Dark Phoenix X-Men: Dark PhoeniX Rate and Review Thread (spoilers in spoiler tags)

[MagnarTheGreat]

I thought it was the best of the worst X-Men movies (X:Apocalypse, X:TLS, and XO:W). The bad news is the rest of the series outside that four were better (I'm not including Deadpool, not because it's bad, it's just not for me). I thought the actors were less on autopilot than they were in Apocalypse.

 

[The Original Bamfer]

I’ve watched it again and, man, I think I’m even more disappointed than before. So much so, I’d take it down a half point to a 5/10. So much wasted potential. I know I haven’t given a full review (and I probably never will considering how exhausting this movie is for me,) but I’m going to voice a few thoughts.

Even with all the off creative decisions - using the D’Bari, nixing the Shi’ar and Hellfire club, keeping things mostly grounded and repeating beats from TLS - this film could’ve been so much better. The script just fails at so much. Why are characters like Nightcrawler and Storm pointless outside of their action sequences? Even if they retained the same, low number of lines, said lines could’ve been utilized so much better to actually give them some character. This was supposed to be about a family divided. And, sure, Magneto and Beast were divided from everybody else. But what about EVERYBODY ELSE?!? Storm had that one *****y line about Jean after the funeral, but it never amounted to anything. She’s still there... basically in the background. Along with Kurt. Oh, Quicksilver might be dying? Let’s never mention him again! You want familial drama? Have Jean piss everyone off by revealing secrets about them - Peter hiding being Magneto’s son, Raven hiding being Kurt’s mother. Like, it’s one scene that would be tense, emotional and would tear this “family” apart and also resolve two major plot threads fans have wanted to see! It was begging to be written. Just, ugh.

The movie’s would-be strong suit seemed to be it’s action, but for whatever reason, the whole thing seemed to be hacked to death at the last minute. And I don’t think that was a decision made by an Oscar-winning film editor.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I wish there was a dislike button for posts like these.

You hate the classic animated series but you like the fox films? I love most of the films but the two parter pilot Night of the Sentinels is superior to all of them as a portrayal of the X-Men and the hardships they face.

Is this just an attempt to build up Dark Phoenix? Are you going to say X2 and DoFP aren't that good next?

Some people just have an issue with paying attention, then wonder WHY OH WHY AM I GETTING PICKED ON?

So... Let's recap... Dark Phoenix is dull and rather lackluster, but it's FAR from the train wreck online fans are making it out to be. Shock of shocks, you can think something is not the greatest thing in the world but also not think it's the worst cinematic sin of your lifetime as well.

And... Wait... Are you against the Fox films or for them cuz you switch gears to now claiming DoFP and X2 are as beyond criticism as the 90's Animated show? That's just... Odd.

To let you know... I like both X2 and DoFP but yes... They're both overrated generally by the fans in my view. A second installment of the X-Men films where on first watch once Marsden reappears in the third act and I have to remind myself that Cyclops... CYCLOPS... is actually in the movie... Yeah, that X-Men film misses some marks on general fealty to the comics but also in terms of what should be important character dynamics established in the first film itself. Likewise DoFP has issues as well. We've got once more a problem where Logan takes the lead, even though it's a story based upon Kitty Pryde as the protagonist. There was ZERO reason for this change, since you still could have integrated past Logan into the story and not change much of any of the film's outcome. It's especially frustrating since Ellen Page is a very talented actress and would have killed it as Kitty if she was given more to do than just hover over Hugh Jackman's prone body using pulled out of the writer's sphincter time travel powers. The film repeats the whole "Team up with Magneto to disastrous results" story from X2 and First Class. It contains some rather strange choices all around (How exactly does Magneto reprogram the Sentinels using railroad tracks? ) and the film arguably really starts the trend of exploiting Jennifer Lawrence for no other reason other than she's Jennifer Lawrence. Now... Are both films TERRIBLE? Not at all. There's great stuff in both. I for sure would say that DoFP is Singer's best X-Men film. But beyond any criticism or thinking that they were and are overrated by the fans generally? Sorry... I'll never not think that.

