Dark Phoenix

I don't think this was the disaster that the critics make it out to be, but it is one of the lesser Fox X-Men movies. Both the opening scene where the X-Men rescue astronauts stranded in space and the ending where Magneto and the X-Men fight aliens on a train were well done action scenes. It's the middle that sags a bit. The film lacks energy and emotional impact. Simon Kinberg wrote and directed this second go around of the Phoenix Saga as a way to atone for writing the mediocre The Last Stand. But this film does not really improve on that film at all. I am eager to see Kevin Feige cover the full Phoenix Saga properly in a trilogy. You cannot cram the Phoenix story into one movie. We've barely gotten to know these young versions of these characters from Apocalypse. The worst performance is from Jennifer Lawrence, whose Raven is completely smug and obnoxious towards Prof. X. I was happy when she exited the movie. You can tell she doesn't care about this franchise at all. Beast acts completely out of character and joins Magneto to kill Jean--something he would never do. Quicksilver exits the movie quickly after being injured by Jean and only returns at the very end. His relationship with his father, Magneto, is never addressed. Scott Summers takes orders from Mystique (ugh!) and never shows any leadership abilities. The villains are generic evil aliens who want to use the Phoenix Force to take over the world. They are just bargain basement Skrulls. Then there are the usual continuity errors with other X-Men movies. Apocalypse showed that Phoenix was a part of Jean, just like The Last Stand did. Now we are told that the Phoenix lives outside of Jean and comes from outer space. Also, when you see how things end for Prof. X and Jean in this movie, it's unlikely that either of them would appear at the end of Days of Future Past to greet Logan at the school. Overall, disappointing and the perfect time for Disney to reboot this property.