‘Dark Phoenix,’ furious and flawed, ends the X-universe

James McAvoy

It isn’t the “Dark Phoenix Saga” from the comics that older fans remember, but “X-Men: Dark Phoenix” manages to tell a far more coherent story of corruption than the first attempt to adapt the story in 2006’s “X-Men: The Last Stand.”

The X-Men film franchise has a penchant for straying from the source material, reinventing characters and concepts for the big screen since the first movie in 2000. So the departure shouldn’t be an issue; even the Marvel Cinematic Universe didn’t exactly adapt “The Infinity Gauntlet” for “Avengers: Endgame,” after all.

In any case, this is the last “X-Men” released under 20th Century Fox, its film rights soon reverting to Marvel, after Disney’s recent acquisition of the studio and its properties.

It’s the end of an era, as “Dark Phoenix” brings to a close the rebooted X-Men universe, which started with the energetic “X-Men: First Class” in 2011.

“Dark Phoenix” is set in the early ’90s. The mutant X-Men, now being hailed as superheroes, are summoned to assist on a space mission gone awry. The telepath teacher, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), sends the team, led in the field by the shapeshifting Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), with little time to spare.

Jennifer Lawrence (left) and Sophie Turner

It ends up unexpectedly for Jean Grey (Sophie Turner), a telepath and telekinetic, who should’ve died in an inescapable situation—but the already formidable heroine not only survives the brunt of a deadly energy blast; her powers are boosted manifold, to her and her teammates’ surprise.

Not long after, she discovers long-lost memories, leading to a series of irrevocable actions. Refused help by an old ally, Magneto (Michael Fassbender), she becomes more unhinged, and in no time, Jean is manipulated by a mystery woman (Jessica Chastain), who knows the secret to her transformation.

“Dark Phoenix” is written and directed by Simon Kinberg, who also wrote “The Last Stand,” which complicated things for the film series. But he also wrote the 2014 release “Days of Future Past,” which rectified story details deemed to be mistakes. “Dark Phoenix” revisits the Jean Grey arc, but despite some pacing problems, this is a vast improvement over “Last Stand.”

There’s palpable drama that affects every character, made compelling by acting standouts Turner, Fass bender (yet again—he’s always very watchable), McAvoy and Tye Sheridan, who plays Cyclops. The viewer believes the gradual transformation of Jean to Dark Phoenix, which keeps this shaky enterprise together. The action scenes aren’t bad, either.

Michael Fassbender

Obscure antagonist

Chastain’s character is loosely based on an obscure comic book antagonist, reimagined and jacked-up to become at least someone who can go toe-to-toe with some of the powerful mutants. She’s good, but the role’s pretty bland and predictable.

It is disappointing that hyper-fast Quicksilver (Evan Peters) doesn’t get his own decade-specific sequence one last time. Those were funny, visually stunning highlights.

Still, other characters Cyclops, Storm (Alexandra Shipp) and Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee) get some time in the spotlight, at long last.

The “X-Men” films and their spinoffs may be flawed or far from ideal big-screen adaptations, but they paved the way for other super-team movies. And if there’s anything the onscreen X-Men consistently did right, it’s dramatically showing that even outcasts and freaks can make a world of difference.

Kodi Smit-McPhee as Nightcrawler