact that even though her father said she was a lost cause Charles still believed she wasn’t and she remembers all of the good things he’s done for her over the years. Essentially she’s reminded of the relationship she has with him. It’s another really poignant beautiful moment and Sophie does a brilliant job of portraying all the emotions Jean is feeling in that moment. Also it just looks really beautiful she’s got all the flame like glowing energy around her and the cracks in her skin and her eyes that are glowing have tears gathering in them. So anyway she asks Vuk to take the power and free her still believing that Vuk just wants it to rebuild her own world. Charles then realises that Vuk wants to destroy this world and that if she keeps absorbing the power from Jean it will kill Jean but Jean either can’t let go or doesn’t want to. In comes Scott to save the day who blasts Vuk back into the stars she lands back on earth with a thud on top of a roof unconsious. Jean collapses to the ground and then they all get captured by the military for being bad little mutants who have between them made a right mess on the street outside. Of course these guards are unaware of the alien force that has come to destroy the world but its ok they’ll learn about that one the hard way in a few scenes time. So this is the turning point for Jean in the movie. So far we’ve seen her elated and overcome with the desire to just enjoy herself, to becoming enraged at being lied to by both her father figures, to feeling overcome with guilt and self loathing after killing Raven to that rage returning with an added shot of paranoia that everyone including her family are out to destroy her to realising that actually her family are there for her not against her and this power is the thing thats destroying her to making the decision to let that power go.

So for most of our little train journey Jean is unconcious however when she does wake up its to the knowledge that the family she has know come the trust again is in danger from the alien species who are trying to get to her and who she now knows were truly the ones who were manipulating her. And so she simply says ‘I know what I have to do now...protect my family.’ Then rises up out of the train like the phoenix she is she puts shields around her loved ones then proceeds to lift the train off the tracks and then slam it back into the earth with all the aliens inside. When she lands next to it the skrulls all charge at her. And so begins another of my favourite scenes. While we have already seen some great things from Jean’s powers so far in the film this is the moment where she really does just let it all go and unleash the power. She does what Charles told her to do all those years ago she takes this power/gift and she chooses what she’s going to do with it which is protect her family. It’s a very empowering moment for the character. Also let me just say um Thanos who? Because damn the Phoenix knows how to vapourise things. I thought that moment in Infinity War where Thanos snaps his fingers and they all turn to dust was terrifying but this was even more so. At least with Thanos it looked like they went quite peacefully not so much here in fact it looked angonising for them. But yeah in a terrifying display of power Jean just turns all of them to dust and then Vuk shows up and grabs her by the throat trying to absorb the power again. However Vuk realises real quick that she’s not going to be able to handle the power and tries to break away but Jean tellls her that if she wants the power she’s going to have it and forces her to hold back on again. Then Scott gets too close causing the skin to start flaking off his hand which Jean repairs but Vuk points out that if Jean destroys her then she’ll destroy them too. So Jean lifts them both back into space and unleashes the power destroying them both. Supposedly she has sacrificed herself to save her family. Also that moment when she explodes and it takes the form of the Phoenix is the best shot of the film. It is so beautiful and magnificant just amazing. Again another side note but if any of you watched the xmen spin off show The Gifted did that moment when she tells Vuk if you want the power remind anyone else of when Reed tells Reeva that if she wants the power of the Von Struckers she’s got it then blows up in her face destroying her? I most certainly got the same vibe from them both. But anyway to wrap up this section. I really liked how they tackled this storyline in this film. I loved the fact that Jean was the central part of the story this time. The focus was on her and her story. Yes there were other storylines obviously but they all played into hers with hers being the center of them all. Charles’ story was centered around Jean’s, Scott’s was, Storm’s, Kurt’s, Eric’s and Hank’s even the alien subplot were all causes of Jean or her actions. This is how it should be with Jean at the center and others being effected by her. I mean most of the time even when she wasn’t in a scene she was being talked about so it was still essentially about Jean. It was one of the things that I was most disappointed by in the Last Stand that Jean was just a side story to the main storyline about the cure. But not the case here they did it right here and put her front and center. Also as I said Sophie did a great job at portraying all the different shifts within the character and it was another thing I loved that the character was so nuanced and tumultous. I just think they told the story really well it was a story that I was invested in. It was tragic and emotional and entertaining.

And So It All Ends.