And... I'll never not think that calling the 90's toon "classic" is getting loose with the language. I've already stated the obvious issues with it as someone that watched it first run who was familiar with Marvel's Mutants long before the days of the toon or the Blue and Gold teams or Jim Lee. Again, if one takes off the rose tinted nostalgia goggles you will find a show that was poorly animated, silly in it's voice acting (apologies to the cast but the performances and the choices made were often laughably bad) and the attempts at "depth" are either hamfisted at best and inept at worse. It's best point was that it was trying, if failing most of the time, at some level of sophistication greater than the vast majority of the Saturday morning cartoons of the era... But even then it falls quite short of the excellence of many of it's peers from it's time such as Batman The Animated Series, Gargoyles and Exo-Squad. I get that the show was a big part of some fans' childhoods but that puts me nor anyone else under any obligations to walk on eggshells when it comes to the show's quality, or lack thereof actually.

Once more...



In context, out of context, whatever anyone wants to claim... None of that looked good or sounded good. After a watching entire seasons of that show I'm surprised I still have any brain cells, it's that poorly done. I watched it out of a sense of duty given the dearth of comic adaptations at the time but I knew even then that it was a sorry example all around of what the X-Men are all about.

 

[psylockolussus]

I’ve watched it again and, man, I think I’m even more disappointed than before. So much so, I’d take it down a half point to a 5/10. So much wasted potential. I know I haven’t given a full review (and I probably never will considering how exhausting this movie is for me,) but I’m going to voice a few thoughts.

Even with all the off creative decisions - using the D’Bari, nixing the Shi’ar and Hellfire club, keeping things mostly grounded and repeating beats from TLS - this film could’ve been so much better. The script just fails at so much. Why are characters like Nightcrawler and Storm pointless outside of their action sequences? Even if they retained the same, low number of lines, said lines could’ve been utilized so much better to actually give them some character. This was supposed to be about a family divided. And, sure, Magneto and Beast were divided from everybody else. But what about EVERYBODY ELSE?!? Storm had that one *****y line about Jean after the funeral, but it never amounted to anything. She’s still there... basically in the background. Along with Kurt. Oh, Quicksilver might be dying? Let’s never mention him again! You want familial drama? Have Jean piss everyone off by revealing secrets about them - Peter hiding being Magneto’s son, Raven hiding being Kurt’s mother. Like, it’s one scene that would be tense, emotional and would tear this “family” apart and also resolve two major plot threads fans have wanted to see! It was begging to be written. Just, ugh.

The movie’s would-be strong suit seemed to be it’s action, but for whatever reason, the whole thing seemed to be hacked to death at the last minute. And I don’t think that was a decision made by an Oscar-winning film editor.

Well Kinberg wrote and directed the film. He lived up to his already bad track record. Some people just don't improve over time and its clear to me, Kinberg wasn't gonna improve no matter how much pr lies he spread to convince people to watch the film. Kinberg will always be a mediocre writer and as a creative.

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

I thought this was sort of awesome. Tonally and aesthetically on point. A bit thin at the very end, but I thought the central conflict and tension with Jean and Charles was strong and satisfying.

I only wish there was more conflict with Scott throughout, with others trying to get him to let go. And he perhaps he could have been more emphasised in the climax and Jean’s “my emotions make me strong” bit.

(Also yeah, some of the lines a bit simplistic and cheesy. “You said you’d always come back to me” comes to mind, and Jean talking to herself in the rainy alley)

Action was way better than I imagined. Great use of everyone’s powers too, especially at the start. I also didn’t mind the small scale at the end. It started huge after all. I thought it was okay to have a more intimate finale.

Overall I thought it was a solid end to the prequel saga and the Fox franchise.

(the final shot was a bit too easy though)

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I thought this was sort of awesome. Tonally and aesthetically on point. A bit thin at the very end, but I thought the central conflict and tension with Jean and Charles was strong and satisfying.

I only wish there was more conflict with Scott throughout, with others trying to get him to let go. And he perhaps he could have been more emphasised in the climax and Jean’s “my emotions make me strong” bit.

(Also yeah, some of the lines a bit simplistic and cheesy. “You said you’d always come back to me” comes to mind, and Jean talking to herself in the rainy alley)

Action was way better than I imagined. Great use of everyone’s powers too, especially at the start. I also didn’t mind the small scale at the end. It started huge after all. I thought it was okay to have a more intimate finale.

Overall I thought it was a solid end to the prequel saga and the Fox franchise.

(the final shot was a bit too easy though)

I really didn't think this was as bad as critics and some posters made out. I was expecting a lot worse with Kinberg directing, but in the end it was mainly the script that was the problem.

