Reviews & Ratings for
Dark Phoenix (2019)

Dark Phoenix feels more like a spin off X-men film than a proper entry to the franchise. For one thing the budget seems to be way low, no citywide destruction or epic scale fights are visible, the other thing is… since it no longer Bryan singer at the helm, the intro is missing. The way X-men title comes in is different too and it sets the tone for a rest of the film.
Speaking of Bryan Singer, the Critics hated X-men Apocalypse. I found it just fine! It was a bit of a drag on the similar concepts as before and Days of future Past was so innovative that maybe the next one wasn’t as well received but I liked the scope and scale of it. It was huge destruction and high stakes. Dark Phoenix is more like the first X-men film… it’s so much scaled down it pales in comparison to the previous installments and also the MCU films.
There is also that… Avengers Endgame as redefined what the genre can do and nothing less than spectacular or innovative can surprise us anymore. This film is not that. Dark phoenix works VERY VERY hard to stay away from the similarly themed X-men the Last Stand… Anything that happened in that film is reverse of what happens in this film.
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first…
This film has Jean Grey as it lead character and somehow bungles up her character arc and story! How do you mess up the title character so badly? Hardly anything of note happens to her and the only thing she DOES DO was alluded to in the trailers so it was shocking at all!
The direction of this film is by the numbers, there is no cinematic flare or style visible. What else to expect for the X-Men screenwriter now director Simon Kinberg? He is a writer; he doesn’t do direction too well.
Coming to the actors, thankfully since the cast of the previous 3 films is back they are rather solid on the performances. However, Magneto looks BORED and is definitely cashing a good paycheck for the last time. Quicksilver is again underutilized and it’s clear the writer doesn’t know how to use him at all! Professor X and Beast have the major share of acting workload here and they are up to the task but after a while, it feels more of the same. I almost forgot Jennifer Lawrence is in the film, she looks fed of X-Men films, but the good news is with the Disney acquisition of Fox, this is probably the Last x-Men film in this continuity and cast. I know New Mutants is still coming out, but that has a different cast and mostly will be the last Mutant film set in the X-Verse.
Coming to the good points.
The opening scene is executed very well. That scene itself stands out from the rest of the film on how well it is done. It has all the X-Men working well together and that’s good to see before everything goes to hell.
The music by Hans Zimmer is quite decent, operatic at times, fast paced at others. No complains there.
Overall, the film itself is not bad or horrible. It’s definitely watchable and despite a literal train wreck happening for the climax it’s definitely NOT a train wreck of a film.

Rating : 6/10. If you have been an X-men fan since the 2000s or even if you just like the new cast from First Class, this film is watchable.

P.S : Parent bringing children who have NO clue what X-men are is just freaking annoying! Kid sitting next to me constantly nagged his father when Iron man or Thanos would show up! Take him for endgame again god damn it! He also kept on asking who Hank is, who is Jean?
Arre bachha! It takes years to understand this lore… let it be and see Aladdin! I don’t expect a kid to know the mutant’s names as well as their alter ego’s names! However, why bring kids for a franchise ending which started all the way back in 1999-2000 when I myself was a kid!
Next up, kids asking who is Luke Skywalker and where is Groot for star wars episode 9 !