Dark Phoenix Trailer: 9 Reasons To Be Worried
Ugly in every possible way.
The first trailer for Dark Phoenix has just landed, and it's safe to say the general fan response to it has been...indifferent at best?
If you were hoping to be pleasantly surprised by the likely final entry into this chronology of X-Men movies, everything shown in the trailer pretty much suggests it's going to be another generic, forgettable sequel on the level of Apocalypse or, gasp, maybe even The Last Stand.
While not everything in the trailer is bad - James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender bring their usual gravitas and Mystique's (Jennifer Lawrence) make-up actually looks not-awful this time - the trailer nevertheless does little to assuage a lot of the concerns fans have about the movie.
9. It's Scarily Reminiscent Of The Last Stand
While Dark Phoenix was always going to bear some inherent fringe similarity to X-Men: The Last Stand considering they both revolve around Jean Grey's transformation into the Phoenix, it's pretty surprising just how blatantly writer-director Simon Kinberg has recycled elements from Brett Ratner's infamous sequel (which Kinberg himself co-wrote).
From the concept of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) suppressing Jean's (Sophie Turners) abilities to her becoming a weapon manipulated by Magneto (Michael Fassbender), a clear abundance of flashbacks to Jean's childhood and a seemingly similar exchange between Jean and Cyclops (Tye Sheridan), it's all just a little too close for comfort.
Given Kinberg's insistence that he wanted to hew away from The Last Stand and tell a more vibrant, faithful rendition of The Dark Phoenix Saga, it's tremendously disappointing that this seems so similar to the widely-loathed previous effort. It's not a good look.