 

[Legion]

Some people just have an issue with paying attention, then wonder WHY OH WHY AM I GETTING PICKED ON?

So... Let's recap... Dark Phoenix is dull and rather lackluster, but it's FAR from the train wreck online fans are making it out to be. Shock of shocks, you can think something is not the greatest thing in the world but also not think it's the worst cinematic sin of your lifetime as well.

And... Wait... Are you against the Fox films or for them cuz you switch gears to now claiming DoFP and X2 are as beyond criticism as the 90's Animated show? That's just... Odd.

To let you know... I like both X2 and DoFP but yes... They're both overrated generally by the fans in my view. A second installment of the X-Men films where on first watch once Marsden reappears in the third act and I have to remind myself that Cyclops... CYCLOPS... is actually in the movie... Yeah, that X-Men film misses some marks on general fealty to the comics but also in terms of what should be important character dynamics established in the first film itself. Likewise DoFP has issues as well. We've got once more a problem where Logan takes the lead, even though it's a story based upon Kitty Pryde as the protagonist. There was ZERO reason for this change, since you still could have integrated past Logan into the story and not change much of any of the film's outcome. It's especially frustrating since Ellen Page is a very talented actress and would have killed it as Kitty if she was given more to do than just hover over Hugh Jackman's prone body using pulled out of the writer's sphincter time travel powers. The film repeats the whole "Team up with Magneto to disastrous results" story from X2 and First Class. It contains some rather strange choices all around (How exactly does Magneto reprogram the Sentinels using railroad tracks? ) and the film arguably really starts the trend of exploiting Jennifer Lawrence for no other reason other than she's Jennifer Lawrence. Now... Are both films TERRIBLE? Not at all. There's great stuff in both. I for sure would say that DoFP is Singer's best X-Men film. But beyond any criticism or thinking that they were and are overrated by the fans generally? Sorry... I'll never not think that.

And... I'll never not think that calling the 90's toon "classic" is getting loose with the language. I've already stated the obvious issues with it as someone that watched it first run who was familiar with Marvel's Mutants long before the days of the toon or the Blue and Gold teams or Jim Lee. Again, if one takes off the rose tinted nostalgia goggles you will find a show that was poorly animated, silly in it's voice acting (apologies to the cast but the performances and the choices made were often laughably bad) and the attempts at "depth" are either hamfisted at best and inept at worse. It's best point was that it was trying, if failing most of the time, at some level of sophistication greater than the vast majority of the Saturday morning cartoons of the era... But even then it falls quite short of the excellence of many of it's peers from it's time such as Batman The Animated Series, Gargoyles and Exo-Squad. I get that the show was a big part of some fans' childhoods but that puts me nor anyone else under any obligations to walk on eggshells when it comes to the show's quality, or lack thereof actually.

Once more...



In context, out of context, whatever anyone wants to claim... None of that looked good or sounded good. After a watching entire seasons of that show I'm surprised I still have any brain cells, it's that poorly done. I watched it out of a sense of duty given the dearth of comic adaptations at the time but I knew even then that it was a sorry example all around of what the X-Men are all about.

The Dark Phoenix film IS a complete train wreck. It's a critical and commercial failure. The rotten tomato score is completely accurate and the film deserves all of the hate it has received.

You're defending it by saying it's not so bad and in the same thread bashing the classic animated series which did a near perfect adaptation of the dark phoenix saga. The best really that could be done for a Saturday morning cartoon.

You can find other articles proclaiming TAS as the definitive version of the dark phoenix saga but here is one:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/nerdist.com/article/dark-phoenix-x-men-90s-cartoon/?amp

It's not binary. I love both the TAS and the great Fox films. I think the good still outweighs the bad even with this film added to the scale. However, as a whole the franchise could have done a lot better at telling stories about the X-Men team.

No film is beyond criticism but you were already using this predictable tactic of bashing A to make B look better. I figured it was a matter of time before you or someone else brought up X2 and DoFP.

You can find videos on YouTube pointing out the worst moments of Batman as well... I dont really care though. I loved both series. Even if we assumed that the shows you mentioned are better than TAS (I don't think they are), that doesnt make X-Men rubbish and there were not "many" other shows airing during that period that were superior.

I think the dialogue is completely in-line with the comics the episodes were based. Maybe even an improvement given that some of the stories were already quite old.

