'Dark Phoenix' Review

Synopsis: During a life-threatening space rescue mission, Jean Grey is hit by a cosmic force that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants of all. Wrestling with an increasingly unstable power as well as her personal demons, Jean spirals out of control, tearing the X-Men family apart and threatening to destroy the very fabric of our planet.

Runtime: 113 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, including some gunplay, disturbing images, and brief strong language)

Who should see it? Marvel fans who are eager to see the end of Fox's X-Men Saga.

Written and directed by longtime X-Men writer/producer Simon Kinberg as his feature directorial debut, Dark Phoenix is the twelfth and, presumably, final entry in 20th Century Fox's X-Men universe. In nineteen years, there have been six prior X-features, three spin-offs starring Wolverine, and two Deadpool side-adventures. Though the studio delivered a series of superhero installments with inconsistent quality and jumbled continuity, there were genuine gems among the bunch, and Bryan Singer's X-Men was at the forefront of the comic-book movie craze alongside Sam Raimi's Spider-Man in the early 2000s. Those films were largely responsible for driving interest in the cinematic superhero offerings seen today, so it's bitter-sweet to see the franchise come to an end on account of Disney's recent Fox acquisition.

One notable implication regarding the Disney/Fox merger is that Marvel Studios will finally have creative control over the Fantastic Four, X-Men, and other related comic entities. Free to integrate these popular comic characters into their cinematic universe, I imagine we'll see rebooted incarnations from Marvel and Disney soon enough. Of course, there are plenty of troubling concerns and silver linings pertaining to the merger, but that's a discussion for another day. Between numerous release delays and extensive reshoots, Dark Phoenix experienced a troubled production and many wondered if Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants would ever see the light of day under Disney's dominion. While the jury's still out on The New Mutants, Dark Phoenix finally flew into cinemas this weekend but is looking to crash and burn with the lowest respective Rotten Tomatoes score and opening weekend box office gross of the entire franchise.

Honestly, Dark Phoenix is far from the worst X-Men film though. X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men: Apocalypse are each more deserving of that distinction in my mind. Dark Phoenix contains plenty of interesting ideas which are unfortunately fumbled in execution and will be overlooked due to some cheesy moments and awful dialogue. However, the bad is balanced out by moderately engaging action, a gifted ensemble, and another astounding score from Hans Zimmer. I genuinely appreciated the opening fifteen-twenty minutes, but the film teeters out and loses steam in the second act's sea of angsty melodrama. Above all, the biggest issue facing Dark Phoenix is that we barely know this younger iteration of the X-Men, and Kinberg's narrative depends on audience investment.

Jean Grey, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Storm were all briefly introduced and scarcely developed as supporting presences in X-Men: Apocalypse. Apocalypse was overcrowded with characters, so barely anyone did anything remotely consequential in that movie or much less experienced character growth, but there needed to be at least one other film between Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix to flesh them out as individuals. Instead, the development occurs off-screen. As a result, I didn't really care about the team's melodrama because they'd barely been defined as characters.

As for the cast, most everyone gets a moment to shine in-spite of thin characterization. Sophie Turner never reaches her full potential as Jean Grey but does the best with what she's given and lends weight to the dramatic, under-written heel turn of her character. Turner sells Jean's conflicted and complex emotional state, as well as her menacing qualities when faced against her fellow mutants. On the other hand, Jessica Chastain portrays Vuk as an uninspired alien antagonist void of all personality. The character's meant to be detached, and her motivation's clearly laid out, but Vuk fails to resonate as a person of interest because it may as well be played by a cardboard cut-out of Chastain.

The First Class crew of James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, and Jennifer Lawrence reprise their roles for the fourth time, finally ready to bow out as Professor X, Magneto, Beast and Mystique. Fassbender and McAvoy continue to be series MVPs, lending further nuance to the ongoing debate between Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr, while Hoult's Hank McCoy grapples with an emotional dilemma and Lawrence arrives to set caked in cheaper-looking blue make-up to collect her paycheck and fulfill the remainder of her contract. Carrying over from Apocalypse, Tye Sheridan's Cyclops, Alexandra Shipp's Storm, Kodi Smit-McPhee's Nightcrawler, and Evan Peters' Quicksilver are unfortunately relegated to meager supporting roles with the occasional impressive display of their abilities. Their narrative contributions are inconsequential, and it's a shame that these characters were side-lined once more.

