The odds are not in favor of “X-Men: Dark Phoenix.”
The name “Dark Phoenix” carries a lot of weight for the X-Men franchise. As one of the most pivotal stories about one of Marvel’s most powerful characters, the last X-Men film from Fox seems to be relying upon name alone. While the trailer pleases from a visually aesthetic point of view, the plot does not feel like it will hold water.
Firstly, there is little motive to put effort into this film after the sale of Fox to Marvel. This is a rather speculative statement but after the poorly reviewed “X-Men: Apocalypse,” I cannot possibly see how “Dark Phoenix” could be an improvement with so many of the same and now diluted elements. More than likely, this will be a close to the franchise and Marvel will probably do a reboot making this film essentially meaningless.
Outside of the lack of motivation to succeed and theorized statements on the film, the harder evidence comes with Simon Kinberg’s lack of experience as a director. Additionally his track record as a writer is dominated by a slew of one-dimensional films that fall into the realm of mindless entertainment. While he does have his success stories with films like “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “Sherlock Holmes,” they are only a small sample in comparison to films like “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Jumper,” and the absolutely horrendous “Fantastic Four (2015).” Fox saw fit to give Kinberg his first chance at directing with “Dark Phoenix” and in my opinion, their justification derived from a lack of investment in the film’s overall success due to the recent acquisition from Marvel.
Most importantly, the trailer itself paints a very bland picture. We have seen the evolution of Jean Grey into the Dark Phoenix before in “X-Men: The Last Stand” and there are a few correlatives shown in this trailer that hint at a bit of stale repetition. For example, the police car scene in the neighborhood and the alignment with Magneto both align with a narrative that we have seen before. Additionally, there is not much wow factor to the trailer. At least with “X-Men: Apocalypse” there were some elements of excitement with Apocalypse’s destructive path. With “Dark Phoenix,” there are many elements lacking which could be considered foreshadowing, but I see this lack of elements at face value, establishing a plot that is stale with a number of static characters.
Again, this is only my opinion and I would be delighted to see Fox’s X-Men franchise end on a high note. But personally, I think that the best thing to look forward to is if Marvel secretly put an Easter egg or cameo in the film to transition the X-Men into the MCU. Outside of that, if I was a betting person, the odds are not in favor of “Dark Phoenix” and at best I expect it to be of the same quality as “X-Men: Apocalypse” but most likely I think it will be worse.