Dark Phoenix Trailer: 9 Reasons To Be Worried

2. It's Simon Kinberg's Directorial Debut

Perhaps even more questionable than this movie revolving around the least-capable actor in its entire ensemble is the fact that it's the directorial debut of franchise writer Simon Kinberg.

Alarm bells always go off when a studio hands a mega-budget project to an inexperienced talent such as an indie filmmaker, let alone someone who has never even directed a single short film before.

Though Kinberg has clearly spent a lot of time on X-Men sets over the years and is basically trying to replicate Bryan Singer's visual style here, the trailer doesn't instil much confidence in him bringing much stylistic brio of his own to the table.

It's more than just the bland and unappealing visuals mentioned earlier, though: Kinberg has no experience working one-on-one with actors and figuring out how to shape a scene tonally. This could very well explain why the movie's re-shoots are so extensive.

Apocalypse may have been disappointingly generic, but it was still assembled by an experienced craftsman, whereas Dark Phoenix is being tackled by a total blank slate. Plus, as Singer has zero involvement with the production, Kinberg won't have a steady guiding hand to Sherpa him through the process.