Spontaneous Musings

Saw Dark Phoenix today with movie buddy, and we both would give it a solid B, just like Entertainment Weekly's reviewer did.

I'm somewhat puzzled by the reactions to Dark Phoenix and the marketing. The trailers don't quite fit the film. There's dialogue and bits in the trailers that aren't in the film or have been twisted in a way that appear to be marketing a different film entirely.

For myself? The film has some of the same issues I had with Captain Marvel and to a degree Endgame, in that I'm not entirely certain the retro stuff works. 1980s and 1990s films had better special effects than you may think. It's interesting how much some of it reminds me of Captain Marvel, although...I think I liked this film slightly better in some respects. Both films slant a bit too heavily towards male supporting leads...which is a weakness for both of them. This one, however, unlike Captain Marvel, was savvy enough to have two strong female leads. But because of Captain Marvel -- that strength was undercut and removed from the film -- in the editing room.

Also the dialogue could have been punched up a notch -- an issue I'd also had with Captain Marvel, actually. Except Marvel's dialogue was funnier.

But other than that -- a solid effort. Again, like Captain Marvel.

And some of the things the writer did -- in how he adapted a very lengthy and convoluted comic book plot arc into a 2 hour movie was rather brilliant. Also there's some very good character arcs. Charles and Erik's arc comes full circle in a satisfying manner, and for once Storm is allowed to shine. (In that respect, it's much better film than Captain Marvel, and a more complex one, with a lot more to say. Captain Marvel felt rather simplistic in its overall thematic approach and a tad neat. Phoenix is darker, and not as neat. It doesn't pat you on the butt and give you a warm fuzzy, it sort of pushes you to think a bit about it.)

Although movie buddy and I agreed that you may well have to be a comics fan, in particular a fan of the X-men comics and have seen all the films to appreciate it, not to mention other small details. And not be insistent on the original story being recreated as is, or worship at the feet of it. The original story had serious flaws and does not age well, this one is far more empowering and far less misogynistic and sexist.

I won't go into detail on it -- because I've begun to figure out that there aren't any X-men fans on my DW correspondence list at the moment. Sigh. Fuss. And. Bother.

But I will state that as I watched the film, and tried in the back of my mind to understand the hate thrown at the film (not to mention the hate that had been thrown at Captain Marvel -- and this after seeing the embarrassingly bad Aquaman, which weirdly is top earner at the box office) -- I came to some less than...well, kind or favorable takes on the modern movie critic. Now I'm beginning to rethink it, and I'm wondering if there is more going on here than meets the eye.

So, since my first edit of this review, this is the fourth, I've gone online and figured out that:

a lot of that rage is because the original Dark Phoenix film (which had clocked in at 3 and half hours) was hacked to pieces, reshot, and cut from a two-part movie, to one three hour and half movie, and then finally to a two-hour movie, all to benefit Diseny's MCU franchise and Captain Marvel. Which also explains some of the rage fired at the Captain Marvel movie (which frankly is also a solid B effort. And I enjoyed it, although unlike Dark Phoenix - I was disappointed in it. Dark Phoenix -- I was surprised by, mainly because I'd been lead to believe it was horrible -- it's not. They lie. I'd say Captain Marvel is slightly better than Dark Phoenix for one reason only -- it has a sense of humor and isn't quite as dark. But other than that -- both are the same grade. Although after reading the link above -- I'm highly annoyed at Captain Marvel and may skip any future installments. Captain Marvel and Disney/Marvel's plans for it to head Phase 4 -- is basically why Dark Phoenix got cut to shreds and hammered at the box office. I got screwed out of a two-part Dark Phoenix movie -- with much more interesting and far more complex female and male characters and plot than, I'm sorry the retrograde Captain Marvel flick which was at best a B or B-, and disappointing. (Ms. Marvel is actually a better concept and a more progressive one, it stars a Pakistani teen as the female superhero). Anyhow, I can see why a lot of X-men fans were pissed off at Disney and by association Captain Marvel. But honestly, Disney had no choice in the matter -- the two-parter Dark Phoenix flick would have hurt their plans for the franchise, which is valued at well over a billion. Also there's no guarantee the two-parter would have done well or been worth the effort.)

Film reviewing in of itself is a subjective art and you do bring yourself to it. So if you came into this film, after reading all the stuff I read after the movie -- you'd probably be very critical of it. The same thing happened with Justice League. I was talking to a woman about this last year, and she said that Justice League in of itself isn't a bad movie (it's not, although I'd give it a C+ or B-), but the critics and audience knew too much about what was going on behind the scenes to give it a fair shake. The same thing happened with Dark Phoenix. Although, it's equally true that whenever we review anything, we bring more of ourselves to it than we realize. Movie reviews are often more about the critic than the movie.

