“Dark Phoenix” Movie Review

    The final Twentieth Century Fox owned and controlled “X-Men” movie was released a few weeks ago to little fanfare and a terrible marketing campaign.  “Dark Phoenix” unwisely dropped X-Men from the title which I am sure led to some audience members being unaware that this was meant to be a continuous of the X-Men saga.  As many of you know, Disney bought Twentieth Century Fox and has gained the rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.  The next X-Men movie besides from the already filmed “New Mutants” will likely be a complete reboot set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    The film starts out showing how Professor X and Jean Grey met.  The film then jumps to show the X-Men on a rescue mission to save the astronauts of a destroyed space shuttle.  While on the mission, Jean Grey absorbs what turns out to be the Phoenix force.  As Jean Grey starts to lose control, the mental barriers Charles Xavier put in her head start collapsing and Jean realizes her father is still alive so she takes off to find him.  Professor Xavier and the rest of the X-Men try to bring her back to the school but they end up fighting and Mystique is killed in the battle.  Seeking sanctuary, Jean Grey seeks out Magneto Buy is turned away by him before he found out what she had done.  Hank McCoy/Beast decides to leave the X-Men over the grief of losing Mystique and ends up seeking out Magneto as well.  Beast informs Magneto that Jean had killed Mystique, the woman both men had loved, and the two decide to set off to kill Jean Grey as a result.  The X-Men are forced to square off with them before an alien threat forces all parties to work together for the sake of the entire planet.

    So, there is a lot of story going on with this film, both in front of and behind the cameras.  Currently “Dark Phoenix” is the worst reviewed X-Men film to date and probably will remain so for a long while (unless “New Mutants” ends up taking that honor).  The critical bashing the film took certainly didn’t help the film at the box office, as the film opened to disappointing financial results.  I had to check out the movie for myself however, not only as a film reviewer, but as someone who has seen every other film X-Men related (including the made for TV movie “Generation X”).  Without further suspense, I will say I found the film to be okay.  It wasn’t a masterpiece nor as bad as some of the reviews made it out to be either.  The worst thing I could say about the movie is that I expected a little more from it.

    The film focuses on the popular Phoenix saga from the X-Men comics.  This story arc was already used in the clustered “X-Men: The Last Stand” so this was essentially a reboot of that sequel.  Unfortunately, this film proved to be just as clustered but instead of focusing on action, this film was clustered with melodrama.  Personally, I prefer a messy action film over a messy melodrama.  I won’t say “X-Men: The Last Stand” was a better film, but it was no worse either, and to spend time rehashing this particular storyline, you want the film to top the film it’s rebooting.

    One very distracting aspect of all the X-Men films is their lack of solid continuity throughout the franchise.  These films span decades but the filmmakers use the same actors without any age prosthetics.  You would think I multimillion dollar film could invest a little money into age makeup or cgi touchups on the actors.  Another solution might have been to set all the films in the 60s-70s but that didn’t seem like a sensible solution to the studio.

    The film primarily starred “Game of Thrones” breakout Sophie Turner as Jean Grey/Phoenix.  Turner does a fine job as Grey but can only do so much with the material she was given.  Jennifer Lawrence was quickly killed off on the film and sort of phones in her performance.  You could tell she was done with the franchise and just wanted out.  James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender continue to prove to be the backbone of the films and deliver stellar performances as the head figures of two drastically different ideologies.

    Say what you want about filmmaker Bryan Singer (and he may very well deserve it) but the X-Men movies have always been their best with his direction.  His ability to relate to the source material and use his struggles with his homosexuality as an allegory for the mutant struggles.  Singer has also proven to be the only filmmaker to successfully showcase the character of Quicksilver (Joss Whedon included).