I think it also established Apocalypse as a great X-Men villain. He was really a villain of the spinoff team X-Factor in the comics prior to the show airing and didnt appear in X-Men until X-Cutioner's Song. The show had some great stories featuring Apocalypse which seem to be mostly original: Time Fugitives, Obsession, and Beyond Good and Evil.

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

The only positive thing that I can say about this movie is if you are an insomnia sufferer as I am. Then you have found a cure...
I literally fell asleep multiple times during this snoozefest of a movie.

 

[Havok83]

Finally saw it and gave it a 5. The first act was decent enough but then I realize it feels as if nothing hs happening in this film. Its quite boring and even the action scenes did nothing for me. It felt very dated and I see why many consider it one of the worst X-men film

 

[Rita Steele]

This isn't a Suicide Squad level disaster that the RT scores prepares you for and as a first time director Kinberg is at least servicable.

But as an X-men film and a Dark Phoenix adaptation is dreadfully limited and ashamed of itself. Kinberg doesn't develop any character in the film and Jean's turn falls completely flat. It's a film about her survival and i couldn't care less if she lives or dies.

There are some well-acted scenes and the train sequence is creative and exciting but apart from that it's a disappointment and sums up the wasted potential of this franchise overall. 5/10 from me.

 

[EnDz0n3]

Some people just have an issue with paying attention, then wonder WHY OH WHY AM I GETTING PICKED ON?

So... Let's recap... Dark Phoenix is dull and rather lackluster, but it's FAR from the train wreck online fans are making it out to be. Shock of shocks, you can think something is not the greatest thing in the world but also not think it's the worst cinematic sin of your lifetime as well.

And... Wait... Are you against the Fox films or for them cuz you switch gears to now claiming DoFP and X2 are as beyond criticism as the 90's Animated show? That's just... Odd.

To let you know... I like both X2 and DoFP but yes... They're both overrated generally by the fans in my view. A second installment of the X-Men films where on first watch once Marsden reappears in the third act and I have to remind myself that Cyclops... CYCLOPS... is actually in the movie... Yeah, that X-Men film misses some marks on general fealty to the comics but also in terms of what should be important character dynamics established in the first film itself. Likewise DoFP has issues as well. We've got once more a problem where Logan takes the lead, even though it's a story based upon Kitty Pryde as the protagonist. There was ZERO reason for this change, since you still could have integrated past Logan into the story and not change much of any of the film's outcome. It's especially frustrating since Ellen Page is a very talented actress and would have killed it as Kitty if she was given more to do than just hover over Hugh Jackman's prone body using pulled out of the writer's sphincter time travel powers. The film repeats the whole "Team up with Magneto to disastrous results" story from X2 and First Class. It contains some rather strange choices all around (How exactly does Magneto reprogram the Sentinels using railroad tracks? ) and the film arguably really starts the trend of exploiting Jennifer Lawrence for no other reason other than she's Jennifer Lawrence. Now... Are both films TERRIBLE? Not at all. There's great stuff in both. I for sure would say that DoFP is Singer's best X-Men film. But beyond any criticism or thinking that they were and are overrated by the fans generally? Sorry... I'll never not think that.

And... I'll never not think that calling the 90's toon "classic" is getting loose with the language. I've already stated the obvious issues with it as someone that watched it first run who was familiar with Marvel's Mutants long before the days of the toon or the Blue and Gold teams or Jim Lee. Again, if one takes off the rose tinted nostalgia goggles you will find a show that was poorly animated, silly in it's voice acting (apologies to the cast but the performances and the choices made were often laughably bad) and the attempts at "depth" are either hamfisted at best and inept at worse. It's best point was that it was trying, if failing most of the time, at some level of sophistication greater than the vast majority of the Saturday morning cartoons of the era... But even then it falls quite short of the excellence of many of it's peers from it's time such as Batman The Animated Series, Gargoyles and Exo-Squad. I get that the show was a big part of some fans' childhoods but that puts me nor anyone else under any obligations to walk on eggshells when it comes to the show's quality, or lack thereof actually.

Once more...



In context, out of context, whatever anyone wants to claim... None of that looked good or sounded good. After a watching entire seasons of that show I'm surprised I still have any brain cells, it's that poorly done. I watched it out of a sense of duty given the dearth of comic adaptations at the time but I knew even then that it was a sorry example all around of what the X-Men are all about.

Are you ok?

