Dark Phoenix: 10 Ways It's The Worst X-Men Film Yet

2. We Hear More Of The Phoenix Than We Actually See It

Anyone who's familiar with the Phoenix - whether that be through the X-Men's comics or the nineties animated show - will know that it's an entity to behold. It imbues whoever wields it with an intense power, and it's almost always impressive to see.

The Last Stand struggled with this element last time out, and to Dark Phoenix's credit we do at least get to see the energy take flight in one or two scenes, but Jean barely ever uses it. Instead, the film devotes minutes upon minutes of screentime to talking about what the Phoenix is, what it can do, and why it's so important. It's all tell and no show.

By the team Jean fully embraces its power, viewers are treated to a spectacle that they've already seen in about a dozen X-Men films up until this point. She lifts and spins a train around, forces Charles to walk up the stairs in a questionable-at-best sequence, and then turns a few D'Bari to dust like a slightly more selective Thanos.

The Phoenix just doesn't invoke the kind of awe or terror it should, and for a film that caps off the X-Men series altogether, it's clearly insufficient.