Viewers are ultimately left with a watchable superhero flick, but those are now a dime a dozen. The Fox X-Men franchise finally burnt out, but I'm looking forward to seeing what rises from the ashes in the capable hands of Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios. Hopefully, Marvel can reignite audience interest in these classic comic characters.

Film Assessment: C

Alternate Cut Review: 'X-Men Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut'

Today, I'm introducing a new type of review called an Alternate Cut Review. The name is simple and pretty self-explanatory but the premise behind it is that I will review the director's cut of a film (Not always called the director's cut but that's basically what these are). The format for the reviews will be similar to my triple-R reviews where I include a link to my initial review, which will likely be the theatrical cut, and then write a review of the alternate cut of the film and even compare them to a degree. I figured this would be appropriate time to start with X-Men: Apocalypse releasing this weekend. I was originally going to do a Triple-R review over X-Men: Days of Future Past but decided that this would be more interesting. For one, it gave me a chance to finally sit down and watch The Rogue Cut, something I'd been meaning to do and it also is a new review format I hope to continue. Also my Triple-R reviews are intended for me to re-review films that I don't feel I did justice to in my older reviews as it's clear that my reviews have gotten much more analytical and more involved in comparison to when I began the blog. I've decided not to completely re-review these movies entirely by just scrapping the old review. I feel that leaving them on my blog shows the progress I've made and I don't want to delete my work since I'm still proud of them regardless. My next planned Alternate Cut Review will likely be Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's Ultimate Edition when it's released on Blu-Ray. This will be a great opportunity to revisit it sooner as my opinion of it has slightly diminished and I feel that the score I gave it was a tad too high based on the preemptive excitement after seeing it for the first time. 

'X-Men Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut' Review

Nominated for: Best Visual Effects.

Theatrical Cut Review- X-Men: Days of Future Past Review

"The Rogue Cut" Review- X-Men: Days of Future Past marks Bryan Singer's return to the franchise, his last installment being X2 and effectively wiping out what can widely be regarded as everyone's least favorite X-Men films, X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, from the X-Men timeline. 

Singer brought it upon himself to not only adapt a beloved comic arc but also unite the cast from his X-Men Trilogy (He didn't make the third but you know what I mean) and X-Men: First Class through the means of time travel. Time travel, when ill-used, can be confusing but Simon Kinberg's screenplay clears up all confusion thanks to limiting the time travel capabilities and some proper explanation through clever expository dialogue. The time travel also provides some meaningful opportunities for some really awesome paralleled editing between the future and past timelines that is amplified a bit in The Rogue Cut, a very welcome change. 

The Rogue Cut doesn't change the story so much as add to it in some meaningful ways. The most significant change is the addition of Rogue in the future portion of the film, an addition I prefer as it provides more plot in the future timeline rather than just waiting around for Logan to change the timeline and the Sentinels to arrive. This allows for a rescue that provides a more meaningful death to a certain character than his end in the theatrical cut and a chance for McKellen's Magneto to shine some more with an awesome sequence cutting between him and Fassbender's Magneto in the past that's appropriately intense and carries plenty of dramatic gravitas. 

There's also a subplot picked up from X-Men: First Class focusing on the relationship between Mystique and Beast that remained untouched and practically ignored in the theatrical cut that really amplifies Mystique's character arc, providing further explanation to her actions. Other than that, the changes from the theatrical release seem fairly minuscule with a few scenes roped in and slight differentiations in dialogue and some cases where and when the said dialogue is delivered. To be fair, I haven't watched the theatrical version in about two years, but still feel confident I was able to derive where The Rogue Cut diverged. 

As for the film itself, Singer's direction is subtle yet brilliant. Singer manages to effectively craft multiple environments for multiple points in time and stay true to all of them based on what's presented. Singer takes the screenplay and runs through events smoothly with engaging action visual effects spectacle, some nicely choreographed fight scenes, and integral character drama. The franchise's visual aesthetic is seemingly at it's peak with this installment where the costuming, visual effects, production design, and cinematography are top notch. In particular, I felt the collaboration of makeup, costuming, and visual effects make all the mutants look remarkable, especially Mystique and Beast. 

In regards to action, the film delivers with a number of entertaining action sequences including the fights against the Sentinels in the bleak dystopian future, any fight scene with Mystique where she utilizes tactile efficiency disposing of her enemies, and the third act finale where Magneto lifts an entire ball park stadium and drops it on the White House Lawn controlling the 70's sentinels amidst the chaos, talk about spectacle! The standout sequence that will be revered for many years to come though is without a doubt the Quicksilver sequence. 