    It should be noted that the ending had to be changed due to it’s similarity to the ending of “Captain Marvel” which was released a few months before “Dark Phoenix”.  It is believed the original ending featured the Skrulls (which makes sense since the aliens depicted in the film were shapeshifters) and a battle fought in space.  It’s ironic that the filmmakers changed the ending for it’s similarity to the ending of “Captain Marvel” yet decided to leave the opening of the film untouched considering it was almost identical to the opening sequence of “Shazam!” (which is based on a different Captain Marvel ironically).

    While we talk about the film’s final act, why on Earth did someone think turning the final battle into a literal train wreck was a good idea?  I can just imagine the meeting to change the ending going like this...

Fox Executive:

I can’t believe this!  Disney is making a Marvel movie with almost the same ending that is hitting theaters before us!  This is a nightmare!

Script Writer:

This is terrible!  What are we supposed to do?

Fox Executive:

I was hoping you might have some ideas.  The last thing we want is for this to turn into another train wreck like “X-Men: The Last Stand”.

Script Writer:

Did you say something about a train wreck?

Fox Executive:

F*** yeah I did!

Script Writer:

Interesting...  Also, I like that you threw in a random F bomb.  Being a PG-13 movie, I feel it is my moral obligation to throw in one random F bomb (randomly turns to a page and places his finger somewhere) HERE!

Fox Executive:

Are you drunk?

Script Writer:

Nooooo....now hold my beer!

    So in a nutshell, I found the movie to be okay with some enjoyable action set pieces but nothing about the movie will wow you either.  Still, there are far worse movies that have hit theaters this year alone.

Grade: B-

"Bad Times at the El Royale" Movie Review

    I think it is very clear on this blog that I am obsessed with movies and the art of filmmaking.  As such, there are writers and directors that I tend to follow or consider more ‘bankable’ than the star of a movie.  After all, the behind the scenes crew is very much the bank bone of a movie.  No amounts of stellar acting can salvage a rubbish premise or script.  So, when I saw Drew Goddard had a new film out, I was pretty excited.

    “Bad Times at the El Royale” tells the story of several people who’s paths cross at the El Royale hotel.  It is a period piece with lots of Motown music to set the mood and environment.  The El Royale itself is an interesting set piece because the hotel is on the dividing line of Nevada and California.  While the El Royale is a fictional hotel, it was based on a hotel with a similar gimmick that was owned by Frank Sinatra.

    Drew Goddard tells the story in an interesting way by essentially showing each character’s point of view as a framing device.  It is a unique style and a less confusing way to tell a non linear story.

    The film is packed with solid performances.  Jeff Bridges and Chris Hemsworth are among the standouts of the film but the movie also showcases some up and coming talent such as Cailee Spaeny and Lewis Pullman.  Dakota Johnson, who was often panned for her role in the Fifty Shades franchise, was also very good in this film.

    Now, for all that praise, it’s a shame the movie only proved to be okay at best.  I have seen far worse films in my life, but this film was definitely a disappointment.  In some small defense, the film’s marketing did this movie no favors.  The marketing department wanted to sell this in the vain of Goddard’s “The Cabin in the Woods” when it shares more elements of a movie like “Vacancy” or “Identity”.

    Now, a lot of critics have compared “Bad Times at the El Royale” to a Quentin Tarantino film as far as the overall feeling of the film but I personally don’t share their feelings.  While the non linear story could easily service a Tarantino film, “Bad Times at the El Royale” doesn’t share the grit and profanity of your average Tarantino film.  While the film does have it’s share of violence, it still seems very polished and stylized.  In that sense, it feels more of a hybrid of Tarantino and Joss Whedon.

    Considering how secretive this project was even among those in the industry, there is little to no pay off for people being so hush hush about this project.  That seems to be the biggest twist to this project, there isn’t really one despite all the hints it was filled with them.

    “Bad Times at the El Royale” is a decent film but nothing that will blow you away.  With no twists and a morally ambiguous plot, there is very little to take away from the movie aside from some excellent performances.  Perhaps “Blah Times at the El Royale” would have been a more fitting title.

Grade: C