After 19 years and a Walt Disney buyout, we finally get to say goodbye to the beloved X-Men franchise. Highlights include X2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and the Deadpool movies (I personally did not enjoy Logan but that is another story). The film sets itself up in 1992 where the mutants do not have to live in fear among the humans and perform missions to save mankind. Until one mission finds our Queen of the North, Sophie Turner aka Jean Grey absorbing alien solar flares that ultimately make her...the Dark Phoenix. The two things I actually enjoyed in this film were first the score by the brilliant Hans Zimmer, who actually came out of Superhero movie retirement to do this film, I'm not saying this wasn't the brightest choice to come back to, but I understand, he did make the film suspenseful and on the edge of your seat at some moments. Secondly the acting, which to myself has always been top notch of the X-Men franchise, the actors and actresses ranging from James McAvoy to Michael Fassbender to even Turner, were top tier and put on excellent performances. However when it comes to the script, some of the lines in this film were some of the corniest lines in franchise and movie history. For example in one scene, Magneto and Jean are face to face after a civil war battle between Magneto and Charles, in this tense on-screen showdown, Magneto has the dumbest lines ever said on-screen after figuring out Jean's prior actions. Jessica Chastain's new character Vuk was pretty interesting to see on-screen, however given bad CGI, it felt almost as if I was watching a new Terminator movie. The aliens felt to me as if they were copies of the T-1000 slowly turning back into human form. Not only this, there main weaknesses ranged from Jean's powers to bullets from a machine gun. Serving as the most overpowered yet weak army of alien soldiers. Once again proving the main point of what is wrong with the X-Men Franchise: continuity. When Days of Future Past came out, I personally was so happy about the timeline change. It was new and brought a fresh take to a franchise in need of a win. With this being said, if you pay close attention to the endings of DOFP or even Logan you can sort of figure out where the film is going to go and what could happen. But once again, Fox said to rookie director Simon Kinberg, let the studio the make the movie and ignore what we have been accomplishing the last decade. Overall, I was very disappointed in the film, I really wanted to like this film and I did yet at the same time I found myself hating it, turning into a good 50/50 film. It would've been cool to see some more of Vuk's backstory and how the aliens infiltrated the US government. Cyclops stills annoys me as a character but that's just looking for more things to pick at. I am sad to say goodbye to Fox X-Men saga, but very much looking forward to Disney's new take on the stories.
Comments