So the first thing I will say is that I did think the ending was a bit sudden. It was almost like they got to the part were Jean sacrifices herself and then realised that the film wasn’t going to be 2 and half hours long and they’d best wrap it up quick. However I’m not mad about the ending. So the end is basically them showing us where all the remaining characters are with a voice over from Jean. We get that shot of Scott putting up the Jean Grey School sign. Then we flick to Hank walking through the halls of the school. We see Quicksilver and Kurt in the hall and then Storm is teaching a lesson so we know the rest of the X-Men all end up at the school together. Hank then goes into an office and sits at the desk where there’s a photo of Raven. Two things I want to interject here is one this did give my little beastique heart some soothing balm even if it was a little sad but aww Hank’s little smile when he looked at the picture. Two I loved that in the picture she was in her true blue form because one thing Raven did struggle with in her relationship with Hank in the previous films was that worry thst maybe he didn’t love the real her and was more in love with her blonde haired normal looking self. So yeah I loved that Hank was remembering her in her true form. But anyway we learn that Hank is now Headmaster which I did think you know good for him I felt like that is a role he’ll be good at and I do feel like he deserves it. It did however beg the question of where the hell was Charles. Turns out he’s in Paris and you Cherik shippers know who else is in Paris don’t you? Now me personally I don’t ship Cherik romantically as such I mean I’m not like a hard core Cherik shipper like I am a Beastique shipper. However I will admit there were moments throughout the films where if they had gone in that direction I wouldn’t have been surpirsed. I have always loved Charles’ and Eric’s relationship and so I could not have chosen a better ending for them. There was something so right about that scene. I teared up when Eric said that all those years ago Charles saved his life and offered him a home and now he wanted to do the same for Charles. I loved the call back to First Class, I loved that Eric gave Charles that aknowledgement of what he did for Eric and I loved that their last scene together was them playing a game of one of their iconic chess matches. So yeah very happy with how they brought those character arcs to a close I thought it was very fitting. Of course the very final shot of the film is where it pans up into the sky and then shows a phoenix flying across it briefly indicating that Jean isn’t actually truly gone.

There were a couple of things that the ending leaves unclear however. Firstly did Charles get forced out of the school by the rest of the X-Men in retailiation of what he did with Jean or was it more that he was so broken by Raven and then Jean’s deaths that he just couldn’t bring himself to return there. Did he feel like he failed Jean and Raven and so to prevent himself of letting down another student he’s just removed himself from the scene. Who knows.

Did he know that they were changing the name of the school, was he the one that suggested it, how does he feel about it?

What is the human’s attitude like towards mutants has it been completely destroyed by Jean’s actions or did they hear about the alien invasion that they were all saved from and are now happy about the X-Men again? Was the anti-mutant attitude the reason why Charles left was it a case of it wasn’t safe for him to be there because there was a lot of public animosity towards him? So yeah those are the questions I was left with at the end there.

Critical Critics

Ok so we are nearly finished with this review I promise there is just one last thing I want to touch on first. Also fair warning I might be getting a little snarky here. So you can imagine my surprise when I left the cinema having rather enjoyed the movie to find that the critcs had reviewed this film badly. I was actually to be honest kind of disgusted with the critics on this one. I mean I‘ve never put much stock in what the critics say anyway and I’ve never let it influence whether I see a film but checking the reviews after I‘ve seen a film has become something of a ritual for me and something I enjoy. However this time it just made me angry because even if you didn’t think this film was the best, even thoguh it had some small problems it did not deserve the amount of bashing and hate it was getting. I mean a 22% on RT is just ridiculous. But anyway what I did was I went through some of the reviews and picked out some of the most commonly occuring criticism that the critics gave the film and I’ll give you my opinion on them and why I thought they were wrong or why I agreed with them if I did.

1) It’s a repeat of the Last Stand. Ok when I read this one my reaction was genuinely and exuse my language here but b*tch where? I was honestly confused by the accusation because there was only one similarity between the two storylines that I could find. That’s how Charles put blocks in Jean’s mind that are then broken down by the power causing Jean to become angry and mistrustful of Charles. But even the way it happens in the two films is different. In TLS it was a central point of her storyline and Charles did it because Jean had developed another personality (basically she had a multiple personality disorder) and he was trying to keep it in check. Here he puts up blocks to make her forget about her past trauma. In TLS the blocks coming down are essentially what unleashes the Phoenix and causes Jean to go dark. In DP the blocks coming down only serve to cause a rift between Jean and Charles and explain her anger at him. It’s not made a central storyline at all. There are also so many differences. The whole storylines are different hell the characters themselves are very different. Jean going dark in TLS as I said was a result of her split personality there is no outside force its all from within her. In this film it is still a story about Jean’s mental health but it is influenced by an outside force and while TLS is a story about mental health essentially this version while covering that is more about how power corrupts. In TLS Jean is a side storyline in this one shes the focus of it. I could go on and on about the differences but this post is already approaching the length of a novel so. Maybe I’ll do a separate post comparing the two at some point. So yeah sorry but this statement of it’s a repeat of TLS is just plain wrong it isn’t anything like TLS.

