X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX - 5 Telltale Signs It's Going To Be A Major Disappointment
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is starting to come together with both a cast and director, but here, we take a look at five compelling reasons why this movie is most definitely destined to be a failure...
I love the X-Men and while I've never been overly keen on how Fox has handled the Marvel property, there's no denying that most of the films have been very good. In fact, it's only really X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine which were truly awful (yes, I'm among the small handful of fans who liked X-Men: Apocalypse). Despite that, I can't help but really worry about X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
A release date of November 2nd, 2018 has been set and it's been confirmed that writer Simon Kinberg will also direct. The cast has been revealed, while the title tells us all we need to know about the plot.
There's a very good chance X-Men: Dark Phoenix will exceed expectations, but I'm not so sure. What you'll find below then is a look at the five signs I believe are telling us that the movie is going to be a major flop. There's evidence to support a lot of these too, so you may want to start worrying now...
5. Simon Kinberg Directed Those Fantastic Four Reshoots
While it's never been 100% confirmed, it has been widely reported by very reliable sources that Simon Kinberg directed those disastrous Fantastic Four reshoots. He also wrote the scenes which turned the reboot into the complete and utter mess we ended up with, so if he can drop the ball so spectacularly with that property, there's nothing to say the same won't be the case with X-Men: Dark Phoenix.
While Kinberg may have worked on a lot of big movies, he's not a director, and The Mummy is a perfect example of what so often happens when a writer (Alex Kurtzman in this case) attempts to take on a new role behind the camera. From Kate Mara's hilariously awful wig to the dreadful action scenes, the clearly reshot scenes which made up the second half of Fantastic Four were a joke which may be all the proof we need that Kinberg is far from ready to take the helm of a big budget blockbuster like this one.
4. F***ing Mystique
The dynamic between Charles, Erik, and Raven in X-Men: First Class was interesting. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, it was tedious, and in X-Men: Apocalypse it was downright unbearable. While it's great news that James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender will return as Professor X and Magneto for X-Men: Dark Phoenix, the fact that Jennifer Lawrence is coming back as Mystique is definitely cause for concern.
Based on the past experience, we can expect the talented actress to be rammed down our throats (in non-blue form, obviously), something which I guess we should have expected after the last movie made her pretty much the leader of the X-Men for some reason. While it's possible Kinberg will shift the focus to the actual X-Men, it seems far more likely that we can expect a lot more of Mystique and as the character has outstayed her welcome, that could be a big problem.
3. It's Too Soon For The Dark Phoenix Saga
It was X-Men: Apocalypse that introduced us to Sophie Turner's Jean Grey and just one movie later we're going to see her fully unleash the power of the Phoenix Force. While I can see that it makes sense on the one hand (taking down Apocalypse opened the door to it taking her over), it feels way too soon for a story the comic books spent years building up to.
Before the focus is shifted to Jean and her struggles with the Phoenix, we could have done with at least one more movie to get to know both her and the rest of the younger X-Men the previous instalment brought to the table. After all, they didn't even become the X-Men until the closing few moments of the movie and rushing straight into the possible demise of Jean before she's established as a fully formed character is baffling. After all, she didn't make the biggest impact in X-Men: Apocalypse, so who other than us fans will really care?
2. They're Still Messing With Continuity
This hasn't been made official, but rumour has it (not to mention a number of comments from Kinberg in the past) that X-Men: Dark Phoenix is going to be set in 1991. That once again confuses continuity, but X-Men: Apocalypse really made it clear that these period settings have become a meaningless gimmick anyway. The 80s were wasted there and with the 90s being far from an iconic decade, it's hard to see what that will bring to the table beyond some questionable fashion.
Sure, fans of the X-Men animated series from that time are probably salivating from the possibilities, but I definitely don't expect an aesthetic all that different from past instalments, especially when Kinberg will likely play it safe as a first time director rather than being as stylistic as James Gunn was with Guardians of the Galaxy. Here's hoping he at least imagines space as less generic a place than Fantastic Four's Negative Zone!
1. Simon Kinberg Already Messed Up This Story
The sudden decision to take the X-Men into space feels out of place in this franchise and if the way Kinberg handled the likes of Sentinels and Apocalypse is any indication, we should probably forget about getting a cosmic adventure which is a) similar to the comic books and b) anywhere near as visually exciting as Guardians of the Galaxy. Hell, the Shi'ar will probably just be government agents or something! Either way, there's no Wolverine to save Kinberg this time...
Do you think X-Men: Dark Phoenix is doomed to fail or does it deserve a chance? As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section down below.