X-Men: Dark Phoenix film

[juan678]

[JL81790]

Still excited to see this, but none of the reviews are surprising or unexpected to me. It's been reported that a whole new third act had to be slapped on this movie and two of the main cast (Shipp and Peters) have essentially said in interviews that their characters were underdeveloped in this movie, plus a Jennifer Lawrence who has been checked out since Days of Future Past and a number of the beloved elements (Shi'Ar, Hellfire Club) from the source material cut. I'm sure I'll enjoy it just for (hopefully) the course correct of making this about Jean and Scott, but again, not surprised.

[Supernature]

I've seen it and it's neither the worst nor the best X-Men film.

[Sam Robards, Comic Fan]

I've seen it and it's neither the worst nor the best X-Men film.

CBR's review basically says the same thing, and, given the other reviews, I'll take that. Still excited to see it Saturday!

https://www.cbr.com/x-men-dark-phoenix-review/

[SpiderClops]

Dan said Cyclops is sidelined, again.

Fox just has it out for this character.

[Maestroneto]

The X-Men were the sacrifice Hollywood demanded in exchange for Kinberg never getting a directing job again.

[Frobisher]

Are there any precedents for the writer taking over directing a series apart from Blade Trinity (and didn't that go well)?

[Panic]

The Bourne Legacy (which I liked, but no one else did).

[Maestroneto]

Are there any precedents for the writer taking over directing a series apart from Blade Trinity (and didn't that go well)?

Chris McQuarrie was an uncredited writer on M:I 4 before writing and directing the fifth and sixth movies.

[bat39]

So I've just seen the movie. Its far from the best this franchise has to offer, but its nowhere near the disaster which the reviewers are touting it to be. I've never subscribed to the conspiracy theory that Marvels pays reviewers to badmouth non-MCU films, but I've always been conscious of the fact that the MCU exerts such a strong hegemony over the global media industry, and in this case, the prospect of this 'rival' franchise ending and being absorbed into the MCU does seem to have at least some people rubbing their hands with glee - whether they are conscious of it or not.

Its definitely a better take on the 'Dark Phoenix Saga' than X3. Its not the 100% faithful adaptation some fans might want, but then again, it never was going to be. But there are a lot of elements from the original story that have been worked in in rather surprising ways, so I think hardcore X-men comic fans will have something to appreciate in the film.

Beyond the adaptation of the Phoenix story itself, I think the movie does a great job deconstructing Charles Xavier and the whole X-men concept, which was already hinted at in that last clip of the heated argument between Raven and Charles. It also uses the 'mutant metaphor' in some interesting ways that we haven't really seen on-screen before.

I personally feel this movie could have done with a slightly longer runtime to flesh out certain aspects that would have made for interesting viewing. Though of course, a longer runtime alone wouldn't necessarily guarantee a better result.

On the whole, its a great conclusion to the 'First Class' series. As far as being a conclusion to the nearly 20 year old Fox X-men franchise goes, its not a bad one, but it kinda pales in comparision to the send-off the original cast got in DOFP.

[5cents]

This film is never going to get a fair review. Some of the reviews from twitter are from people who haven’t even seen it???

[Sam Robards, Comic Fan]

The Bourne Legacy (which I liked, but no one else did).

Was that the one with Jeremy Renner? If it was, then I liked it, too. Far more than the mainline Bourne movies, in fact.

[Theleviathan]

This film is never going to get a fair review. Some of the reviews from twitter are from people who haven’t even seen it???

Ignore those and look at the professional reviews then. "Never going to get a fair review" is a cop out.

Is it really shocking that Kinburg blew this? His name attached alone was enough to sink this, but then you add in that the lead-in film (Apocalypse) was a tire fire. Then you sprinkle in that they took a story about love and family and turned it into power and revenge. Then you give huge helpings of undeveloped characters that are enormously important to the story. (you know: Cyclops and Jean F-ing Grey!) You eliminate the slow burn of Jean losing control. You add in boredom from the core actors, major reshoots, and a (mind boggling) desire to keep these films in continuity with past failures and.....well what did we really expect?

This was always going to be a dumpster fire. Plenty of fair, impartial reviewers are basically calling it that. The best praise I've seen is "it's boring". Woof.

Fanboys of the XCU will come on here and tell us all that things are fine, but they look like Kevin Bacon while they do it. All the ingredients for a disaster have been baked in for months and many of us have been pointing them out. I love the MCU, but I'm an X-men fan first and foremost. Let's hope Kinburg's sins are over and with enough time Feige can give us our beloved characters without this studios endless string of screw ups.

[Alexi]

I'm not expecting it to be X2, First Class of DoFP quality at all, just at least entertaining. I figured nothing could be as bad as Wolverine Origins, X3 or as boring as Apocalypse. I wasn't expecting much after I heard Kinberg was both writing & directing. Yeah, it was nice that years later he took most of the blame for X3's script but then it kept sounding like he was retreading certain parts: jumping straight ahead into the DP story instead of given us another movie in between to explorer Jean's unleashed potential from Apocalypse & getting to know Scott, Storm, Kurt, Jean again as young adults. Adding unknown characters to the villain support side (Red Lotus, Selene) who's early visuals gave me X3 Omega/Morlock vibes.

