X-Men Dark Pheonix (2019) Movie Review or The Last Stand, version 2.0

Hello guys and welcome back to another round of movie reviews with Movie Nerd, a place where you can be nerdy about movies and that's OK!

OK, so, everybody knows Fox's first attempt at adapting the Pheonix Force Saga with X-Men: The Last Stand which, for the most part, was very disappointing. So, they tried again with this movie, which was supposed to come out last year but they delayed it until winter of this year and then moved it again to the summer of 2019 because of re-shoots and re-writes. Question is, did Fox finally made a decent movie with this very important story in the X-Men comics? Stay tuned to find out.

First, if you haven't seen the previous installment and don't know the story, here's a little synopsis for you lot: This is the story of one of the X-Men's most beloved characters, Jean Grey, as she evolves into the iconic DARK PHOENIX. During a life-threatening rescue mission in space, Jean is hit by a cosmic force that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants of all. Wrestling with this increasingly unstable power as well as her own personal demons, Jean spirals out of control, tearing the X-Men family apart and threatening to destroy the very fabric of our planet. It is the culmination of 20 years of X-Men movies, as the family of mutants that we've come to know and love must face their most devastating enemy yet -- one of their own.

So, I, personally, did not enjoy all that much The Last Stand but, it was OK, for the most part but, don't get me wrong, the movie is awful.

This new one, not as awful but, unfortunately, for me, at least, this second attempt, has not been improved at all. The story seems very familiar, which should be because it has the same style and story telling as was in the first attempt. So, basically, it's almost the same movie, with some few differences that, frankly, don't do much. The whole plot with the aliens feels forced and out of nowhere.

One character dies but, no surprise there because they kinda show us in the trailers but I will not spoil this one. Let's you figure out for yourself. That death was, surprisingly, not very impactful, maybe because I already knew it or because I did not care.

There are some good things. The action sequences are pretty good, with a quality that is above the ones in The Last Stand with some good camera work, tracking shots and some good editing, most of the time. It also has some emotional impact, at times, in the end as well, which was another similar thing that was done in the previous movie.

The ensemble is great, some good performance, Sophie Turner finally shows her acting chops because as Sansa, she was a bit stiff and without range but here, she shows a good range of emotions.

Another thing that I did not like is the absence of the main X-Men theme song from X2, The Last Stand, Days of Future Past and Apocalypse. I know that the story is dark and depressing but you can't have an X-Men movie without that theme song. First Class is the exception because it had some great themes that movie. The soundtrack in this one is lacking the gravitas of the subject.

Overall, I was not very satisfied with this second try at the Pheonix Saga but, in some points, it was a bit better than the first one. I could not shake the familiarity and similarity with The Last Stand. Maybe if I haven't seen that one, I would have enjoyed it a bit more but, still, it's not a good movie. 6/10

OK guys, that is my review for this one. Some other movie reviews coming soon. Until then, take care, stay movie nerdy and keep on reviewing!