DARK PHOENIX is better than X-MEN: APOCALYPSE, but the end result is poorly written script, bad character development, and pacing that could have been better. DARK PHOENIX is better than X-MEN: LAST STAND somewhat which tackled the Dark Phoenix plot too. Neither movie (DARK PHOENIX or X-MEN: LAST STAND) have successfully tackled adapting this part of the X-MEN comics mythology. Then the movie drops the ball by using lazy ways of having Jean Grey losing control her powers while Sophie Turner has two moods as the character: angry or sad and confused. The D'Bari aliens are a forgettable alien villain while the movie also finds an excuse to kill one of the main characters early in the movie. I wish the Shi'ar Empire and Lilandra showed up in this movie as a counterpoint plus I wish they took time to develop Jean losing control.

Then this movie doesn't even take the time for Quicksilver to reveal to Magneto that he is Quicksilver's father. The whole ado about nothing plot of making Charles Xaiver/ Professor X is a bad guy by covering up bits of Jean's painful past is groan inducing. The movie's plot keeps going over the same plot points over and over (for this movie was once thought as two movies and being rewritten each set on set). This movie isn't a step forward for the series and the timeline set by the movies. DARK PHOENIX is a bittersweet way to end the 20th Century Fox X-MEN movie series and I wish Simon Kinberg did a much better way of writing and developing the story because the end result is an OK and yet lukewarm two hour time waster. The last great X-MEN movie was X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. If you're a fan, go see it in theaters. However, you might be better off renting it or buying it when it hits blu-ray, DVD, and 4K UHD. I do hope they include the original third act among the deleted scenes on the blu-ray where it sounds more interesting than the ending we ended up with. Writer/ Director Simon Kinberg felt it was too close to the ending of CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR. DARK PHOENIX is just a frustrating mess of missing opportunities.

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