Did the end of this franchise soar like the phoenix in its title, or did it burn to ashes to be born again under new management? Hot off the heals of Disney’s purchase of 20th Century Fox, Dark Phoenix found itself in an awkward place. Is the film’s poor reception the fault of the content, or an unfortunate side effect of the looming curiosity of what the X-Men will be like in the MCU? We explore those questions and more in our latest episode of Cinematic Brotastic.
We Brothers Brotastic found ourselves disappointed, not in the film per se, but rather it the film’s reception. We find ourselves, whether it be purely nostalgic or perhaps something more, drawn more to the X-Men over any other Marvel property. We loved the ’90’s cartoon and collected trading cards. To see something that we admire a lot be the source of so much negative criticism and hatred cut us deep.
This film is not the best X-Men film in the franchise, but it is definitely a much better adaptation of the “Dark Phoenix Saga” than X3. In the episode we go into more detail about nitpicky things that we disliked about the film, including the misuse of Quicksilver, the flat portrayal of Jessica Chastain’s villain, and Jennifer Lawrence’s franchise fatigue and her character’s spoiled death.
But this film had a lot of things that went well. It introduced a mutant island, a feature in the comics and cartoon. Interestingly enough, it let characters unleash with their powers. The other films in the franchise have their set pieces and some action sequences, but most characters only use their powers once. We really get to see the X-Men like we want to see them; using their powers.
Another issue this film had, wasn’t really its fault. The plot had a lot of similarities to MCU's Captain Marvel. An all powerful woman fighting shape shifting aliens in space. Because of this, some plot points were changed, including the final act going from the vastness of space down into the confined setting of a train. We both thought the sequence was fantastic and exciting. We do wonder what could have been, similarities aside.
We both hoped the franchise could have gone out with a bang, but instead it went out with a fizzle. Who knows if we will ever see “New Mutants,” another film in the franchise that was supposed to come out after, but seems stuck in development hell.
Andrew gave Dark Phoenix 1 ticket. He’s glad he saw it in theaters and thought it was exciting, but it is not the best of the franchise.
Philip gives Dark Phoenix 2 tickets. Cyclops is his favorite character on the team and he likes all the characters more than the rest of Marvel’s lineup. He is sad that this movie did not do well.
Until next time, we’ll see you at the movies.
And don’t forget to check your ticket stubs.