2) It’s unemotional and boring. I mean I can’t really say anything about the boring part. I personally didn’t think it was at all boring but if they found it boring then I’m sorry to hear that I don’t know what they find intersting so I can’t really say they are wrong on that as finding something boring is very much down to personal preference what one person finds interesting can send another to sleep. However in regards to the unemotional part which I saw come up a surprising amount it’s another thing that I don’t understand how they can say that. This film left me emotionally wrecked. I mean it makes you feel so many different emotions, sad, tense, anxious, awe, heartbroken, fear, anticipation, happy, nostalgic, so many emotions. Also the emotions of the characters are very much what drives this film. Every one of the characters actions are driven by their emotions. It’s their grief that drives Eric and Hank, Jean’s rage that drives her, Scott’s desperation, Charles’ fear of losing everything they’ve worked for. So this is another comment from the critcs that I just disagree with, I’d even go so far as to argue that this was the most emotional Xmen film they’ve ever done.

3) This isn’t like the other X-Men films. This one actually made me sigh in resignation and at one point even wet myself laughing. That second part came where I read one review that complained it was more like a drama than an Xmen film and the reason why that made me laugh was because it made me think of an interview of Tye Sheridan’s way back in 2018 where he said that with this film they were aiming to make it more like a drama than a superhero film. So yes mr critc man it was more like a drama but you know what it was suppose to be. This argument for why the film sucked just didn’t make any sense considering one of the main points they were trying to get across in their entire marketing campaign for this movie was this isn’t like any other X-Men film you’ve ever seen. So yes well done critics you just criticised a film for achieving exactly what they set out to achieve. Sorry like I said might get a little snarky but this one really frustrated me with its own stupidity. I mean the fact that this wasn’t like other Xmen films is what made it good it’s one of the things I liked the most about it because it meant it wasn’t stale it was something new and something fresh. It was suppose to be a darker film, a gritty drama and that’s what we were told we were gonna be given and that’s what we got. So this is just the critics looking for reasons to hate the film.

4) There isn’t enough humour. Ok see the above two. This was an emotionally driven dark drama! It wasn’t suppose to be funny. I get that these critics are used to the gimicky slapstick comedy that most superhero (especially the marvel films) have. But as we’ve already covered they were aiming to do something different with this film. They were serious subjects they were covering in this film and I’m sorry but throwing jokes and running gags in there would have ruined the movie. It would not have been at all in fitting with the tone of the film. Also you can bet your ass that if they had thrown jokes into it then all the critics would be complaining about how out of place they were considering the tone of the film and they would have been right in that instance because it would not have worked. Also there was humour in this film it just wasn’t placed evenly throughout the film because as I said the bulk of the film was very serious, very dark and very gritty and levity would have been out of place. But the beginning part and end both had quite a bit of humour. Quicksilver’s ‘we’re doing space missions now cool.’ Nightcrawler’s excited childlike ‘We’re going to space?’ ‘Yes Kurt we’re going to space.’ Again was funny. And again from Kurt when they were heading into space and he screams ‘I’m not enjoying this as much as I should.’ It was funny. Quicksilver’s ‘I did most of it, Jean helped at the end but it was mostly me.’ Fuunnny. Hank’s ‘it means I need to build a better machine.’ Yup funny. When Storm asks how Jean is and Scott replies thirsty while collecting her third drink also funny. Speaking of Jean ‘Do I intimidate you baby?’ and Scott’s ‘Always’ reply yup you guessed it also funny. Again at the end of the film when Quicksilver tells the kid to ‘slow down, safety first.’ This ladies and gentleman is what you call humour and yes it was in the film and yes they put it in appropriate places and in the right amount without it ruining the tone of the film. Which is something that these supposedly professional critics should have recognised. Just because a film isn’t very funny doesn’t not mean it’s a bad film.

5) The special effects were bad. Um no that’s a lie. Plain and simple.