Also it should be noted, that the critics who didn't know what was happening behind the scenes, much like myself when I saw the film, and didn't know anything about the film that had gotten reshot -- and are less mainstream and recognized (ie. below Disney's marketing radar), in marked contrast actually liked the movie and had some interesting things to say about it.

UK Express - X-men Dark Phoenix Positive Reviews

Express.co.uk gave it four stars and wrote: "Dark Phoenix doesn’t waste time justifying its existence in the convoluted canon but instead dives into one of the most adult dramas of the superhero genre in recent years – certainly since Logan.

"X-Men Dark Phoenix manages to capture a completely different tone to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s boisterous humour, one that is serious, character-driven and tragic without being dull or pretentious."

"Dark Phoenix sees the X-Men thrown into something of their very own Civil War, with a greying over of who the heroes and villains really are."

I had guessed that Disney didn't want it to succeed. But now after reading various articles on the subject, realize, whoa, I was right.

It works better for Disney if Dark Phoenix bombs. And Fox at this point, didn't care. The Disney deal to buy out Fox happened as they were editing the film, and they got the call that they had to re-shoot various scenes, it was only going to be one movie not two, and a lot shorter.

* Why did Disney insist on changing it? The shapeshifting Skrulls were the original villains. They are actually villains in the comics. If you watched Captain Marvel -- you'd understand why Disney had them change it.

Dark Phoenix was slated to be released two years prior to Captain Marvel. It was pushed back twice and retooled and re-shot. Also the villains are changed completely. And Jessica Chastain's role cut, and almost entirely re-shot per studio dictates. The studio changed the movie. Imagine what would have happened if Dark Phoenix came out when it was supposed to -- with two films, no less, got a huge audience and then people saw Captain Marvel...if you saw it, you'd understand why a plot-line with the shape-shifting Skrulls being the villains would be a problem.

I'm actually sort of glad they changed that. Because I found the villains they used a more interesting fit. But, I have a feeling that the writing might have been punchier in the first version, and both Tye Sheridan's Cyclops and Jessica Chastain's character would have had a lot more to do. Both characters felt a bit...cut short.

As earlier reported, I found the way that the film was marketed odd. Turns out that was also fouled up by the merger:

Disney Company absorb the once indomitable Fox. The deal could eventually result in the loss of anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 jobs, depending on whom you ask.

The situation has had longtime employees on the Fox lot suffering a kind of prolonged trauma since the merger was announced, in December 2017. To hear them tell it, they are being issued mostly vague, Orwellian-lite guidance that outlines dress codes and explains key-card access, but they have been left wanting in terms of business directives. In the middle of February, Fox’s marketing and distribution departments gathered with the filmmakers of Dark Phoenix, the latest X-Men installment from producer-director Simon Kinberg, to lay out their plans for the film’s June release. It was a typical meeting. Ad buys were discussed, and the publicity tour for the film’s stars, including Sophie Turner, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jessica Chastain, was laid out. But it was still disconcerting, both because of all the new faces in the room—a handful of high-end consultants have been hired temporarily to fill the jobs recently vacated by long-term employees—and because of the ad hoc approach the Fox marketing team was taking toward the film’s release, four months away.

“We know when we are dropping a trailer, but we are nowhere near where we should be at this time,” said one marketing exec who was at the meeting. “It’s frightening. I would be mad if I were a filmmaker.”

“What’s not normal is the elephant in the room, which is that most people there are not going to be the people that are still in the job when the movie opens,” added another attendee.

“Nobody has come around and said, ‘This is what’s going on.’ Why can’t they just tell us that there is no place for us? Why can’t they let anyone know?” said the marketing exec. “We are not leaving because we didn’t make money for the company or we did a bad job. We are leaving because of pure capitalism.”



Interesting. Does explain why the marketing effort doesn't quite fit with the movie.
Or feels like whomever did the marketing didn't really see the movie.


2. Lovely night, very mild. In the low 80s during the day, blue skies, and 70s dipping to the 60s tonight. My A/C got a break. It's only been on all winter -- because they overheat my building. On way home from movie, did stop for a bit to listen to Romeo and Juliet being performed in a park near the subway station. It seemed to be a good performance, but alas, I was tired and wanted to be home.