Watching him speed about mischievously to "Time in a Bottle" with all the surrounding action in slow motion was just glorious! 

What elevates X-Men: Days of Future Past above most superhero fare (Not all, just a majority) is it's deluxe treatment for it's main characters and the excellent performances amassed by combining two casts into one full length epic crossover of sorts. 

Hugh Jackman rightfully earns top billing for his turn as Wolverine, at this point it's nearly impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. Jackman gets to be a bit more levelheaded than seen previously as he has to be the voice of reason to convince the 70's mutants that their future is in peril. 

James McAvoy gets a more interesting arc as a disillusioned Charles Xavier this time around. Micheal Fassbender is much more villainous and unpredictable with even more motive behind his actions as malevolent Magneto. These two keep up the great work they started in X-Men: First Class further building on that strained relationship and in one sequence it totally pays off as the two verbally hash it out in an intense scene onboard a private jet, each with some valid arguments at their disposal. 

Jennifer Lawrence gives her best turn yet as the lovely but dangerous Mystique. The war for Mystique's soul continues to rage on between Magneto's militaristic view and Xavier's serene sentiment but Mystique manages to carve out her own stake in the matter, somewhere in the middle ground, allowing for some terrific moments between all three actors as they attempt to convince each other that their way is best. 

Nicholas Hoult gets more screen time than his limited portrayal in X-Men: First Class and brings a conflicted Hank McCoy to the fray. McCoy struggles to determine whether his mutation is a blessing or a curse, repressing both his and Charles with a formula that keeps him human and helps Xavier's legs function, and I felt that his scenes focusing on his mutation elicited some memorable moments from Hoult.

Rounding out the 70's characters is Evan Peters' mischievous speed demon, Quicksilver. Like I said earlier, Peters steals just about every scene he's in and his action sequence is incredible. A huge surprise as I lacked confidence in his portrayal in my initial viewing due to his wacko costume, needless to say never judge a book by it's cover.

For our antagonist in the past and in a manner of speaking the future, we have Peter Dinklage's Bolivar Trask, a scientist whose ill feelings towards mutants aren't quite fleshed out enough to agree with. Dinklage is fine in the manner used but had potential to be a great villain.

Meanwhile in the future many of the core cast members from the X-Men Trilogy are brought back including Patrick Stewart's Professor X, Ian McKellen's Magneto, Halle Berry's Storm, Ellen Page's Kitty Pryde, Shawn Ashmore's Iceman, Daniel Cudmore's Colossus, and Anna Paquin's Rogue (In The Rogue Cut that is).

In the future, many new mutants are to be found in the form of Omar Sy's Bishop, Chinese actress Bingbing Fan's Blink, Adan Canto's Sunspot, and Booboo Stewart's Warpath. All the mutants mentioned in the future have their moments to shine fighting the sentinels. And there's a few surprise cameos which I won't spoil for those who have yet to watch X-Men: Days of Future Past.

In conclusion, X-Men: Days of Future Past is the complete X-Men movie package with incredible cast members present from both the X-Men trilogy and X-Men: First Class  memorable epic action sequences, a refined visual aesthetic, and a satisfying story that ties it all together and essentially erases the worst X-Men films from existence.

If you have yet to add X-Men: Days of Future Past to your Blu-Ray collection, I advise that The Rogue Cut is the way to go, since it includes both "The Rogue Cut" and the Theatrical Cut, so even if you don't take a liking to the lengthy The Rogue Cut you still have the more condensed version to watch. X-Men: Days of Future Past remains to be my favorite X-Men film (This includes Deadpool), and I think that The Rogue Cut actually improves on the theatrical cut in some areas, making for a more complete viewing experience that draws little more on it's predecessor, X-Men: First Class.

Film Assessment: A+

Throwback Thursday Review: 'X-Men: First Class'

This week will be quite ambitious as I am going to be churning out at least three reviews today. A Throwback Thursday Review for the 2010 Tim Burton adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, a Throwback Thursday Review for X-Men: First Class and a special review that will be unveiled once it's posted. All three reviews will correlate to the dual release of X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through the Looking Glass this weekend. I expect to review both X-Men: Apocalypse and Alice Through The Looking Glass within the next few days or so (The X-Men: Apocalypse review will come first). Next week's Throwback Thursday Review will be over the latest 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to coincide with the sequel's release. 

