Dark Phoenix- 4/5

After an abysmal 'Apocalypse' - I was ready to give up on the X-Men franchise. However, after seeing the trailer to The Dark Phoenix, I decided to give this franchise a second chance. I was very pleasantly surprised at how this film turned out, and I would rate it the second best to the rebooted franchise (The First Class - still taking the lead in quality). The film begins with the introduction of a young Jean Grey and how Professor X adopts her. The story transitions into her new found power and the lack of control around it. She is the lead in this film and so are some of the other female mutants. They lead the film intelligently and in a way that is not tacky. They even stand up to Professor X and almost write him as a bad person. Alpha-male critics will hate this, and it's quite obvious now why this has scored quite low in Rotten Tomatoes. I am not going to label this film 'Feminist' - but it certainly challenges the way male mutants are treated over the female mutants. Sophie Turner as Jean Grey is outstanding. Her performance is worth the ticket price, and she makes this movie a success. A surprising turn from Jessica Chastain is well worthy a mention - she is the antagonist of the film, and plays a cold and tough villain exceptionally well. It is always welcome to see J.Law in a movie and Alexandra Shipp as Storm was just epic. It's also worth mentioning that the special effects and action sequences are a cut above the rest of the films from the franchise. Fans of the franchise may love this film, and if they don't they would agree that it is a step up from Apocolypse.