I'll see it cause I'm a Jean fan & a lot of those Youtube reviews are usually loud & harsh for the sake of clicks & views.

[Ororo101]

Ignore those and look at the professional reviews then. "Never going to get a fair review" is a cop out.

Is it really shocking that Kinburg blew this? His name attached alone was enough to sink this, but then you add in that the lead-in film (Apocalypse) was a tire fire. Then you sprinkle in that they took a story about love and family and turned it into power and revenge. Then you give huge helpings of undeveloped characters that are enormously important to the story. (you know: Cyclops and Jean F-ing Grey!) You eliminate the slow burn of Jean losing control. You add in boredom from the core actors, major reshoots, and a (mind boggling) desire to keep these films in continuity with past failures and.....well what did we really expect?

This was always going to be a dumpster fire. Plenty of fair, impartial reviewers are basically calling it that. The best praise I've seen is "it's boring". Woof.

Fanboys of the XCU will come on here and tell us all that things are fine, but they look like Kevin Bacon while they do it. All the ingredients for a disaster have been baked in for months and many of us have been pointing them out. I love the MCU, but I'm an X-men fan first and foremost. Let's hope Kinburg's sins are over and with enough time Feige can give us our beloved characters without this studios endless string of screw ups.

Honestly? I’m glad. As my favorite comic book team since childhood, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that there was at least some part of me that really, truly hoped that after all this time my amazing family of merry mutants would finally get some respect, something awe-inspiring out of this franchise finale. But alas, it is exactly as I feared/knew it would be. And all I can say is good.

The film is a disaster, as we’ve all been warned it would be for the past year or so. The amazing actors who could have done so much with even a semblance of a well written story? Wasted and asininely utilized. And the X-men mythos, the reason we’re all here, the universe of a diverse and incredibly layered family of characters and heroes that have some of the best and most renowned storylines in the comic medium? Disrespected, distorted, and publicly shamed once again. Good. I’m glad that the blistering rays of reality are finally breaking through the heavy, dark clouds of continuous delusion. Good riddance. Goodbye. Sayanara and seeya never. Make like a Phoenix-Usher and Let it Burn. All of my genuine sadness over these movies and bitterness at how they’ve been treated over the years has now turned from disgust to simple ambivalence.

Please go ahead. By all means call me negative, a hater, “bandwagon basher”, “MCU Fanboy(not even true), etc, etc. That’s fine, you’re bothered by what I’m saying and I’m okay with that. But what you won’t do is claim that I wanted this franchise to fail. That is such a vapid and ridiculous statement to someone who has loved the X-Men for decades. I didn’t want my favorite heroes in fiction, my ride or die fictional family to be embarrassed like this. I wanted them to be delivered the same respect and care that other, and by God lesser team books have been given over the years in the on-screen adaptations. They just weren’t. They were mishandled, misguided, temporally flopped around puzzle pieces that never fit together and showed the most scant and deplorable attention to who these characters actually are. To themselves, to each other, and to these stories. Completely ignored and in other cases blatantly disregarded. That’s fine now. At least this 20 year circus of a charade is finally over and we’re lucky enough as a fanbase to have more opportunities going forward to get a hopefully new take on things. Not everyone gets that, and I am grateful.

I know some will lambaste me for this post. To be quite honest, I truly don’t care. It’s the end of an era for me that was a rollercoaster of exceptionally high hopes followed by dimmed, and in some cases shattered realizations. I’m tired. I’m happy it’s done. I’m looking forward to having hope again in the future, knowing that an entirely different and far more respected entity will get their chance to make my heroes shine, for once. For those of you that heavily disagree with me that’s absolutely fine, we’re all entitled to our feelings on the matter. I fully respect your opinions and I always will. But to tell me that I should “see for myself” and “not go by what 95% of critics say so I can make my own opinion”? Give a single cent of my money to a company that has continuously beaten me down every time I tried to have hope that maybe, just maybe they won’t screw it up again? I remember all to vividly the embarrassment I had when I dragged a group my non-comic reading friends to see the X-men Apocalypse midnight showing, truly convinced that it would be the start of something great and new and fresh for the franchise. The disappointment I had when I realized that it was worse then I could have even have imagined. The shame when I had to pretend to laugh and agree with them that it was the shite-bomb of a movie that it was and that we wasted our time and money, all the while feeling like I was just gut punched in my fandom feels the whole time. Nah, I’m good. Not this time. Y’all enjoy “seeing it for yourself” for the umteenth time. I really do hope you enjoy it. But please understand as well, when people say they won’t because they don’t want to pay to see 2 hours of “X-Men inspired” dissatisfaction unfold again before their eyes. Don’t demean their decision as simply “wanting it to fail” and “not giving it a chance”. This rodeo is just one we’ve ridden in for far too long. It’s time to get off the bull and call it a day.