X-Men: Dark Phoenix Review (Are The Critics Wrong?)

 At the time of writing, Dark Phoenix sits at a 22% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, with many bashing the final real installment in Fox's X-Men movies as a lazy, uninspiring and disjointed mess. The wave of negativity surrounding this film has been staggering and it appears to have fatally wounded its box office potential, with many news outlets reporting the movie as a commercial and critical bomb. So we have two very important questions to answer. Firstly, why are the critics so universally panning Dark Phoenix? Secondly, is it better than the critics suggest?

 The premise is fairly simple, another spin on the popular X-Men Dark Phoenix storyline surrounding Jean Grey, the titular Phoenix. In this adaptation the X-Men are sent into space to rescue some astronauts when a powerful cosmic force attaches itself to a young Jean Grey, played here by Sophie Turner. Intrigue and tragedy insues, with the mysterious Jessice Chastain attempting to gain control of the force residing in Grey whilst the remaining X-Men try to save her. On the surface this seems like fairly standard storytelling and I can understand why critics are negative about the overarching narrative at face value. The script writing isn't fantastic and some of the story heavy scenes seem to drag on longer than necesarry. So far I agree with the critics. However. The acting and delivery by the cast (Sophie Turner, James McAvoy and Micheal Fassbender in particular) lend a certain weight even to the weaker portions of the script.

 Turner portrays an excellent Jean Grey. In equal parts troubled young adult and rage driven cosmic entity she delivers her lines dripping with emotion in an impressive American accent. There was always the danger that Turner could risk being type cast after her world renowned role in Game Of Thrones but in this movie she was nothing to me but Jean Grey, she completely embodied everything about the character and such an excellent young actress will hopefully have a stellar career to come. McAvoy plays a slightly more nuanced Charles Xavier this time around. An Xavier wrestling with his ever growing ego and struggling to come to terms with the fact that he has made mistakes, as ever, McAvoy is excellent. Some of the critics disliked Fassbenders portryal of Magneto and found him quite tired and boring but here's where I'd have to disagree. Fassbender plays Magneto with all the weariness of a man who has consistently lost everything he's ever loved, a character truly battered by the world but with the tenacity and power to do what he believes must be done. I must admit there is a degree of bias as Magneto is and has always been my favourite X-Men character, but I did almost whoop in joy at several points in the movie when Magneto was allowed to truly display his immense power squaring off against Jean and several dozen enemy at different points of the movie. Anyone who's a Magneto fan boy like myself will not be disappointed.

Turner is a standout performance

 Something worth mentioning in a paragraph of its own is the sound design of the movie. The sound track was scored by none other than Hans Zimmer and it shows. At several points during the film I got goosebumps, emotional or epic moments amplified by the low and haunting score that perfectly fits the Dark Phoenix character. Fight scenes accompanied by a frantic and high tempo version of the same "Dark Phoenix theme" really brought the film thematically together and gave it one solid identity. I have no shame when I say that I now have several of the soundtrack songs on my personal playlists. The score is far more memorable than numerous other X-Men films, Apocalypse and X-Men Origins: Wolverine but to name a few. The sight of Jean Grey floating in the air displaying her power to a Hans Zimmer score was definitely impressive.

 The cinematography is nothing mind blowing but it works. Cramped scenes in a train carriage or a building are shot well and the fight scenes aren't cut and chopped every micro second and look quite impressive. The effects used in the movie are quite good and I never saw anything that broke my immersion in the film. From a teleporting Nightcrawler to a 50 caliber machine gun mowing down bad guys it all looked believable in universe, although I'm sure there are critics out there who have a more discerning eye for such things.

The action/fight scens are impressive

  I've mentioned the story in an earlier paragraph and I must say I agree that the writing is in places poor, the story at times fairly predictable and lacklustre. There's a but coming. BUT. I feel like the overall theme of the narrative, one of dealing with trauma, of making mistakes and doing what you think is right to protect those you love is fantasticly communicated here. As someone who has suffered with mental illness I can't help but draw comparisons here, Jean Grey is a character full of demons both from the trauma of her past and from the force now inhabiting her. Her rage and grief and sadness envelop everything around her, she hurts the people she cares about without meaning to and she seeks help but does not know how to accept it when it is offered. I certainly don't think that this parallel was in the film makers' minds when they were writing the story up but it seems to fit perfectly. The theme of loss and making mistakes, the tight and enthusiastic perfomance of Turner and the bittersweet ending all lend credence to this. I left the theatre feeling like I'd connected with this film on an emotional level. Sometimes we are all a little bit like the Dark Phoenix, lashing out blindly because we're in pain and that hit home for me.

All rage and pain

 In conclusion, I feel quite sad. Sad when I think about how poorly this movie is doing and how badly it's been recieved, because in all honesty it is far better than any of the reviews I've read suggest. It is by no means perfect, it has its flaw and it has things it could improve upon and is certainly weaker than movies like Logan and Days Of Future Past. Critics are, well, overly critical and in this case I believe unjustifiably so. The cast and crew clearly put so much hard work into this movie and to see a very good but not quite great movie be labelled as a disaster is disheartening. This film is better than Apocalypse, certainly better than Origins Wolverine and in my opinion even better than the 1st X-Men film and The Last Stand. It's a travesty that X-Men Origins: Wolverine was better recieved by critics than this, with a score of 37% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think the message to take away here is that most critics are full of shit, you should find a movie you're interested in and go and see for yourself. I certainly recommend that you go and see this movie if you're at all interested in it because it simply is not a bad movie in any sense and is a solid final entry to the Fox X-Men universe.

 X-Men: Dark Phoenix is a solid, fun, imperfect, emotional, slightly messy but very well acted movie with an excellent cast, and (for me at least) a rather poignant reminder that we all struggle with our own Dark Phoenix but we should trust in the support and protection of the people we care about.

7.5/10