My Review of "X-Men: Dark Phoenix"

X-Men: Dark Phoenix came out last year but I never got a chance to watch it. To be honest I feel like a sheep because I listened to reviews and lost any anticipation for the movie. After seeing this movie I really don't see why it got such horrible ratings. It isn't that bad of a movie but it isn't that great of a movie either. Maybe people have preconceived notions of how this movie should have been.

This movie starts in the past. The focus of course is on Jean Grey as she will eventually become the Phoenix as we've seen in the movie trailers. She is in a very horrible car accident that kills both of her parents. The worst thing about the accident was that it was her fault. She wasn't able to control her powers, she was a child who expected her to know what to do?

Charles Xavier comes into her life to bring her up as a member of the X-Men. Then we quickly jump back to their present time. Their present time happens to be in the 80's because of all of the timeline changes that happened ever since X-Men: First Class too place.

Due to the circumstances of X-Men: Days of Future Past, mutants are now revered and celebrated. They're actually asked to help out to dangerous situations that regular humans can't handle. This time there's a space shuttle that is out of control.

The X-Men are sent out to save the space shuttle but they realize it's some sort of alien substance that is endangering the astronauts. They save everyone except for one astronaut. Charles forces them to save that last astronaut and this results in these alien substance to be absorbed into Jean Grey.

Everything seems strangely okay until Jean starts to go bonkers. She becomes so powerful that Charles can't even get into her head. To make matters worse there were aliens chasing after the substance that Jean had absorbed. They're out to get her.

There are a lot of moral dilemmas that come up throughout the movie. People start questioning Charles decisions and what he has planned for the X-Men. I like the fact that Charles understands that mutants are one incident away from the public hating them again. That's really how it is in real life with a lot of racial prejudices. Not a lot of people realize this.

It's the first time the young X-Men are starting to question how to deal with a family member that's done something horrible. Do you lose all connection and get rid of them or do you try as hard as you can to get them back? I could imagine some of these questions being asked in a non-superhero movie and it would probably work. A superhero movie is a lot more fun because of their super powers though.

Now a lot of people gave this movie really bad scores. I don't really think that the scores accurately reflect this movie. I didn't think it was great but I didn't think it was horrible either. This movie is an okay movie and is just fun to watch probably once. Then again I have seen the other movies and I find that this movie just assumes that you have seen the other movies. I could see how people could be confused as to what's going on if they haven't seen the other movies. This could have been the reason why the scores were so rotten.

In comparison with the other new X-Men movies I wouldn't say that I enjoyed it just a little more than X-Men: Apocalypse. I didn't think that movie was that great though. X-Men movies in general are probably weird for people that are expecting a Marvel movie. Yes it's technically a Marvel movie but they've always been more serious movies talking about prejudices and fear. You won't be getting a whole wack load of witty quips and jokes sprinkled throughout the movie. They've never been like that. Although, now that Disney owns them they may move to that direction.

People may have unfair expectations of the X-Men movies because of the success of Logan. X-Men movies are hard to make. They have hundreds of members that they have to filter into a cohesive movie. I've always thought one of the problems with X-Men is that they just have too many people to deal with. Even the Deadpool franchise made a wise decision by only choosing select X-Men so that the story can stay focused.

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the fights with all of the X-Men. I thought that the ending fights was nicely done. I really liked that they emphasized a little more on Nightcrawler's abilities. They did a good job with the last fight scene even though some of the stuff that happened was a little over the top. I recognize it has to be this way because it's a high budget movie.

Overall, I thought this was a popcorn movie. You shut off your brain and you'll have a ton of fun. That is if you've seen the other X-Men movies. The other X-Men movies were not masterpieces, don't expect this to be any different. I have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. It's a fun ride. I don't think you'll get it if you haven't seen the previous movies though.