By Michael Hernandez
Entertainment Reporter
After 19 years of X-Men movies, Dark Phoenix is the last one in the franchise.
Over the years we’ve seen The X-Men feared and hated but, in this prequel set in 1992, The X-Men are riding high on their crest of popularity. So much so, that when a U.S. space shuttle is stranded in space by some kind of unknown force The X-Men are called on for a rescue mission. Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) sends a hesitant team of X-Men to complete the rescue mission.
While on the mission in space Jean Grey, played by Sophie Tucker, gets hit with the powerful force which had been holding the shuttle at bay. She appears to be dead, but instead, she returns to Earth and emerges as the most powerful being in the universe. She has God-like powers but she also develops a bi-polar personality and is unable to control her powers.
The X-Men family is in turmoil with some wanting her to go away while others try to embrace her. When the team follows her to her home town to try and talk her into returning, in a fit of rage, she kills one of the X-Men members. After turning to Magneto, played by Michael Fassbender, and acting savagely in the community he runs in the jungle, he forces her to leave and she has nowhere else to go. Eventually, she is befriended by a group of aliens who have come to earth the get the god-like power she possesses. The best part of the movie is the battle between The X-Men and the aliens.
The fight scenes are really fun and they show how far special effects have come in the past 19 years. However, in the end, this final X-Men movie ends with a whimper rather than a bang.
The movie is rated PG-13 and runs for 1 hour and 53 minutes.
On my “Hollywood Popcorn Scale” I rate DARK PHOENIX a LARGE.
