I don't understand the slagging this film has been taking, I think this is one of the best X-Men films of the last 20 years.
Since the first X-Men film, and the liberties taken with popular storylines and characters, I had to learn how to be comfortable with those changes. And as I actually liked "X-III The Last Stand" (The best part being Magneto lifting up the Golden Gate Bridge to lay it across to Alcatraz), I was wholly disappointed with that film's take on The Dark Phoenix, in that film, The Dark Phoenix was watered down, changed into something she was NOT. However, that film is Homaged in this one in several places, with Dialogue hijacked from X-III, and the aftermath of one of Phoenix' Powers. LOOK for it! But this version has more elements from the actual Dark Phoenix crossover, it is true to the Extraterrestrial origins of the Phoenix, and the inclusion of Alien Antagonists. And it has that aspect of X-Men fighting X-Men like the comic version has. The Dark Phoenix saga, at least in Comic form, ripped the X-Men to shreds. But this telling is less of a comic book version, this version has stark realism.
Production-wise 20th Century Fox has used every trick in their well stocked playbook of special effects, including practical effects. It is difficult to identify the CGI here, other than the obvious Raven-Morph, which still uses techniques that mirror the way that looked in the 2000 X-Men film, when Mystique was played by Rebecca Rojmin-Stamos. But here, the production goes way over the top. We finally get to see things that were only depicted in the Comic Books. And it was all done well. and we still have several things we have seen before, Cerebro and the X-Jet.
As far as our 1st Class X-Men Team, all that is left is Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult). I am a bit disappointed that a few characters did not make it to this film, such as "Banshee" being gone since X-Men Apocalypse. But ever since "First Class", The X-Men have been consistent. Be prepared in this film for another disappointment along those lines, I was rather surprised when it happened. The "Aliens" in this film led by VOK (A reference to the White Klingon "Voq" from Discovery? Played by Jessica Chastain) are something I'm not familiar with. They are not readily identified, as I was partially expecting the SHI'IAR to finally make an entry into this story, as they were part of the original crossover, and there was even a romantic thing for Charles with an alien with a cool haircut named Lilandra. But she never appeared. Also expected, because it was teased in Apocalypse, was Mister Sinister- But there was not a peep about him.
This film appears to be an ending of the franchise, as there was no After Credits Teaser. But neither was there one in Avengers Endgame. But there has been talk of a new phase for Marvel, and I suppose some of those previously seen after credit scenes will never be referenced. I hope that at some point we get to see how Mister Sinister fits into the Marvel Universe, but I guess, not yet. Also, The X-Men cannot interact with The Avengers, until Disney can get permission to use the X-Men characters. It was a miracle that Spiderman was allowed to be included.
But I really can't comprehend the negative reaction to this. as there were so many things that were great. The imagery was excellent, the familiar aspects were familiar, the acting superb, and I just don't believe this film was so badly received. It is as if the press reactions to films these days are being dictated from Reddit or 4-8chan. One thing I have learned about Reddit and 4-8chan: if there is a huge Pogrom on Reddit about how "bad" something is, then we must RACE to watch it. This is the philosophy I have lived by for the last 6 years or so, and it has never failed me. AND, if they hated the film so much, WHY did they waste NO time rushing to their computer keyboards or hand devices to post several 1-star reviews (pretending to be several people, but actually being just ONE person) containing "Bulleted Lists" of complaints? Wrong, people who truly hate something, are not prone to waste that kind of time. Also you can tell by the incoherent language of such reviews, it's simply not the proper use of English spelling and grammar. Ergo, #Trolls. And then these same trolls use their 50 fake IMDb accounts to pretend IMDb is Reddit and "Downvote" any positive reviews of a film, so that the negative reviews all float to the top? This activity is not just with Marvel films, it's been happening all over. It's not as if we don't have an Impeachment-Ready (white/orange house) resident that encourages this activity, and we can blame Steve Bannon for it, and Breitbart.
Getting back to the film, I am pleased with how the gang of characters created with the "new" actors playing younger version of the ones we met in 2000 are slipping in to their roles. And we have seen more and more of the periphery X-Men, Psylocke in the last one, and Dazzler in this one. And ever since "Apocalypse", we have had fewer and fewer cameos from the "older" X-Men. and this time, no Wolverine at all. maybe Dan Radcliffe SHOULD be Wolverine? I would welcome THAT in an instant!
But in the end, this X-Men film has a very sad but hopeful ending, and an image of two friends playing a particular strategy game- and the hope that, The Phoenix will rise again, in Fire.
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