REVIEW: Before we begin I feel a need to reiterate something about myself. When I go to movie screenings and hear other critics talking about movies, more times than not they are bashing pretty much anything on the screen. It’s like they are anxiously waiting to see and say anything negative about a movie. I call them movie haters. I’m quite the opposite. I’m a fan of movies and I love them. I’m a regular movie goer kind of person like many of you. I’m looking for what I can praise about the movie, and even more so than that, did the movie entertain me. I give every movie the benefit of the doubt and if the movie entertained me for an hour and a half to two, well then the movie did it’s job. That being said, do you like pizza? How about ice cream, or chocolate, or a nice juicy burger? Yeah this is “junk food” and it’s probably bad for you to a degree but you still enjoy it whenever you have some, right? Do you ever get tired of pizza (or any indulgence)? You might get a bad pizza every now and then, but you still love pizza regardless, and you’re not going to give up on it. This is how I feel about movies, and more specifically, superhero movies. Some are stronger than others, but I still love them and don’t get tired of them (sorry). Now that being said, this movie was a lot better than I thought it would be. Many of you I’m sure are thinking, not another X-Men movie, geez, here we go again. I still love them, so bring it on. This one was actually pretty good.

Young Jean Grey: They say you can fix me?
Professor Charles Xavier: Jean, you are not broken.

The year is 1975 and Jean is discovering that there is something inside her that is extremely powerful and hard to control. She’s not an evil person, but this power can be very dangerous. Who better to help her with this than Charles Xavier. By the way, Summer Fontana, who plays young Jean Grey, is completely spot on with her performance, a real treat.

Raven: Charles, what did you do?
Professor Charles Xavier: I had to keep her stable. I protected her.
Raven: From the truth? There's another word for that.

Jump to 1992, a good while after the events of Apocalypse, and Charles has accomplished a major goal, acceptance of mutants and the ability to aid humanity in times of need and truly be the superheroes that the X-Men were meant to be; but at what cost. There is a falling out, and to top it off we now have to deal with this Dark Phoenix. So the real question is, what is the Matrix, eh, oops, sorry, I mean what is the Dark Phoenix?

Jean Grey: I'm scared. And when I lose control, bad things happen to the people I love.

The movie opens with that little detail that I do get a kick out of which is the highlighting of the X in 20th Century FoX. As mentioned, this film, even though it’s number what 8, 9, 10, 11 whatever in the X-Men saga, is not so bad. It nicely blends and balances a good amount of drama with a healthy portion of action. I will admit there is some cheesiness and some slow moments, but I think it’s tolerable. After so many films, you start to get attached to these characters and releasing another film to me is just an opportunity to check up on them and see what’s going on with them lately. In this case, they are facing a devastating challenge. Speaking of devastating challenges, Sophie Turner did a good job reprising her role as Jean Grey. On top of that fact, she really looks the part. All the other crew were as good as always I would say, and now we’ve added Jessica Chastain to the mix. Her performance was just what the doctor ordered, stoic, ice cold, and evil. She did good. That albino look was unnerving. The storyline was interesting, again, better than I thought it was going to be. At least the whole phoenix thing is explained. Another aspect worth mentioning was the invigorating musical score by Hans Zimmer. Yeah, it was that noticeably good that I’m even bringing it up. Director Simon Kinberg does not disappoint with his directorial debut. Sure this is not the best of the X-Men collection but it’s not the worst either. If you are an X-Men fan, I believe you will enjoy this film. If you are out of the X-Men loop, you might be a little lost so it would be a good idea to see some of the predecessor films.