X-MEN DARK PHOENIX TEASER TRAILER REACTION

So, hello and welcome to a new post. This is my third post since I took a break. I am posting every Tuesday and every Friday (well I have for a week – so although I doubt that will continue, one can hope). I don’t normally do reactions, I am not even sure if you can do a reaction in text but I am going to try, and it is the first of it’s kind here at my blog. I picked X-Men: Dark Phoenix, because it is a film I am finding will make or break this franchise going forward.

If you read this blog, then you will know I made a post about the current state of X-Men and how 2018 should’ve been a vital year for them. Well, since I made that a lot has changed. New Mutants was pushed back, then Dark Phoenix was pushed back. then the script for X-Men Dark Phoenix was leaked and somewhere in between all of this there were heavy re shoots for both. Not giving us the best of hopes for these next two films by X-Men; take into account the inevitable acquisition by Marvel Studios, it really does leave X-Men in a more sorry state than I had imagined when I made the post questioning how their year would turn out.

And, oh yeah, they released a trailer for X-Men: Dark Phoenix stating its release date and then the very same Thursday changed the date. Bearing in mind, that the trailer SAYS THE WRONG DATE. But, regardless of how the films have turned out, Fox will eventually release them meaning Fox will be in marketing mood eventually even if the film isn’t great.

I’m not sure why, but the trailer doesn’t really do anything for me. I’m not sure whether it is because it is centred on Jean Grey – a character I really couldn’t care less about at this point or whether because it will undoubtedly be the same boring X-Men film we have seen a hundred times – only this time someone dies. The first trailer for Logan really got me, I was captivated, nothing was going to stop me from watching that in the cinema. I could not wait. But, for some reason, I don’t feel like it is a necessity to watch, I might even wait for it to come out on a NETFLIX or Prime before I watch it.

So before I go into any more about the film, let’s actually talk about the trailer for a second. Sure, it looks OK, I quite like the angle that Professor X isn’t the great guy will all think he is, and that he in someway has messed up. But, I just don’t think we need to see another Jean Grey story, how is this going to be any different to the last couple films we have watched. And, I don’t mean how is this film going to be any different to Last Stand but I mean how is this going to be any different to the countless X-Men films that have no real stakes and just end up messing up the timeline. No doubt, someone will die and we will all ask how is he dead and how it affects the already complicated timeline. We also have to ask how irrelevant this film may be in the end, it isn’t like it is a film franchise that can go on forever. And unlike, Avengers: Infinity War, this film doesn’t feel like the end. That all being said I, of course am looking forward to seeing the other X-Men in action and hopefully building upon the positive elements that came out of Apocalypse, and seeing the inevitable Quicksilver scene.

We also have to ask how good is this film going to be, the script, the re shoots they don’t give me any hope. Will it better than Apocalypse? And, even if it is: that doesn’t mean its a win! Plus, it doesn’t seem as though there will be any lasting stakes to this. Seems like it will be many peoples last film but as I said beforehand it doesn’t seem as though it is the end of the X-Men saga as Infinity War does for the MCU – who knows where the X-Men will go next after this film. Probably keep banging out Deadpool films.

Adam Zenasni