One of these is still standing better than they ever did. Hint: It's not the "X-Men" movie.
"Dark Phoenix" is a surprisingly intimate, moody, and unique drama that proudly upholds the "X-Men" franchise's cinematic legacy of using the superhero genre to test the waters of providing a unique genre flavored spin on tightly focused, intimate, character dramas... for 20 minutes.
Delving into the psychology of Jean Grey, reprised by Sophie Turner, the movie sets up what seems to be a smaller scale character study of the powerful young heroine at a time in which Charles Xavier's (James McAvoy) X-Men are heralded as national heroes for their role in emergency intervention, leading to the stigma surrounding mutation to slowly fade away. After a mission in which the team saves a group of astronauts from an unknown cosmic entity, said entity not only enhances Jean's abilities but leaves some sort of destabilizing effect on her psyche, making her a danger to herself and her surroundings and forcing her friends and teammates to deal with her in ways only conflicting with each other's philosophies before she puts the world at risk.
Unfortunately, after some fairly intriguing groundwork being laid by the establishment and foreshadowing of character conflicts by a cast that's better than the given material, along with an atmospheric musical score composed by Hans Zimmer reminiscent of the period appropriate "X-Files," the surface cracks of "Dark Phoenix" burst wide open and unveil a sloppy hodgepodge of everything both great and horrid about Fox's handling of the franchise over its nearly 2 decade run.
With the Disney acquisition in full effect now and having felt imminent even at the time of its proposal, one can't help but shake the feeling that the movie itself is in crisis.
The film attempts desperately to pump up its idea as some sort of thematic finale to the franchise despite feeling undercooked and opening of more questions that could have easily set up future installments themselves, loosely adapting the "Dark Phoenix Saga" of the comic book source material, which was itself, the direct culmination of years soap operatic plot threads involving intricately established characterization and narrative arcs that play out as a full blown space opera utilizing a thoroughly explored and everpresent cosmology.
While the "X-Men" film franchise has managed to work cinematic wonders to produce certain entries that could easily be considered among the best superhero films of all time, each of the particular resources missing above run the gamut of limp and almost cursory execution to flat out neglect, so to see them all pointlessly busted out here is oddly jarring.
"Dark Phoenix" is at its best when its honed in on the human element. The tragic cost of the havoc wreaked by Jean puts previously established allies and enemies on opposite sides of one another for understandably impassioned reasons and when the actors are allowed to carry the film on performance, the film almost works.
McAvoy and Michale Fassbender could do the jobs as X and Magneto in their sleep at this point but really get to show some new sides of the characters as they and their co-stars cope with a key loss in the movie that reveals more to them than they've been previously allowed to. Additionally, while the movie struggles to really make good use of it, Sophie Turner gives a terrific performance evocative of the intense frustration of suffering from mental disorders and the infuriating battle that ensues to take control of oneself despite the lacking network of support needed to help her cope.
At the heart of the film is an engaging, thoughtful, and intimate sci-fi drama, exploring the dangers of leaving mental disorders unchecked, along with the fallout of bad episodes that can stem from these less than ideal situations.
They were enough to carry the movie properly, even if they don't sell an ideal grand finale to a franchise of this legacy, which makes the presence of shapeshifting aliens aiming to claim Jean's powers to resurrect their fallen civilization almost laughably random.
Rumors of the film being a production nightmare have persisted for at least a year and a half and while hard confirmation is hard to come by, the most debilitating flaw of "Dark Phoenix" points to this in more ways than one.
"Dark Phoenix" features displays of staggeringly inept filmmaking.
While it would be accurate to say that some sort of meddling clearly created a chaotic clash of directorial vision with studio intent, it would be perhaps more apropos to say the baseline vision was too weak to withstand the messy reshoots and retooling clearly on display here.
Simon Kinberg's screenplay may carry some good ideas but whoever thought it was a good idea to allow such a high profile production to be his directorial debut needs to desperately have their job pulled into question.
The cast struggles to stay afloat as they seemingly need to find their own direction for every given scene and even letting go of the pervasively cheap look of the makeup jobs and costuming, the visual palette is so flat that it detracts from all of the drama and action while drawing attention to the choppy editing.
On the back of its ambition and a well coordinated if mildly dragging climax, I can't call "Dark Phoenix" the worst film of the "X-Men" franchise by a long shot but it may very well be the most infuriating.
