Apart from the movies under the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the X-Men franchise is another superhero film series that I have followed over the years. When they announced the spin-off for Jean Grey and the trailers were released, I couldn’t wait to see how they will develop the
Dark Phoenix saga.
Dark Phoenix, a direct sequel of 2016’s
X-Men: Apocalypse, premiered last week and like any fangirl, I went to see it last weekend. I expected it to be action-packed, so I chose to see it in 4DX.
I got bored about an hour or so into the movie. It wasn’t what I expected because the plot didn’t give the Dark Phoenix arc any justice. It was flat. It was rushed. It would have been a lot better if they made it to two films than squeezing it all in one. Frankly, I would choose the critically-panned
X-Men: The Last Stand, any day over this movie (actually, make that any X-Men movie over this one).
When I got out of the theater, my older brother was waiting outside for the next screening. Upon seeing me, he mouthed:
“Maganda?” to which I answered,
“okay lang.” I guess my facial reaction betrayed me because he said he knew right then that it wasn’t that good.
At first, I thought —
was I not liking it because I still have the Avengers: Endgame fever? Am I not giving it a chance? But as the movie went on I realized it had nothing to do with that. I want to love it, but there wasn’t anything about the movie that is rave-worthy, save for the train scene where Magneto shows he’s still the badass of them all (I mean, I found myself gushing on my seat when he does his stance and hand gestures).
You watch a superhero movie because you want to feel the exhilarating excitement of rooting for them. Sadly, there’s nothing of that here. It’s just bleak. No appeal. Even the villain played by the very pale Jessica Chastain would leave you scratching your head.
Most of the X-Men we loved all became mediocre; Everyone was just out of character. No fantastic scene from the über-awesome Quicksilver, Mystique didn’t even get the chance to use her abilities and Charles Xavier wasn’t as powerful as he truly is—
or was. More so, the movie tore his character down, made him look like an egocentric leader enjoying praise and adulation rather than the moral compass he’s always been. Beast and Storm were
bleh. Cyclops was trying desperately to be romantic but falls short. At least Nightcrawler was a sparkplug here, which is long overdue.
The actors who portrayed them looked like they were just going through the motions but were really uninterested to reprise their roles (JLaw wanted out of the franchise, that’s for sure). I wouldn’t want to talk about the timeline if I could, but this further ruined
X-Men and
X2: X-Men United with its many plotholes. Three movies after
X-Men: First Class, the best of the bunch, the film series had truly nosedived. As a fan, that makes me sad.
And maybe the saddest of it all was because I watched it in 4DX, I spent more than what I’d usually pay had I seen it in a regular cinema. But maybe it helped, as all the simulated movements and effects kept me awake. Otherwise, I would have dozed off.
