X-Men: Dark Phoenix

X-Men: Dark Phoenix – Young Jean Grey, orphaned in a car crash at the age of 8, is taken in by Professor X who hopes to teach her to use her mutant powers. Later, as a grown member of the X-Men team, she is exposed to a blast of cosmic energy which enhances her powers to the point where she starts to lose control. As an alien race attempt to use her new powers for their own ends, flashbacks to her childhood trauma threaten to push her over the edge.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019) – Director: Simon Kinsberg

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60081715

Rating: 12

Running Length: 113 mins

Starring: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Jessica Chastain

Genre: Superhero, Fantasy, Action, Drama

REVIEW: X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX

Supposedly the final X-Men movie with the current cast, as rights owner Fox have now been bought by Disney, this is an attempt to remake the famous Dark Phoenix storyline from the comics (first adapted with the original cast as ‘The Last Stand’ in 2006). And while comic fans may argue that it doesn’t do the story justice, film fans can rest assured that it’s a far more effective adaptation than the previous attempt.

Using the young cast first introduced in X-Men: First Class, writer-director Simon Kinsberg gives us a pacy and emotionally involving story full of action, confrontation and drama. There is some clunky expository dialogue, and some large sections of the plot remain underdeveloped. We never really learn much about Jessica Chastain’s character, and her evil plans are frustratingly vague. Similarly, the “cosmic force” which affects Jean Grey is a simple McGuffin which isn’t really explained or explored in any way.

But the cast are impressive, with Turner, McAvoy, Fassbender and Hoult all making an effort to bring their characters to life and not just to rely on the effects to tell the story. Kinsberg focuses less on the science fiction elements and more on tensions and resentments within the X-men team, which makes for more interesting drama. The action scenes are well staged and varied, with the climactic attack being particularly enjoyable.

Treated somewhat harshly by critics who have piled on with negative reviews, this is a perfectly serviceable X-Men movie with some decent action set-pieces and some dramatic meat for the talented cast to get their teeth into. While never reaching the heights of X2 or Days Of Future Past, it’s still an enjoyable adventure.

CONTENT: IS ‘X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The opening scene features an intense car crash. The young girl is miraculously unharmed, but her parents die, and we see their corpses, their faces bloodied from the flying glass.

The space shuttle rescue scene is tense and perilous, and several characters are visibly stressed and concerned throughout.

When an alien takes over a human body she kills someone by making their chest cave in. The image is brief and bloodless but slightly disturbing. Later when attempting to extract information from someone she starts to do the same thing, and says that she will make him “scream”.

There are several scenes in which Jean loses control of her powers and friends are injured by being thrown through the air. On the first occasion one of them is her boyfriend and we later see her tearfully apologising when she sees the bruises on his face. Later in an extended confrontation she hurls another friend across the street. This character ends up impaled on some wooden stakes, and dies. The wood is seen poking through their torso, with some blood. The death has a significant emotional impact on the whole group, and they are seen attending their friend’s funeral, and arguing afterwards about who was to blame. Jean is then seen alone in an alleyway, crying, trying to rub her friend’s blood off her own shirt.

Jean tearfully confronts a character for abandoning her.

In the climactic battle scene several aliens disguised as humans attack a train. They are repeatedly shot at close range but they feel no pain, do not bleed, and their bodies heal immediately. Magneto stabs many of them with sharpened pieces of metal, and some are strangled or thrown by other mutants. One is run over by a train but the shot is wide and very brief.

One fight scene has a mutant use tentacles to whip or attempt to strangle others. In another a character threatens another with a sharp metal spike. The spike comes very close to their eye but they do not flinch, and bat it away. They then retaliate by attempting to crush the other character’s head by squeezing their helmet onto their head. This causes visible pain and the character collapses to the ground.

Several times characters are incapacitated by telekinesis, collapsing to the floor unconscious.

One use of the word “fucking”, which sticks out like a sore thumb and is obviously just there to ensure a 12A rating. Otherwise bad language is limited to the occasional “damn”, “shit”, and “Jesus Christ”.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX’ FOR KIDS?

An action-packed mutant drama with a dark tone and some scary and briefly violent moments make this suitable for children over the age of 10.

• Violence: 2/5 (frequent fight scenes, car and train crashes)
• Emotional Distress: 1/5 (confrontation with father figures and childhood trauma; pain, confusion and fear as a body is taken over by an alien force; a death and funeral scene for a major character)
• Fear Factor: 3/5 (scary aliens threaten and attack protagonists, main character changes personality)
• Sexual Content: 1/5 (one brief kiss)
• Bad Language: 2/5 (One isolated use of the F word, a few mild swear words)
• Dialogue: 1/5 (verbal threats of violence)
• Other notes: (deals with orphans and abandonment, betrayal and lies)

Words by Simon Litton

When not generously contributing reviews, Simon also has a blog that you should check out here