It's potential is indicative of the sort of ambitious creativity that allowed the "X-Men" to endure as a franchise at a time when the rest of the genre was busy chasing the cinematic universe model but no amount of admiration I have for its intent will cover up that the most interesting story "Dark Phoenix" is destined to have is the documentary of how it managed to fall apart this badly and what it's like to work on a production with the foregone conclusion of your job being shuffled off by corporate overlords only becoming evident in the endgame of principal photography.
4 Deformed Children of the Atom out of 10
On paper, a biographical jukebox musical fantasy inspired by the life of Elton John, set to the man's catalogue of Rock classics and produced by him comes across as so laughably shallow and narcissistic that it would sound more at home on some sort of mediocre unaired episode of “Glee” that never completed production.
In contrast to most films carrying the conceit of biopics,"Rocketman" isn't merely in total compliance with the estate of its subject matter but is flat out funded and commissioned by it and while a cheeky speck of narcissism can't quite be overlooked, the movie miraculously manages to side step the hollowness of these sort of self-celebratory jukebox musicals to actually move and entertain in capacities that don't quite break the mold for music biopics but definitely lands a cut above the average example.
Framed in the form of flashbacks driven by therapeutic confessions in an alcoholic's anonymous meeting, Taron Egerton portrays Elton John, recounting his childhood days of emotional neglect and occasional narcissistic abuse as Reginald Dwight before discovering his natural musical talents and ultimately making a name for himself, both figuratively and literally, as Elton John, grappling with unchecked demons that have driven him to the point of seeking the help that he is currently after.
While "Rocketman" makes a noteworthy element to shake up some aspects of the musician biopic formula in the form of its framing device that sees John and his audience of fellow addicts and counselors regularly interjecting and interfacing with the narratives that he weaves as a result of addressing his personal failings at the height of his career ahead of establishing his arc within coverage of his origins, the beats of rise to success from humble beginnings, downfall driven by manifesting emotional struggles, and the usual tropes at play are all there unabashedly.
The film definitely doesn't make a concerted effort to be structurally unique but ultimately shines through director Dexter Fletcher's eye for magical realism that plays into its subject matter's flamboyant personality to present a flashy and extravagant production of a life story that feels less like a vanity project and more like an honest and personal self reflection in a language its author knows best.
Given John's astonishing discography, it would be easy to just let his greatest hits run like a playlist but the film actually takes thorough advantage of their personal relationship to him and his life, infusing every lively number, choreographed to near perfection, with a solid emotional weight that goes beyond their infectious stage-like theatricality and party atmospheric nature.
Recontextualizing "The Bitch is Back" to grapple with emotional whiplashing of his mother's callus presence, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" as a rip-roaring, semi-rebellious, revelry of John's self discovery of his love of rock and roll spirit, and "Rocketman's" tragic underpinnings of his never ending pursuit of substance high to satisfy his longing for a healthy and loving relationship in the face of increasingly apparent self loathing are as fun revel in as they are relatable, emotional, and narratively compelling in a manner that successfully avoids the pitfalls of musicals that struggle to direct narrative or emotion within their numbers and biopics that try to meaninglessly ride their iconography's body of work.
Fletcher's approach may be mildly unorthodox but it's successful ability to utilize every element of its production to carve out a proper story arc is just about everything that I failed to get out of "Bohemian Rhapsody."
Egerton doesn't merely embody Elton John but becomes him on and off stage, selling the transformation of a young man struggling to overcome stage fright and performance anxiety through a flamboyant self destructive persona in a way that is not only compelling but surprisingly doesn't allow the indulgent nature of the production to exonerate him of his flaws as he struggles to find a common denominator between the problems threatening to destroy his life and the trauma's that inform his poor decision making.
This tempering of the bias at play helps the already fantastic supporting cast shine in their roles even brighter, with a surprisingly compassionate performance from Jamie Bell to Richard Madden's charismatic but coldly pragmatic take on John's former manager and lover.
"Rocketman" revels in being the best possible crowdpleaser of its kind possible but rather than use things that make it a crowd pleaser as an excuse to skimp out on strong filmmaking and storytelling, it builds its foundations around it to weave a meaty tale of upholding accountability, acceptance of past transgressions and forgiveness that just so happens to also be a killer musical.
8 Funny Feelings Inside out of 10
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