6) The alien villians had no back story and Jessica Chastain’s performance was wooden. Ok going to shock you all a little here but parts of this I do agree with. Or at least I can see where they are coming from. Because yes the Skrulls needed more development. However I thought Jess’ performance was far from wooden in fact she did a very good job with what she was given. Also they did have a backstory. It just wasn’t an overly complex one. Their home planet was destroyed and so they want to use the Phoenix force to remake earth into their home planet. So again it might be poorly developed but saying they have no back story at all is another lie.

7) This film sucked ‘insert a marvel film here’ was better. Now this is just unforgivable to me and in my opinion downright rude it really made my blood boil, but I came across several of the critics reviews that literally just had a couple of lines saying that the film sucked and then spent the rest of their review talking about how great a particular marvel film was before finishing up with a that’s why I can’t wait for the Xmen to finally come under the marvel umbrella where they belong. Umm ok first off they’re not under the Marvel umbrella yet so that comment is completely irrelevant, secondly I don’t give a crap about how great you thought Captain Marvel was I came here to read a review about Dark Phoenix. These are the worst of all the reviews because they don’t even bother to give you reasons why they thought Dark Phoenix was bad they just state that it was and then move on to talking about Marvel. In fact some of them are so vague about Dark Phoenix that it makes me wonder if they even actually watched the film. I also hate that they seem to think that Marvel can’t make any mistakes and every one of their films are incredible like I’m glad you liked Captain Marvel mate but if you take a look at the audience rating for that film you’ll find it’s lower than the one for Dark Phoenix.

8) The storyline was badly written, rushed and the film was too short. Again I do agree with some of this. I personally didn’t think the film was badly written, It was a simple storyline and not overly complex but I think that’s what it needed if you had tried to make it too complex of a story it would have lost some of the emotional punch from it. You’d have been too busy trying to figure out what was going on in the story to appreciate the characters emotions and realtionships. However I do think the film could be longer and the shorter length did mean that it was somewhat rushed. However that being said while I agree with them I didn’t think it was as big of an issue as the critics were making it out to be.

9) The feminist agenda was too strong. Hmm this one is... I mean if having a female lead is considered a feminist agenda then sure Jean Grey did come across as strong. But lets be honest this comment is just plain stupid. I mean the only part where I can see this comment being even a little relevant or right is Mystique’s line about it should be X-Women. Which actually got a lot of laughs from the audience at my viewing from both males and females so I don’t think it was that much of a big deal but I will admit it did come across as a little out of place and as if it was there to appeal to feminists but it was one line and was no more in your face than that scene from Endgame when you have the all girl team up in the final battle that leaves you wondering how the hell they all conveniently got in the same place at once I mean don’t get me wrong I loved that scene but you can’t deny that it was there to serve as a feminist agenda. See I personally don’t think there’s anything wrong with having one line or one scene that promotes women’s power in fact in some instances I think its needed. So yeah this was another one that was baffling to me because I just didn’t see this film as being some grand feminist message, it was a film with a woman at its center and as the lead role but what the hell’s wrong with that.

10) There were too many continuity errors. Let’s be honest X-Men is not known for having a good continuity. I mean it’s no wonder why just take a look at the comic books themselves I mean if the source material is a mess then I suppose its not that strange that the films would be. After all spotting continuity errors in X-Men films is all part of the fun. However this is again something that I disagree with mainly because the two things mentioned are 1) Jean already had the Phoenix powers at the end of Apocalypse so how is it she’s only getting them now when in space in this film. Well yes she did have them in Apocalypse and the reason for it is in the films the power that she comes in contact with is not the Phoenix. It is never at any point in the film referred to as the Phoenix. It is only referred to as ‘a cosmic force.’ or ‘This thing’ or as a ‘solar flare.’ The reason why is because in the films Jean is the Phoenix. We the fans often call it the phoenix force and I think that comes from the comic book I don’t know for sure as I haven’t read it but as I said the film doesn’t. Also the power doesn’t change her powers really it just makes her stronger and amplifies them. She could do all the stuff she was doing before just on a smaller scale. Yes there are a few newer elements to her powers I don’t think she could turn people to dust in Apocalypse when she destroys him in that film it looks more like she’s melting him away with extreme heat than just causing someone to turn to dust like she does here. Also if you look at the effects for the two Phoenix’s they are very different. In Apocalypse they are more like flames where as here they have more of a space substance look about them, its much darker in colour and doesn’t look like literal flames. So yeah that’s not really a continuity error. The other thing is that the ending doesn’t match the ending for DOFP where Logan wakes back up in the new future. Well Logan wakes up in the year 2023 we’re only in 1992 at this point so there’s plenty of time for that future to come about so again not really a continuity error.

11) There were too many reshoots and problems in production for this film to be considered good. Yeah this was actually something I read more than a few times. And again its just stupid. It’s also very telling. But again if they had said ‘this part’ was bad most likely due to reshoots or the story seemed off because of the reshoots and them changing the story I wouldn’t be mad about these comments and yes some of them do say that they felt the reshoots caused a problem with the flow of the story. Fair enough you have given me a valid reason there. But most of them don’t do that they literally just say this film has reshoots and other production problems so its bad. I’m sorry but thats not a reason. Tell me how the reshoots effected the film to make it bad don’t just state that it had reshoots so that’s a criminal offence and means I can drag the film through the mud without any solid reason behind my dragging.

Ok so what was it? Why did this film get so much hate and bashed on so badly by the critics if it wasn’t as bad as they say I mean what’s their motive for that? Well I have two answers for you here. Obviously these are just my own opinons on it. But I think the clue lies above in the last most commonly brought up comment in the critics reviews. Firstly I think alot of it is saving face. What you have to bear in mind is that these are the same people who spent the last two years of the film’s production reporting on those reshoots and the problems in production and every time they reported on reshoots or test screenings that haven’t gone very well they would also pass judgement on the film that they themselves hadn’t even seen yet. They would tell us that this film was going to suck. They’d tell us not to get our expectactions up. They’d tell us it was just going to be another remake of Last Stand. Then the film came out and it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as everyone thought it was going to be. Apparently those test screenings and reshoots payed off some. Only now these critics have a bit of a problem because if they now report that the film was actually decent they all look like dicks for judgeing the film too soon and without seeing it. So what do they do? Well they just tell everyone that the film was bad. Hopefully with a bit of luck people will read the critc reviews and decide to not see it for themsleves and then well no one will ever know right. I also think that’s why a few of them brought up the reshoots so they can basically go look see we told you about those reshoots we were right you know you can trust us. Well actually you can’t because this was a dick move and I really do belive it is just them trying to save some face as its the only explaination for why the critic reviews are so vastly different from the audience reviews. I mean when I was reading the audience reviews even those who said that they hated the movie admitted that they still thought the critic’s were way too harsh on the film.

There is another more controversial reason why they might be giving it bad reviews and that is simply Disney propaganda. It’s them saying look at what a terrible job Fox did with this film we’re going to do a much better job come watch our versions of the Xmen when we do them. I mean you just have to look at the press and reviews for Captain Marvel and then for Dark Phoenix. Now I’m not going to express an opinion on what I personally thought of Captain Marvel as this is a review for Dark Phoenix but what I will say is that there is a very obvious bias here. The Captain Marvel audience reaction was worse than that for Dark Phoenix yet the critics were praising it and every news story was going on about how wonderful it was and anyone who didn’t like it was suddenly a troll. However with Dark Phoenix the critcs are slamming it into the ground and the news stories covering it aren’t much better. What’s the difference between the two films. Well one is owned by Disney and the other is by Fox and I’m sorry but I don’t think that’s a coincidence.

Ok so here’s the very last thing I will say. I really enjoyed this film again I don’t by any means think this was the greatest Xmen film but I would still put it at the higher end of the spectrum. Also I mentioned my sister a couple times in this review who came and saw the film with me. Now she is more of a casual fan. She has seen a few of the other movies but she doesn’t really watch them more than once and she’s definitely not as obsessed as I am. But I asked her opinion on it as I was curious as to how an outsider would view the film. She said that she loved the film. She also said that in her opinion it was miles better than End Game and the nice thing about it was that if you haven’t seen the other films you can still enjoy this one as a standalone movie. So it seems like this film is more accessible to a wider audience but it also works really well as part of the series too. Well there you have it my review for Dark Phoenix is complete. To anyone who is still here and actually read this to the end a big thank you and a pat on the back. I think I covered everything but if there was something I missed and you want to know my opinion on it feel free to ask. I hope others did enjoy the film and if anyone has read this without seeing the film I would really recommend it and would implore you not to listen to the critics because they have judged this film too harshly. As I say in all of my reviews these are just my own opinons It’s totally cool if you don’t agree I respect everyones views and believe everyone is entitled to express their own feelings. I am also aware that people will interpret things differently and take different things away from it so if you do have a different opinon again feel free to let me know what it is and why you feel that way I’d love to hear it. Anyway until next time guys.

#xmen dark phoenix #Dark phoenix #dark phoenix review

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