Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 21, 2019

A phoenix rising from the ashes is one of the more redolent images from mythology and/or Mankind’s collective unconscious, but it’s just one of the ironies that Dark Phoenix perhaps brings an incontrovertible end to the long running if sometimes problematic X-Men franchise, and in this case it’s an end with no obvious resurrection in sight. That “finality” may in fact be a chimera (to reference another mythological beast of some renown), since one of the things that has frequently attended Marvel cinematic (and, frankly, other) science fiction adaptations is the whole conceit of an alternate timeline, where death is an illusion, supposed epochal events seemingly a passing fancy, and any sense of one coherent storyline is an almost laughable proposition. What’s kind of odd about this particular alternate timeline is that it was at least delved into if not completely explored in X-Men: The Last Stand, a film which was not exactly met with the same general critical rapture as its two predecessors. But what’s also odd is how the story of Jean Grey (played in this installment by Sophie Turner of Game of Thrones, who also briefly portrayed the character in X-Men: Apocalypse) is that in at least one timeline previously explored her story doesn’t end all that well, by which I mean, her story ends. All of this adds up to a rather odd combo platter of ideas and snippets culled from other X- Men properties, but like many an odd casserole, only certain ingredients register while the overall taste is a bit muddled.

It’s been kind of interesting over the past many years seeing how adapters attempting to fashion films out of longstanding and in many cases iconic, maybe even totemic, characters tend to go one of the two routes: breaking with “tradition” and crafting those aforementioned pesky alternate timelines, or seeking to reinvent a character with an origin story. Dark Phoenix would seem to once again be a kind of odd combo platter of both of those approaches, but Simon Kinberg, who had a previous “at bat” with Jean as screenwriter for X-Men: The Last Stand , ultimately doesn’t seem to know quite how to shape, or perhaps more accurately stated, reshape, this material as either writer or director.

Hey, remember when the X-Men were mutants, feared by the general populace and hated by those shadowy governmental types who are often some of the villains in the various X-Men films? Well, that was then (as in “pick your timeline”) and this is now, or at least another then, and the X-Men are firmly ensconced in hero territory as this story gets underway. A traumatized young Jean has been placed under the mentorship of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy, because, you know, it’s then), though that “traumatized” aspect returns to haunt the story as Jean grows into a woman transformed by whatever the outer space equivalent of getting bitten by a radioactive spider is, something that increases her already formidable powers, but which leads to a cascading series of events when what might be called repressed memories well up.

While shadowy governmental types are actually refreshingly missing from this enterprise, the film perhaps couldn’t avoid a “special guest villain” casting stunt, in this case an alien named Vuk (Jessica Chastain), who attempts to lure Jean over to “the dark side”. What’s at least potentially interesting about this is that Charles and Magneto (Michael Fassbender), while still bickering (so to speak), find themselves unavoidably aligned in a conclusion that something needs to be done with Jean, though it’s arguable that Charles’ motives are perhaps more relatively pure.

To paraphrase some questions I posed in the opening paragraph of my X-Men: Apocalypse Blu-ray review, it almost doesn’t matter anymore with regard to any of the glut of superhero movies (but perhaps arguably more consistently with some Marvel fare) which timeline, story element, or character fate you think you’re following, because chances are some carpet somewhere will be pulled out from under you (and there’s one potential example of that in this film which won’t be spoiled here). That’s the kind of weird thing about these films that utilize reboots and/or different “versions” of what happened — they want to exist within the “confines” of a franchise while also almost unavoidably at times taking on the aspect of a standalone entry. Unfortunately, X- Men: Dark Phoenix doesn’t consistently register as either.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf was even less impressed with X-Men: Dark Phoenix than I was. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

X-Men: Dark Phoenix is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Captured with Arri Alexas and finished at a 2K DI, this is another generally stellar looking outing from the usually reliable folks at Fox. The film does have some kindly oddly soft looking moments, and some arguably less than mind blowing CGI, but for the most part detail levels are quite impressive and the saturation of the palette is regularly striking. Kinberg and cinematographer Mauro Fiore like to emphasize extreme close-ups quite a bit of the time, often with faces filling the side of the frame, and textures on facial features offer expressive levels of fine detail. There's been some complaining that Fox didn't opt for a 3D release of this film (something that I understand, as a 3D fan myself), but I found the "flat" 2D experience to be still rather surprisingly "dimensional" at times, especially in some of the slo-mo moments like the big car crash that starts the film or the rescue in space that ends up sending Jean on a spiral of uncontrollable powers and/or emotions. As is usually the case with some of these X-Men epics, there are some interesting grading choices at times, but despite everything from deeply saturated reds and blues (along with some yellows) permeating the frame to almost completely desaturated moments, detail and fine detail levels are typically consistent. There are some very passing minor issues with deficits in shadow detail, but I noticed no real compression anomalies of any kind.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

X-Men: Dark Phoenix features an impressive DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track that may not offer the ubiquitous array of surround activity that fans of this kind of film may expect, but which nonetheless delivers a lot of superb directionality and some forceful LFE. There are excellently designed effects offered throughout the film from the get go with the spectacular car crash that kicks things off, and a number of set pieces offer really nice discrete channelization of effects, but there's a kind of "all or nothing" approach to the sound design where big immersive moments then ebb back into almost more of a straight ahead stereo presentation, especially when longer expository dialogue moments intrude. Hans Zimmer's very effective score wafts through the surround channels quite appealingly throughout the film.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 8:22) offer optional commentary by Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker.


• Rise of the Phoenix: The Making of Dark Phoenix (1080p; 1:20:32) is an often interesting set of featurettes, with quite a bit of behind the scenes footage and a lot of interview snippets. What's often fascinating about efforts like these is how the cast and crew seem completely and sincerely convinced they're making some kind of new masterpiece, when the results might suggest otherwise.


• How to Fly Your Jet to Space with Beast (1080p; 2:03) is a kind of silly piece with Nicholas Hoult.


• Audio Commentary by Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker


• Theatrical Trailers (1080p; 6:27)

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are some rather interesting ideas underpinning X-Men: Dark Phoenix, including a kind of feminist subtext along with some roiling psychological issues that were obviously highlighted to try to make this more of a personal story than a traditional sci-fi superhero epic. Unfortunately, the story here never manages to completely convince, probably especially because of previous "alternate timeline" efforts where people and events come and go almost randomly at times. Fans of this film will most likely be pleased with the technical presentation here, and the disc does offer some appealing supplements.