Fox Home Entertainment, out now

 

A mission on the edge of space, and the edge of the X-Men’s abilities, has catastrophic consequences. Jean Grey begins to remember how she came to the Xavier School, her powers begin to grow and when the unthinkable happens, she goes on the run. The remains of the X-Men go after her as the world turns away from mutant/human cooperation and a mysterious woman steers Jean towards her own ends…

So, if you were worried this is awful, don’t be. It’s infinitely more engaging, and far better, than the crushingly tedious Apocalypse from 2017. It’s also a vast improvement on The Last Stand, the franchise’s weirdly truncated first attempt at the Dark Phoenix saga. Last Stand co-writer Simon Kinberg is the writer and director this time out and the movie benefits hugely from that change in focus in vision. Kinberg clearly has something to prove and the first two acts especially are frequently very good. The idea that the X-Men are public superheroes and darlings of the media is inspired and gives James McAvoy’s Professor X the end game he’s always been heading towards. The film does its best work with him, and Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique, in fact. For Charles, risking the lives of the children in his care is the price worth paying for mutants being accepted. For Raven, it’s a countdown to inevitable tragedy. She’s proved right, in the worst of ways.

There’s an incident here, which is pretty much telegraphed by the trailers, which is going to force you to make a choice. if you can deal with what happens, the second half of the movie has a lot of surprisingly good moments, and it engages with the moment in question in a manner that’s genuine, if trite. If you look at this moment and see lazy, tired, bottom drawer plotting designed only to give male characters something to be sad over? Well, you’re right, and you’ll still be right at the end of the movie. This is the core problem Dark Phoenix faces. That incident is absolutely off the shelf plotting, but the film makes some genuinely good moves off the back of that immensely lazy one. Weirdly, none of those moves are permanent character death. This is the X-Men, the only fictional universe where everyone has died more than the Winchester brothers have. I can only assume that the film was in development long before the Fox/Disney merger was confirmed because as a final chapter it’s weirdly bloodless. And yet at the same time, not bloodless enough.

The courage, or lack thereof, of the movie’s convictions isn’t the only problem. Dark Phoenix ends a franchise infamous for minimal non-white characters with five, only two of whom have names and only one of whom lives. It also frequently reduces its female characters down to a broken toy to be fixed or a prize to be fought over or avenged. There, at least, it explores the consequences of those choices but it still leaves a nasty aftertaste. One almost twenty years out of date at this point.

The Bluray comes with a decent package of extras – there’s an 81 minute making-of feature (in five parts) alongside a commentary from Simon Kinberg, as well as deleted scenes and trailers. Kinberg’s commentary is fascinating, particularly when listened to in conjunction with the interviews he gave after the movie didn’t do as well at the box office, and you do wonder if the success of Logan (a very different sort of X-tale) sent this in the wrong direction.

Verdict: For all this, Dark Phoenix is the best possible bow out the X-Men franchise could hope for. Every one of the series’ best qualities is front and centre here and Kinberg even fixes a couple of long standing problems, especially the whip fast, brutal and innovative fight sequences. if it feels weirdly muted for an ending, even that’s in keeping with the franchise’s permanently low-key approach. Where the characters go next, and who plays them, is impossible to tell. But against all odds, here they at least get to bow out on a high note. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart