It has been 18 years since the X-Men franchise was founded on the big screen and, somehow, a decade has passed by since the “First Class” generation began. Now the X-Men have come back for their last fight and this time, it comes from within and they must face their personal fears and fix their bond. Be warned as this article may contain spoilers, so if you’ve not seen the movie, watch out!
The Story
After sending the space shuttle Endeavour into space, the shuttle sends a distress call because it is floating into a solar flare. The President of the United States has the X-Men on speed dial and asks them to help save the crew. According to Hank, the X-Jet could fly into space, but he does not want to risk it except Charles persuades him. The team now consists of Raven (Mystique) as team leader, Hank (Beast), Jean, Scott (Cyclops), Ororo (Storm), Kurt (Nightcrawler), and Peter (Quicksilver). At the start of their mission, Raven promises that the second any of them are in danger, she turns them back home.
They save the crew at the last moment, but Jean gets hit by the solar flare except they’re not aware that this is something else entirely. Back on earth, the X-Men are welcomed like superheroes and this is where the real story begins. Jean starts to feel different. The Dark Phoenix energy cannot be controlled. The D’Bari, an alien race which planet was destroyed by the Phoenix energy, are trying to hunt it down. Vuk’s (played by Jessica Chastain) goal is to harness this power and use it to destroy planets to build a new world for her kind.
In the end, we get one final battle between Jean and Vuk and a completely different ending for quite a lot characters. To understand this movie, the story must be seen through the perspective of four of the main characters.
Raven
Mystique was always a big part to the story of the X-Men. In this timeline, she gets the place and the voice she deserved. The fearless fighter who puts the needs of others before hers and she is never afraid to speak up and to confront others.
When the group comes back to the mansion after the rescue mission, Raven confronts Charles that he put the group in danger and that Jean should have not survived. She is the first who sees that Charles has changed for the worst and she wants to protect the kids from him. Sounds weird, right? But, unfortunately, she was right.
As Hank has put it, they are the last ones from the first generation of the X-Men. Raven wants to leave the X-Men behind and she wants Hank to come with her, but they never got the chance. After the first stills were released, it was soon known that Raven would die and that it would happen by Jean’s hand. Her death breaks the group into two: the ones who want to help and safe her and the ones who want to revenge and kill her.
Charles
We know Charles as the center of the X-Men as he always knows what to do and how to help someone find their true potential. In this instalment, we see a completely different Charles as he is now someone who does not know when to stop and blinded by acceptance and fame. He achieved his goal: humans and mutants can live side by side and he is risking a lot to keep it that way. But, as Raven said, he accepts the recognition for the work of others. The family is ripped apart and put back together in Dark Phoenix, but it is not Charles who puts them together, it is Raven and Jean. The women save the team once again by sacrificing themselves.
I was looking forward to seeing another version of Charles and this is what makes the First Class generation more interesting. We had the young visionary Charles, the broken Charles, the inspiring Charles, and now the reckless Charles. But he is also one reason, why I cannot give this movie a 10 out of 10. Charles has seen her foster-sister die, he had to put her to rest, and he does not cry once. I thought he just wanted to hold up the façade and at the end of the movie he would have a massive break down and cry in someone’s arms or something. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It seems that he missed Raven more in Days of Future Past than in this movie and that is what I really cannot deal with.
Erik
The almighty Magneto really did make it. He built a safe haven for mutants on an island gifted by the US government called Genosha. He is not driven by revenge anymore; he does not want to do anyone harm. It is nice to see him at peace.
That is until Jean asks him for guidance and Hank later asks him for help and in the blink of an eye, the revengeful Magneto is back. He loved Raven and he is not interested in the details of what has happened. Erik and Charles have essentially switched places. No one is really the bad guy in the end, but they have been always driven by their egos towards the same goal: not being hunted and mutants to be accepted and not feared.
An emotional minus for me was Peter and Erik. I wanted it to be in Apocalypse and I was hoping to see it in Dark Phoenix, but unfortunately, they did not include it. Why did Peter not tell Erik that he is his son? Lost opportunity of a great scene.
The Dark Phoenix
We have seen the Dark Phoenix story in X-Men: The Last Stand and it did not do it justice. The movie was too chaotic and full of different plotlines, but this time, we see the origin story, which is far more better. The focus lies on Jean as it should.
In the original films, Jean was called to be the most powerful mutant and even above class 5. For example, Charles and Erik are “only” classified as 4. Jean was always unstable because her powers have always been hard to control. We see that she was responsible for the death of her parents and that Charles took her in, and he raised her as if she were his own child. The bond between them is truly a father-daughter one as she is looks up to and admires him. After she gets hit by the Phoenix force, the mental barriers Charles had put into her mind to stabilise her break and the secret from which he wanted to protect her comes onto the surface. She is a danger to everyone and everything they worked for is jeopardised.
Sophie Turner does an incredible job switching between the broken suffering little girl and the powerful mutant she always was. Her scenes with Jessica Chastain are the most powerful ones of the whole film.
The Big Finale
Dark Phoenix moves forward too fast. Some scenes needed more space to breathe and evolve, which would have helped to emotionally grab the audience.
Why I am not able to give the movie 9 out of 10 is because of Quicksilver and the lack of one of his iconic epic slow-motion scenes. We do not see much of him in this instalment and then there is the big math question. Hank becomes the principal of the now called Jean Gray School for Gifted Youngsters. Scott, Peter, and Storm are now teachers? We know that this movie is the last one of the franchise so I was hoping that all questions would be mostly answered, but it still leaves some things open for the individual to interpret.
Charles has retired and he’s at a café in Paris when Erik comes to him and offers him a place to stay because he has helped him so many times that now, it is his turn to do the same for him. This scene was heartwarming, but Charles being in his 40’s and doing nothing is not realistic for me.
The last shot shows the Phoenix flying over earth, which means that Jean is not truly death but is living on in the Phoenix flare. She has evolved and became something more powerful, but is the Phoenix still a danger for earth? Or does Jean’s soul or whatever have it under control?
The Timeline
What we have left now is a big mess in our brains to put the X-Men movies into the right order on our DVD shelves. One thing is for sure, a lot has been erased and the fates of almost everyone has changed.
Jean is dead again, but a couple of years earlier as in the original timeline. Erik probably will never become a part of the Brotherhood and will not kill any more people. Charles is no Professor and does god knows what with his life. Quicksilver and Nightcrawler became a part of the X-Men and will probably stay for quite a long time. Wolverine will never fall in love with Jean and Scott will not be killed by her. Angel was born a couple of years earlier. Will Iceman and Rogue find each other? And what has happened with Psylocke after she ran away after Apocalypse? At least we know that Deadpool was and always will be its own franchise. Maybe the timeline which EW has made will help you out.
Sophie Turner at the World Premiere:
“To know to stepping into something where there is such a loyal and dedicated fanbase … you know it is not just of the movies, it is of the comics decades and decades, generations of people have loved the X-Men comics and so, you know, it’s people’s life’s and I definitely don’t take that lightly. I think that it is something that meant something to so many people for so long and it certainly has meant a lot to me for a really long time. When I was growing up all I knew about the X-Men was that these guys where Mutants and they were kind of ostracizes and they were ashamed of these things that make them different, but when they kind of harness those things that make them different they make them quite powerful and special and that is just something that I think is such a wonderful message for every young girl and boy to kind of grow up hearing.“
