Dark Phoenix (2019)

Jessica Chastain plays an alien in Dark Phoenix who talks entirely in calm, beige threats, like a yoga instructor planning an invasion. This is the franchise’s second shot at its most famous comic story, and it somehow lands smaller than the first. Sophie Turner spends most of the runtime glowing, floating and looking upset, and the script never lets Jean be more than a problem for the others to solve. Jennifer Lawrence plays Mystique like someone counting down to her last day on set. Michael Fassbender arrives in the back half and brings the only real heat. The best scene is a train fight near the end, where the team finally uses its powers together and it clicks. Everything before it is people standing in rooms explaining their feelings. It made $252.4 million worldwide on a reported $200M, and critics gave it 22% on Rotten Tomatoes. A 3.1 because a story this big should never feel this flat. $618 says you rewatch the train fight on its own someday and never once miss the rest of the movie.

What works: Michael Fassbender’s Magneto brings real anger to the back half, and the train sequence is the one time the team fights like a team.

What doesn’t: Jean barely gets a personality beyond glowing and suffering, and the alien villains are so flat that the stakes never register.

Who it’s for: X-Men completists who need to see how this run of movies wrapped up, even if the answer is quietly.