Dark Phoenix
The writer-director of “Dark Phoenix,” Simon Kinberg, appears that he might have wanted his adaptation of the fan-favorite character arc for Jean Grey to be for that character what “Logan” was for Wolverine. Unfortunately, Kinberg is not James Mangold, and Fox’s treatment of the “X-Men” franchise has not been aided, in the past couple of years, by a pending sale of the studio to Disney. That last part means that, in the next decade, we can expect the mutants to be incorporated officially into the Marvel Cinematic Universe; the first part means that Jean Grey’s most intriguing character arc in the movies is left in lesser hands. All of that also means that Sophie Turner’s run as a younger Jean Grey has essentially been wasted between this and “X-Men: Apocalypse.” That is one of the most depressing parts of all of this.
Fox’s run at the X-Men world is, obstinately, over with “Dark Phoenix,” which takes place in 1992, has the cast of actors that began in the 1960s with “X-Men: First Class” and continued into the ’70s with “Days of Future Past” and the ’80s with “Apocalypse.” In 2000 was the first “X-Men” film by Bryan Singer. If that film was meant to take place in that year, does that mean that Charles Xavier (played here by James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr (played by Michael Fassbender) aged significantly into Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen, respectively, in an 8-year span? Yeah, the timeline for this franchise has been twisted considerably over the past two decades of films; “Dark Phoenix” only muddies the waters further.
This is the second time that Fox has tried to adapt the Dark Phoenix story, which they previously had done in 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand” after Famke Janssen’s Grey sacrificed herself in “X2: X-Men United.” That film was co-written by Kinberg, so it’s obvious this is a story he’s wanted to adapt. Both times, however, he’s found himself hampered by decisions at Fox- that time by a desire to beat Singer’s “Superman Returns” into theatres after he bailed on the “X-Men” franchise, this time by reshoots, and the timing of the studio’s sale to Disney- that have only hurt the opportunity this story presents to the franchise. “Last Stand” was rushed, and also had too much else going on with adapting another interesting storyline in the mutant “cure” arc that had just shown up in the comics. And yet, “Dark Phoenix” is the worse experience, because Kinberg as a director is not as sure-handed with actors, and doesn’t really have a strong ability to build set pieces that keep the film moving.
“Dark Phoenix” begins with young Jean, in 1978, in the car with her parents. Her telepathic powers are just starting to show up, and she is unable to control them, causing a car accident that kills her parents. Now orphaned, she is taken in by Charles, who hopes to convince her that not only is she not broken, but that she can control her powers. Cut to 14 years later, and, when a shuttle mission goes awry, the President turns to the X-Men for help. Charles has managed to make his school accepted in society, and his best students and friends- Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), Hank (Nicholas Hoult), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan), Storm (Alexandra Shipp) and Quicksilver (Evan Peters)- go up to try and save them. They encounter something that is, initially, thought to be a solar flare which caused the trouble, but it’s something different. They save the astronauts, but only because Jean absorbed the power of what they were faced against, risking herself over the rest of the group. When they return, she is different, and her powers are being unlocked in ways that frighten her, and a lot of people around them.
Sophie Turner as a younger Jean Grey is one of my favorite pieces of casting in Fox’s “X-Men” films, and her scenes in “Apocalypse” showed potential for her continuing in the role, and even going through the Dark Phoenix arc. This is not a knock on Famke Janssen from the first trilogy, who did strong work with not only better material, but better scene partners. (In this film, I’m not going to lie- Tye Sheridan is a bore as Cyclops in this series.) Turner had grown over the eight seasons of “Game of Thrones” into one of the show’s best performers, and so my hope would be that Grey, especially in a film focused on the character, would show similar growth. Kinberg’s screenplay does her no favors, but Turner does what she can with the role, and I find myself glued to the screen whenever she is on it. And, especially when she is dealing with McAvoy’s Charles Xavier and Jessica Chastain’s mysterious Vuk, she has someone to play off of that brings out the best in her. Sadly, however, the film is so rooted in superhero cliches, and the need for action set pieces vs. incisive character moments that “Dark Phoenix” feels generic, and all too predictable, when it should be something that brakes the mold like “Logan.” Again, however, Kinberg is not James Mangold, and Hugh Jackman wanted to put a thoughtful bow on his time as the character; Turner is just on her second film with Jean. And now, we’ll never get another look at what she might have been able to do with time in the character.
“Dark Phoenix” has some good moments- many of them emotional ones for Turner- but part of the problem is that so many of the actors here (Lawrence, Fassbender, Hoult) seem ready to retire from this franchise, and it’s hard to blame them, and as talented as the newer actors are, few of them can pick up the dramatic heft in their wake. As such, the “X-Men” universe (save for the still-unreleased “New Mutants”) comes to a close until the Marvel Cinematic Universe is ready to open the floodgates for mutants, stranding an actor, and their promising character, with simply thoughts of what could have been had they been utilized properly. Neither Turner, nor Jean Grey, deserved this.
