The X-Men franchise has been something of a rollercoaster throughout its two decade long history. The first film was groundbreaking for its time and the sequel X2 was a defining moment in early superhero cinema, alongside the first Spider-Man film. During the years that followed we’ve seen dizzying highs in Logan, terrible lows in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and some generally average films in-between such as the previous main series entry: 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse. X-Men: Dark Phoenix, the latest and last entry in the 20th Century Fox produced X-Men films, sits firmly in the middle of the pack – an improvement over Apocalypse featuring generally great performances which is weighed down by a middling plot and forgettable action.
Dark Phoenix picks up the story in 1992, with the X-Men enjoying their celebrity status as Earth’s resident superhero force after their very public defeat of Apocalypse. Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) in particular is reaping the rewards of this feat, socialising with society’s elite – the ones that once feared mutants – and enjoying the praise of the world as the leader of the X-Men. When the current team – made up of Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), Quicksilver (Evan Peters) and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) – embark on a mission to rescue stranded astronauts, things don’t exactly go to plan and Jean is forced to absorb the full impact of a solar flare to ensure the team’s survival. To everyone’s surprise Jean survives this encounter completely unscathed, albeit with something of an anger management problem, and sets off on a very violent journey to find answers about her past and the new powers she has gained. The answers she seeks put her on a direct path to Magneto (Michael Fassbender), who is attempting to live a peaceful life in a mutant colony, and Vuk (Jessica Chastain) a mysterious alien being hell-bent on taking the force inside Jean for herself in order to rebuild her world.
Longtime franchise writer Simon Kinberg makes his directorial debut here and it’s something of a rocky start to his directing career. The script is the main problem here, penned by Kinberg himself – a bland reattempt at adapting the famed Dark Phoenix saga from the classic X-Men comic books after the less than stellar X-Men: The Last Stand. The film never reaches the same heights as other X-Men films because it’s so hard to care about the story and characters when there are so many odd choices and decisions being made, not to mention some of the worst dialogue I’ve seen in a long time. The film hits the same beats of almost all the previous films and doesn’t dare to try anything new or different: the X-Men are prospering before some unforeseen event has them on the outs with the government, Magneto has gone off the grid and must be brought back into the fold, Xavier and Magneto must band together after fighting each other to save the day, and Mystique is inexplicably a major part of the story despite her character being little more than a footnotes in the comics. It makes sense given that Kinberg has written the last three main series films but it’s disappointing that he didn’t try a fresh take given that this time he has the added control of a director behind him. It also seems as though the directing duties have cut into the time Kinberg has spent on the script, with dialogue so stilted and odd at times it actually made me dislike characters I’d enjoyed since First Class. Think the Darth Vader “No” scene in Revenge of the Sith and multiply that by a thousand.
What does work well for the most part is the characters, and while the writing sometimes has them making odd choices they are still the same X-Men that audiences have become attached to over several movies. While not at the top of his game here, Kinberg’s writing in previous instalments has worked to endear these characters to us and make us care about their exploits. This is most evident in the relationship between Mystique, Beast and Magneto, a storyline which has continued since 2011’s First Class and which comes to a natural conclusion here at the end of the Fox franchise. Whilst Mystique as a character has always irked me in the second generation of X-Men films the character works much better here by playing off that relationship instead of involving her in the main arc of the film. The newest generation of characters introduced in Apocalypse (Cyclops, Jean & Nightcrawler) get a lot more to work with here and Sophie Turner in particular brings a lot of emotional weight to the role, rivalling former Jean, Famke Janssen’s work. Her relationship with Cyclops was surprisingly well done and I cared more about their relationship, and the toll this event was having on it, more than I ever did for Janssen and James Marsden’s versions of the characters.
The strength in the First Class generation of X-Men movies has always been in its pitch perfect casting, Jennifer Lawrence aside, and that continues here as each of these actors make a solid case for staying on for Disney’s take on the franchise. As usual the high points are James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, who both deliver impressive turns. McAvoy gets to play a more upbeat and modern Xavier than usual, albeit one who must slowly come to terms with past wrongdoings he believed were for the greater good. Fassbender, meanwhile, has significantly less to do here than the previous instalments he has been featured in, but still manages to deliver a crushingly emotional performance once again, dealing with yet again another loss. Fassbender has been such a consistent high point in this franchise and owned the role so much so that I don’t even really associate Ian McKellen with Magneto any more, and while I’m excited by the prospects of incorporating the X-Men into the MCU, Fassbender’s presence will be sorely missed. A surprising amount of weight was given to the character of Nicholas Hoult’s Beast, who emotionally anchors several scenes with Fassbender and McAvoy remarkably well, holding his own against these acting powerhouses. His relationship with Charles is put to the test as he uncovers the skeletons in Charles’ closet and I was surprisingly engaged with Beast’s storyline – caring more about it than the main Jean Grey arc. Where the acting falls apart lies with the new characters and there is really only one major one: Jessica Chastain’s painfully boring alien changeling Vuk. Not only is there just not enough for Chastain to do with the role, but the way she interprets the character as a being void of all emotion makes all her scenes incredibly uninteresting.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is something of a reflection of Fox’s franchise as a whole: sometimes frustrating, sometimes engaging and sometimes just fine. The latest adventure does nothing much to make people scream for more X-Men films under Fox but neither does it completely disrespect the franchise, providing a fitting conclusion for the characters audiences have been with since First Class. Whilst I won’t miss the frustrating story-lines, shoddy dialogue and odd character choices; I will miss the characters and the actors who have done so much to bring them to life. But like the mutants, these films must evolve, and with the characters transferring over to Disney and incorporated into the MCU, it’s definitely an exciting time to be an X-Men fan.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Sophie Turner, Tye Sheridan, Kodi Smit-McPhee & Jessica Chastain – in cinemas now.