Dark Phoenix Review

Alyssa's Review {Warning : Mild Spoilers May Be Present}

Are you a fan of the X-Men movie series? Are you excited for the newest addition, The Dark Phoenix? Did you think "Oh, cool, they're making a backstory movie!"?

Well, guess what? If you said yes to any of these, chances are, you're in for disappointment!

Hell, I've never sat down and watched the entire x-men series - having only seen a few of the movies and pieces of others - and I was disappointed. Though, just to be clear, my lack of x-men knowledge has almost nothing to do with my feelings towards this movie.

One of the main problems I had with The Dark Phoenix was how they portrayed almost all of the characters. The majority of which came off as bland, with little personality and apparently no sense of loyalty whatsoever considering how easily several of them turned against one another. You would think  all these people living together and trusting one another for years would create some sense of trust and forgiveness. But nope! Drama is to important!

Speaking of drama, this brings me to Jean. For those of you who don't know, and without giving away any major spoilers, the plot follows Jean Grey aka Phoenix. To me, Jean did not come across as a character I could emphasis with or even truly care about. On the contrary, many of her actions, reactions and thoughts reminded me strongly of a toddler throwing a tantrum; most of the movie spent with her freaking out, destroying things and crying about it. So, rather than caring about her or her emotions, I found myself annoyed.

The worst part of which was, after all of that, she is basically saved by the power of love. Because what's better than throwing in some stupid cliche? Jean realizes that the thing she was initially angry about? It doesn't even really matter. Not to mention, she is never actually punished or scolded for the trouble she caused many, many people.

So there you have it. Over half of the movie wouldn't have even been necessary if she had just sat down and talked it out to begin with rather than lashing out like a child being told no, they can't have any candy. Or if Xavier had simply talked things through with her when she much younger, rather than doing what he did. Seriously, he's supposed to be a genius, and he didn't see any of this coming?

Another thing I absolutely hated. Aliens. They added aliens. Aliens in which had a handful of sentences of backstory to explain why they were on Earth and what they want. Aliens in which can automatically heal, take dozens of bullets to kill, and yet a single stab to their throat can easily kill them. Because, you know, every alien's atnomy is exactly identical to a human's, and stabbing them in a place that will kill a human will always kill a rapidly healing alien that can take several bullets!

Honestly, the only thing the aliens added to the story was something for the X-Men to beat up besides one another. Other than that, they offered the storyline absolutely nothing. The aliens could have been cut out of the movie entirely, and it wouldn't have even mattered. Personally, I think the sole reason they were in the movie at all was an attempt to mimic The Avengers.

And that. That is basically the whole movie. Jean throwing a tantrum, flavorless characters, a lack of communication or dedication, and aliens. Honestly, The Dark Phoenix came off as more of a sucky fanfiction than it did a treasured addition to the X-Men series.

Micheal's Review (Warning Spoilers)

As an X-Men fan and movie follower I agree with Alyssa this movie was way disappointing.
I don't mind the back stories but here are the spoilers you have been warned about.
In this movie they kill off Raven, later known as Mystic, but how can that be possible when she is in several of the future movies?
In the end Jean Grey dies as well or they lead you to believe she has; Another inconsistent plot in the movie since Wolverine kills her in one of the X-Men movies.

ALIENS...I AM TIRED OF ALIENS!

I thought STORM was the best played of all the characters in the movie.

A strong THUMBS DOWN FROM ME on this movie!