 

[Zyraquis]

Finally watched it on a long haul flight. Apparently someone thinks an overuse of close ups (hello nostrils) and dramatic music is what a good movie made. Except it’s not. And the predictable dialogue ...Exhibit A: “The only person afraid of your power ...(pause, say it with me, everyone and his mother know what follows)... is you (who would have thought?!)”.

4/10 and I feel generous

 

[Catoti]

I saw the trailer and immediately hated it.
These reviews are proving my point.
Should still watch it at some point for the sake of it.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

So with the quarantine, I have a lot of time on my hands and I finally broke down and watched Dark Phoenix...and I pretty much hated it. It is just so dull and lifeless from the dialogue to the performances. "Going through the motions" the movie, basically. It seemed like pretty much everybody phoned it in. Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain looked like they would rather be anywhere else, but even the likes of McAvoy and Fassbender aren't very good here which I found really disappointing as I have always really liked them in these roles. The script is atrocious. The dialogue is mostly boring exposition with no emotion. Pretty much everyone but Xavier, Jean, Beast, and Mystique are given nothing to do. Why is Magneto in ths movie? He's my favorite character in this franchise, but he serves absolutely no purpose to this story. The train sequence is pretty good, but it is followed by a horrible final fight with Jean vs. the Not-Skrulls. They also keep driving the point of what a bastard Xavier is and it just confused me because I'm not really sure what he did that was that bad. Maybe he could have been more honest with Jean, but he took a chid who was abandoned by her father and legitimately tried to help her. That's his big crime? Yet the script treats him as being worse than Magneto. And The Dark Phoenix itself is handled even worse here than in The Last Stand. At least in Last Stand she had some impressive feats like when she destroyed her home and at the end where she levels Alcatraz. She doesn't do nearly enough (and I think the movie would have been better off focusing on The Cure and leaving The Dark Phoenix out entirely), but in the little time she has she really does come across as this powerful unstable force of nature who leaves destruction in her wake. What does she do here? Fling Mystigue across the street? Make Xavier walk up some stairs? Fly into the sky a few times? There is no sense of her being this intergalactic god that she's described as being. Jean was probably more impressive in the last movie when she took out Apocalypse than anything she does here, and since the movie is called DARK PHOENIX that's a major problem.

It was just painful, and I say that as someone who likes most of this franchise. I found it to be easily the worst X-Men film. I even liked Origins better. At least that had a good dynamic between Hugh Jackman and Liev Schrieber, a good cameo from Ryan Reynolds, Danny Huston was a passable (if generic) villain, and it had a small handful of good looking sequences (such as the opening credits montage). This was supposed to right the wrongs of The Last Stand, but ended with something much worse than that film was.

2/10. It was that bad.

 

[samsnee]

Yeah I caught this too. It was nice they tried to flush out the Phoenix storyline more this time around but end of the day, it’s still a rehash of the same story with nothing new to add.

 

[Erzengel]

And of course, focusing in on Xavier's "mistake' and basically nothing on Scott being her anchor.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

And of course, focusing in on Xavier's "mistake' and basically nothing on Scott being her anchor.

At least he was actually in this one for more than 180 seconds though.

 

[psylockolussus]

The Professor was more memorable in X3 than in Dark PhoeniX.

 

[Kahran Ramsus]

The Professor was more memorable in X3 than in Dark PhoeniX.

His storyline in this one doesn't work. The scene at the end on the train where he confesses about how he was the real bad guy was so forced it was painful to watch.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

A school teacher designs a shuttle for NASA that can't travel that can't travel higher than the Troposphere or the Strasophere was approved by NASA and used to travel higher than where it was designed for.....

The whole movie continues being this dumb, it doesn't take a break from its own stupidity.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Watched is again tonight myself for the first time since the cinema, and I still don’t think Sophie Turner gets the credit she deserves for her performance.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I watched both Apocalypse and DP today to finish my First Class X-Men watch. And while they are a HUGE step down from FC and DOFP. I still enjoy both.

Apocalypse is too long and DP too short, but the cast really make these movies, and McAvoy and Fassbender always bring it. And Sophie Turner doesnt get enough credit for her DP performance.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

i remember seeing this movie in a completely empty theater and I was just sad thinking how low simon kinberg had sunk the x-men franchise. I mean, sure we have Deadpool 1, 2 and Logan, also just a few years removed from DOFP, but man..... what a stinker.

