X-Men Dark Phoenix Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

2. The Painfully Bad Dialogue

It's utterly baffling that Kinberg was the sole screenwriter of the highly entertaining X-Men: Days of Future Past, given that his script and especially his dialogue in this movie is so utterly atrocious.

Dark Phoenix's dialogue is a mish-mash of on-the-nose exposition and woefully generic "badass" superhero movie quipping. None of it sticks in the mind, at least not in a good way.

Audiences may struggle to forget, however, the cringe-worthy moment when Mystique tells Xavier (James McAvoy) the group should be renamed to the "X-Women."

Poor Jessica Chastain probably has to struggle worst of all, though, spouting all manner of convoluted nonsense in a flat monotone while trying to keep a straight face.

But throughout, the vast majority of the dialogue is hackneyed, trite and hilariously over-familiar.