X-Men [8]: Dark Phoenix (2019) [Blu-ray]
Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

Tagline: A Phoenix will rise. The X-Men will fall.

In Dark Phoenix, the X-MEN face their most formidable and powerful foe: one of their own, Jean Grey. During a rescue mission in space, Jean is nearly killed when she is hit by a mysterious cosmic force. Once she returns home, this force not only makes her infinitely more powerful, but far more unstable. Wrestling with this entity inside her, Jean unleashes her powers in ways she can neither comprehend nor contain. With Jean spiraling out of control, and hurting the ones she loves most, she begins to unravel the very fabric that holds the X-Men together. Now, with this family falling apart, they must find a way to unite -- not only to save Jean's soul, but to save our very planet from aliens who wish to weaponize this force and rule the galaxy.

Storyline: The X-Men. Protectors of peace. Jean Grey is one of the most beloved X-Men. But when a mission goes wrong, Jean is exposed to a dark and ancient power. This power has destroyed everything it comes in contact with, until her. Now that this power is becoming unstable, she releases it with destruction and anger. Now that this foreign power is consuming her, and the world is threatened, the X-Men have to face an important truth: they must save either the world, or their friend who threatens it.

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, September 21, 2019 A phoenix rising from the ashes is one of the more redolent images from mythology and/or Mankind's collective unconscious, but it's just one of the ironies that Dark Phoenix perhaps brings an incontrovertible end to the long running if sometimes problematic X-Men franchise, and in this case it's an end with no obvious resurrection in sight. That "finality" may in fact be a chimera (to reference another mythological beast of some renown), since one of the things that has frequently attended Marvel cinematic (and, frankly, other) science fiction adaptations is the whole conceit of an alternate timeline, where death is an illusion, supposed epochal events seemingly a passing fancy, and any sense of one coherent storyline is an almost laughable proposition. What's kind of odd about this particular alternate timeline is that it was at least delved into if not completely explored in X-Men: The Last Stand, a film which was not exactly met with the same general critical rapture as its two predecessors. But what's also odd is how the story of Jean Grey (played in this installment by Sophie Turner of Game of Thrones, who also briefly portrayed the character in X-Men: Apocalypse) is that in at least one timeline previously explored her story doesn't end all that well, by which I mean, her story ends. All of this adds up to a rather odd combo platter of ideas and snippets culled from other X- Men properties, but like many an odd casserole, only certain ingredients register while the overall taste is a bit muddled.

It's been kind of interesting over the past many years seeing how adapters attempting to fashion films out of longstanding and in many cases iconic, maybe even totemic, characters tend to go one of the two routes: breaking with "tradition" and crafting those aforementioned pesky alternate timelines, or seeking to reinvent a character with an origin story. Dark Phoenix would seem to once again be a kind of odd combo platter of both of those approaches, but Simon Kinberg, who had a previous "at bat" with Jean as screenwriter for X-Men: The Last Stand , ultimately doesn't seem to know quite how to shape, or perhaps more accurately stated, reshape, this material as either writer or director.

Hey, remember when the X-Men were mutants, feared by the general populace and hated by those shadowy governmental types who are often some of the villains in the various X-Men films? Well, that was then (as in "pick your timeline") and this is now, or at least another then, and the X-Men are firmly ensconced in hero territory as this story gets underway. A traumatized young Jean has been placed under the mentorship of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy, because, you know, it's then), though that "traumatized" aspect returns to haunt the story as Jean grows into a woman transformed by whatever the outer space equivalent of getting bitten by a radioactive spider is, something that increases her already formidable powers, but which leads to a cascading series of events when what might be called repressed memories well up.

While shadowy governmental types are actually refreshingly missing from this enterprise, the film perhaps couldn't avoid a "special guest villain" casting stunt, in this case an alien named Vuk (Jessica Chastain), who attempts to lure Jean over to "the dark side". What's at least potentially interesting about this is that Charles and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), while still bickering (so to speak), find themselves unavoidably aligned in a conclusion that something needs to be done with Jean, though it's arguable that Charles' motives are perhaps more relatively pure.

To paraphrase some questions I posed in the opening paragraph of my X-Men: Apocalypse Blu-ray review, it almost doesn't matter anymore with regard to any of the glut of superhero movies (but perhaps arguably more consistently with some Marvel fare) which timeline, story element, or character fate you think you're following, because chances are some carpet somewhere will be pulled out from under you (and there's one potential example of that in this film which won't be spoiled here). That's the kind of weird thing about these films that utilize reboots and/or different "versions" of what happened — they want to exist within the "confines" of a franchise while also almost unavoidably at times taking on the aspect of a standalone entry. Unfortunately, X- Men: Dark Phoenix doesn't consistently register as either.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf was even less impressed with X-Men: Dark Phoenix than I was. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

There are some rather interesting ideas underpinning X-Men: Dark Phoenix, including a kind of feminist subtext along with some roiling psychological issues that were obviously highlighted to try to make this more of a personal story than a traditional sci-fi superhero epic. Unfortunately, the story here never manages to completely convince, probably especially because of previous "alternate timeline" efforts where people and events come and go almost randomly at times. Fans of this film will most likely be pleased with the technical presentation here, and the disc does offer some appealing supplements.

[CSW] -?- .
[V4.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box


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