 'X-Men: First Class' Review

X-Men: First Class served as an attempt to effectively reboot and revitalize the X-Men franchise after the awful one-two punch of X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. X-Men: First Class reboots the franchise in essence by casting younger versions of Professor X, Magneto, Mystique, and Beast going back to the roots of the X-Men in the 1960's, and I think it succeeded in doing so considering that there's another X-Men film to be released this weekend with many of the same cast members.

Matthew Vaughn managed to take the film's setting and integrate that playful tone to the core of the film whilst maintaining some highly emotional, more grounded moments sprinkled throughout. Where the previous X-Men films took themselves a little too seriously, Vaughn and his cowriters found a nice balance of drama and comedic relief in the screenplay providing an effective tone. X-Men: First Class relishes in it's 60's setting with seemingly authentic costume and production design. The film also has a very diverse score composed by Henry Jackman. The score has a wide array of selections, be it dramatic or hip and groovy, my personal favorite being the Magneto theme that is just chilling.

The film hits the nail on the head in regards to it's aesthetic portrayal of various mutants and their abilities thanks to the incredible hair and makeup, costuming, and visual effects work.

I'll admit I didn't really take to the look of Beast here as the CGI made him look like Terk from Disney's animated Tarzan. Another nitpick was that it was a tad bothersome watching the film while aware that the makeup for the mutants only improves in future installments (Mystique in particular).

I enjoyed the action sequences showcasing the mutant abilities, especially the third act fight involving the historic event of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The one element that elevates the film to it's highest marks is the brilliant cast of newcomers assembled for the project.

James McAvoy portrays a very different Charles Xavier than the version Patrick Stewart has audiences accustomed to seeing as this time around we treated to a groovy nuanced Xavier who has a long way to go till he can adopt the Professor X namesake.

Michael Fassbender is incredible as Erik Lensherr bringing new emotional depth and intensity not previously seen in Magneto. Fassbender like McAvoy doesn't merely try to imitate Ian McKellen's turn as the magnetic radical but rather breathes new essence into the character.

McAvoy and Fassbender hold everything together thanks to their electric chemistry as we see the humble beginnings of the friendship and rivalry between Professor X and Magneto. I'm personally not bothered by either's differentiation from what has come before. Both actors managed to make the role their own and it would make logical sense that both characters would be divergent from their future selves with shades of their inevitable conflicting ideologies beginning to take form.

Jennifer Lawrence also brings a very different Mystique to the table. Lawrence' Mystique has yet to become Magneto's stone cold assassin and actually finds her soul in a war between Xavier and Lensherr as each has their own ideas of what's best for her. Lawrence, like McAvoy and Fassbender, doesn't hinge on what Rebecca Romijn had done before and actually brings a touch of earthly humanity to Mystique not previously seen.

Nicholas Hoult gets to tackle another younger version of a familiar mutant as Hank McCoy. Given that Kelsey Grammar had only taken up the role once, Hoult isn't given much performance history to potentially emulate even if he wanted to and as I've said about the previous three actors differentiates the role just enough to put his stamp on it while providing room for his character to eventually become the Beast we've seen before. Hoult isn't given too much of a sizable role, yet manages to standout thanks to his self-conscious character arc and terrific performance.

Rose Byrne is essentially just around to be a love interest for Charles but she does it quite convincingly and not in the obnoxious damsel in distress demeanor that can be seen in other superhero films.

A host of other mutants appear that were pretty cool like Lucas Till's Havock, Caleb Landry Jones' Banshee, and Jason Flemyng's Azazel. Each are supporting players with relatively reduced roles in comparison to our leads but each are given some moments to shine in the limelight or dark light in Azazel's case.

Kevin Bacon balances charm and menace as Sebastian Shaw, a nice antagonist for the X-Men and Lensherr in particular. January Jones is essentially Shaw's Mystique as hench woman and lover Emma Frost, who's basically there as eye candy, but welcome nonetheless. Quite the impressive cast I must say.

In conclusion, Vaughn managed to kick the X-Men franchise back into first gear with a groovy 60's aesthetic, a rich narrative, fantastic performances, and a balanced tone. One thing's for sure, X-Men: First Class is a downright good time!

Film Assessment: A-

Throwback Thursday Review: 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine'

This week I decided to go back and review X-Men Origins: Wolverine this week to correlate with 

Deadpool's release. This is in large part because it's the only X-Men film to feature the character of Deadpool and this is just one of those comic book films where I felt the need to express my viewpoint.

'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' Review

Have you ever wanted to know Wolverine's origin story? Well, X-Men Origins: Wolverine attempts to answer that question. Keyword, attempts. Unfortunately the film doesn't deliver on the mystery and intrigue but rather muddles it with poor writing, a lousy premise and some awful CGI. The film has plotholes galore and completely disregards the continuity of Fox's X-Men film universe. There are about a total of one and a quarter good performances in the film. Hugh Jackman makes for a phenomenal Wolverine and will always be great in the role despite how awful the movie can be. As I stated earlier, the CGI is poorly rendered as Wolverine's claws looked very fake and I can't begin to comprehend why that is, given that all three of the X-Men films released prior to this made Wolverine's claws look cool and somewhat believable. When I said "one and a quarter", the "quarter" referred to Ryan Reynolds, who gets to portray Wade Wilson or as many people will soon know him, Deadpool, but only about a quarter of his screen time is enjoyable and does the character some justice. This film takes the character of Deadpool and literally shows no respect to him. Deadpool is commonly referred to as the Merc with a Mouth, yet for some reason the filmmakers decided to sew his mouth shut? This sloppy portrayal is not by any means Reynolds fault but rather the fault of the screenwriters, the director, and anyone else involved behind the camera. Reynolds is actually quite good at the beginning of the film where he actually gets to be charismatic and crack some jokes, but unfortunately the remainder of the film doesn't give Reynolds the opportunity to do much else then be the equivalent of a silent video game boss. Liev Schreiber is decent as Sabertooth but his motivations are so cluttered that it makes the plot that much more incoherent. Every other performance is pretty awful and a waste of screen time. Will.I.Am was even in this film as a teleporting mutant cowboy? Yeah, that was the point of no return for this film, but for some reason the filmmakers decided to keep pushing forward. As I said there are a few redeemable qualities the film offers, emphasis on the word "few". The film begins with a very well edited montage that showed Wolverine and Sabertooth fighting through all the major American wars leading to the Vietnam War which is followed later by a cool action sequence showcasing all of the mutant strike team, most notably Wade Wilson and his awesome katanas. Alas, the remaining action is laughably ridiculous and the film's plot doesn't really amount to much. In the end, I think it would have been best for everyone if this movie had never been made, hence why Fox rebooted their continuity with X-Men Days of Future Past.

Film Assessment: F

'X-Men: Days of Future Past' Review

Nominated for: Best Visual Effects.

By far the best X-Men movie made so far and it definitely hyped me up for whats to come for the series. It came up with a great solution to solve a majority of the continuity errors from the previous X-Men movies by altering the timeline giving Fox creative freedom to fill in the gap.  Bryan Singer did a wonderful job directing and was able to create action scenes that left my eyes glued to the screen. I saw the film in 3D and think it definitely added to the experience. The acting in this movie was incredible the standout performances were Hugh Jackman, Evan Peters, Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult and Michael Fassbender. First of all, Hugh Jackman had some great scenes as Wolverine, he fits the role perfectly and I hope he will continue playing it in the years to come. Evan  Peters portrayed Quicksilver and a few months ago when photos were released of his costume I was worried that this version of Quicksilver wasn't going to be that great. But I ate my words when Evan Peters stole every scene he was in as a mischievous teenager, his scenes were hilarious and amongst my favorite moments of the movie, once I got past the ridiculous costume, I hope he will return in future X-Men films because he was a highlight of the movie. Don't worry there's a great joke that honors his parentage. Next, Jennifer Lawrence was young Mystique and I was very surprised how much the film revolved around her character she was central to the plot and throughout the film Charles and Magneto are fighting for her soul. Charles desires for her to turn back and be good while Magneto desires her to do what is necessary in order to protect mutants and I thought that was interesting dynamic of the movie. She delivered a solid performance and was given much more importance compared to X-Men: First Class. Nicolas Hoult played a young Hank McCoy, aka Beast, and did great for what he had to work with, it was great to see the character return since Beast is one of my favorite mutants. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender each delivered a outstanding performance returning as young Charles Xavier aka Professor X  and young Erik Lehnsherr aka Magneto  respectively. Overall the film did a great job utilizing two storylines, the future and the past, without seeming to be overcrowded with characters. I recommend you see this movie but you don't need to see it in 3D, its just an added bonus that makes the action scenes more enjoyable. Make sure you stay through the credits!