Dark Phoenix
[Mild spoilers but it really doesn't matter]
Blah. I was expecting so much more -- and I'm someone who walked away satisfied after Apocalypse. It feels like a first draft or first-year writer's work. "This happens, and then this happens, and then this happens."
It's all so... flat. There's no dramatic criss-crossing between plots or characters, no dynamism or dramatic thrust. The editing literally ends and starts whole scenes in sequence like a factory made the film. And the "action" is probably the worst it's been in the series... just, boring and lifeless feeling.
I also caught McAvoy's accent slipping up a bit, or his inflections not matching the consistency he had in First Class/DoFP/Apoc.
The ending makes no sense and I'm not happy with Xavier being booted out of his whole school, made out to be a public failure, and basically the whole movie's plot kicking off cause of his hubris... There was potential to show a real character arc for him, but as it is in the movie it feels so half-assed and rushed. And McAvoy acts him with almost too much conviction and no remorse in some scenes, which feels like a minor betrayal of his character as portrayed in the three previous movies.
The only "oh shit" moment of the movie comes from my favorite character in the past two movies, Nightcrawler. When he bamfs that chick in front of the train, I was like "Fuuuuck yeah." But a movie like this needs one of those at least every half hour, if not every 10-15 minutes (when Infinity War got rolling it felt like every 5-10 mins there was a moment like that.)
I'm giving Kinberg the benefit of the doubt on the editing and action, but there's no reason the plot has to be so... threadbare. Like they literally put everything in the trailers, and what's left is just the glue between those scenes. And there's nothing interesting in the glue of this movie ("glue" can be interesting and entertaining, see Godfather, etc.) I was like "OK the trailers show some pretty tame stuff for an all-powerful cosmic entity, but surely it's just cause the trailer doesn't include the final battle."
I actually ready the plot of this movie ahead of time to prepare myself, and even I'm baffled at how quickly the "final confrontation" plays out (after Jean lands the train.) Poochie Phoenix went back to his her home planet, I guess.
Also they never even say "Genosha" in the film, wtf. If Apoc was a glutton that vomited on people nonstop, Dark Phoenix is the starving child dying of ebola.
2 / 5