 

[Hand Banana]

The rotten tomato score is completely accurate and the film deserves all of the hate it has received.

Necro, I know. I’m just curious if you still feel that way? Because Josh Boone revealed last year that the movie was always meant to be a two-parter up until Disney bought the studio after the movie was completed. Stating that both it and New Mutants sold were re-edit movie to remove any dangling plot threads that were mean due to make more standalone.

Getting that year of gap in between seeing it then and seeing it now, the thing that was the most surprising was that I liked it. I was like, if all it takes is not seeing your movie for a year two like it again and actually really believe that it’s good, that’s what you need. Because Knate and I really did fall in love with it again. And we did a little bit of things to try to free it from pre-merger plans that Fox had for the “X-Men” franchise that were cooked into our movie when we shot it. We never got a chance to reshoot or even do pickups, which 95% of movies do. It was just all sort of frozen in limbo.

And everybody went to go work on “Dark Phoenix” because it cost so much, because the cast was so lucrative. Even though our movie tracked better, had way higher [amounts of] people looking at the trailer than ever did “Dark Phoenix,” it was all hands on deck because that movie was supposed to be two movies. And when the merger happened, all those plans sort of went to the wayside. So, everybody had a mess to clean up to some degree or another to make the movies sellable and able to put out in the world. Mine much less than “Dark Phoenix” because we didn’t have to change very much to complete it. We just had to not do a post-credits scene that we had planned and snip out a couple bits of dialogue that sort of expanded into things you would have seen in another movie.

Then we got the concept art of the Hellfire Club and the special effects supervisor stating this:

io9: There was a lot more Phoenix spectacle that could have been in the film that audiences went into the film expecting to see. Do you regret that they were dialed back?

Butler: Not for the film Simon made. For the film that Dark Phoenix is, there just really wasn’t a space for that take on the Phoenix, I think. The story of how Jean becomes the Phoenix deserves its own time and space to breathe. All of the more over-the-top stuff wouldn’t have fit—it would have had to be a different movie on a conceptual level for the spectacular stakes to feel right here. If anything, that part of the Phoenix belongs in the second part of a two-film story. The idea of being the most powerful creature in the universe is interesting, but you need a really cosmic style story to explore that.

When you put all the pieces together, it is very much obvious that the movie isn’t suppose to be an adaptation of the whole saga, just the Black Queen arc. Albeit the villains are different but the basic narrative and themes are the same. And the ending with Jean flying off into space was likely setting up the cosmic part of the story with Jean eating a star.

Someone recently posted an comparison video showing this.



So most of the hate it got was based on the misconception that it was an adaptation of the whole saga and a lot of the unfavorable reviews were based on that misconception as well. And I don’t know why I (and the rest of the fanbase) didn’t see it sooner since Olivia Munn said it was a two-parter after it was shot. It was obvious.

It reminds me of how people didn’t pick up on the fact that Starship Troopers was an obvious satire.

 

[Hand Banana]

And The Dark Phoenix itself is handled even worse here than in The Last Stand. At least in Last Stand she had some impressive feats like when she destroyed her home and at the end where she levels Alcatraz. She doesn't do nearly enough (and I think the movie would have been better off focusing on The Cure and leaving The Dark Phoenix out entirely), but in the little time she has she really does come across as this powerful unstable force of nature who leaves destruction in her wake. What does she do here? Fling Mystigue across the street? Make Xavier walk up some stairs? Fly into the sky a few times? There is no sense of her being this intergalactic god that she's described as being. Jean was probably more impressive in the last movie when she took out Apocalypse than anything she does here, and since the movie is called DARK PHOENIX that's a major problem.

Necro, I know. But there is very good reason for that as I stated above. It is because Jean wasn’t suppose to be the Dark Phoenix until at the very end of the movie where she flies off into space to potentially destroy a star in the cancelled sequel. The cast and crew pretty much say this in the behind the scene content.

In the original storyline Jean is only the Dark Phoenix for two issues. It was never really about her causing havok but a psychological character study on her mental health. Which is what the movie basically tried to be.

I’m not saying you should like it, but those type criticisms were never exactly fair.

EDIT:

They also keep driving the point of what a bastard Xavier is and it just confused me because I'm not really sure what he did that was that bad.

Not properly dealing with trauma can make it worse and lead to something like PTSD, which is basically what happened to Jean.