Dark Phoenix is notably not titled X-Men: Dark Phoenix, it is sans the titular prefix of its franchise brethren. This is the 4th film in X-Men prequel franchise and something like 10th overall for big screen X-Man and/or Wolverine films and also the 2nd cinematic telling of the Jane Grey "Dark Phoenix" storyline from the comics. This film went through a lot of changes in making its way to the big screen, the series signature director Bryan Singer is out, felled by continued sexual assault charges, he is replaced Simon Kinberg who feels downright low key compared to Singer, who was all about throwing everything at the screen, culminating the previous film X-Men: Apocalypse which was a mess of too much. That film ended with a tease of Mr. Sinster (who I remembered from the 1990's Fox animated series) as this films villain but nowhere does he make an appearance in the story, nor does Olivia Munn's Psylocke who I seem to recall actually seeing in early posters for this film. Instead we has Jessica Chastain as a shape shifting alien, their is nothing special about this part almost anyone would have done so it did not call out for an actress of her caliber, it's simply an exercise in cast padding and easy paycheck for Ms. Chastain.
I liked this film more then I ever expected to, I did not go in with high hopes so the bar was low, low enough that the overall competence of the film making careered the proceedings a little above the watchable mark. It's not that it did anything super well but that it failed to do things too badly. The early 1990's setting was not overplayed like the period settings of the previous 3 films, it barley registered beyond period cars, TV graphics, and the space shuttle. The plot is silly but not overmuch, the actions sequences refreshingly restrained, It didn't feel like the film was trying to outdo everything before it which was nice, I'm suffering spectacle fatigue and its best not to inflame it. This is to be the last film the current X-Men film series, future films are set to be part of the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe and I was happy that Dark Phoenix provided an actual and reasonably satisfying ending to a movie franchise that began back in the year 2000. Congratulations to Jennifer Lawrence, you don't have to wear that blue makeup anymore. Really a ** but felt like a **1/2 do to directorial inflation.
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