Welcome back to Sound Off!, a semi-regular column where members of Speculative Chic gather together to chat about the latest BIG THING in entertainment. This time, don some spandex and discuss Dark Phoenix, which premiered in the United States on Friday, June 7, 2019.
Sound Off! is meant to be a reaction, but not necessarily a review. After all, while we are all individuals, even mutual love of something (or hate) can come from different places: you may find everything from critique to fangirling to maybe even hate-watching.
Now, join J.L. Gribble as she talks about Dark Phoenix! [Note: Spoiler-free!]
J.L.: Dark Phoenix had one major problem, and unfortunately, that problem was Captain Marvel.
Captain Marvel stole the most logical bad guys to probably connect Dark Phoenix to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), leaving them with a second-string alien race that the typical viewer neither knew (nor cared) about. It also stole what would have been the best part of the film’s third act, leaving it with less dramatic tension and more a fizzle of a moment that could have been so much more.
But don’t worry! The next time we see any of the X-Men, they’ll be safely in the fold of the MCU. Everything will be so much better.
This isn’t to say that there was nothing good about Dark Phoenix. I quite enjoyed many of the storytelling decisions the film made, such as taking a closer look at the relationship between Charles Xavier and his team. I hesitate to say too much without spoilers, but this conflict pretty much saved the movie for me.
Critics appear to be panning this movie, and honestly, I think that it’s due to the similarities with Captain Marvel and because its just not as good as what viewers have come to expect from Marvel movies in general. But it wasn’t terrible. Catch a matinee or wait until you can watch it from home, but its worth two hours of your time.
Even if its just to enjoy the hell out of Michael Fassbender being amazing as Erik Lenscherr/Magneto, which is pretty much why I’ve been watching any of the X-Men movies of the last decade.
With the exception of Logan, I really don’t go out to see the X-Men movies. I enjoy the new stuff when I see it, but The Last Stand scarred me for life! That said, I was really, really hoping this one would knock it out of the park: I keep hearing that Jean Grey isn’t even the focus of her own story, and I hate that: Sophie Turner is an awesome actress, and the character deserves better treatment by her writers.