Dark Phoenix (2019)
★½ — Dark Phoenix (2019)
Dark Phoenix arrived as the swan song for Fox's long-running X-Men franchise, which had been running in various forms since Bryan Singer's original in 2000. The film marked the directorial debut of Simon Kinberg, a producer and writer who had worked across the series for years (most notably co-writing the divisive X-Men: The Last Stand in 2006, which had already attempted this same source material and was widely considered a misfire). With a $200 million budget and a production complicated by extensive reshoots that pushed its release back nearly a year, it landed in a particularly awkward cultural moment: Disney's acquisition of Fox was already finalised, making this effectively a farewell to a franchise that was already being quietly retired in favour of an eventual Marvel Studios reboot.
Dark Phoenix (2019) is a hot mess of epic proportions, a film that had one of the most powerful storylines in X-Men history and somehow turned it into a bland, confused, undercooked finale to one of the most 'meh' franchise reboots in history. The Dark Phoenix saga should be huge: Jean Grey consumed by cosmic power, losing control, becoming a threat to everything she loves. It’s tragic, operatic, emotional. But it’s reduced to moody lighting, vague CGI explosions, and a villain (Vuk, played by Jessica Chastain doing her best alien bureaucrat) who feels like she wandered in from a different, much worse movie. Sophie Turner clearly cares about the role and brings sincerity to Jean, but she’s not given the material or direction to carry a film of this scale. Her emotional arc (trauma, power, isolation) is rushed, underdeveloped, and robbed of weight. The rest of the cast, including James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence, are left spinning their wheels with characters who’ve regressed rather than evolved since Days of Future Past. And the action, while slickly shot, lacks impact, Jean flinging ships through space should feel terrifying, not like a screensaver. It’s not even bad in an entertaining way. It’s just… empty. The tone is flat, the stakes never feel real, and the whole thing wraps up with less drama than a sitcom finale. For a series that once tackled prejudice, identity, and war, this is a whimper, not a bang. A disappointing end to two decades of mutant storytelling. The fans deserved better.
Rating: ★½ | Year: 2019 | Watched: 2025-09-25
Where to watch (UK)
Stream: Disney Plus
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Physical: Amazon UK
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