Underrated? Not exactly, but this was far more entertaining than I was led to believe going into it. Don't get me wrong, I understand why people hate this. It’s ANOTHER messy telling of “The Dark Phoenix Saga” storyline this time plagued by reshoots, rewrites, and cut footage all thanks to Fox being acquired by the Disney dark lords, and flat acting from everybody not named Michael Fassbender that fails to deliver the needed emotion. It’s not a “good” movie in any conventional sense of the word, but I enjoyed it regardless. That’s because it captures the whole team dynamic better than the majority of the rest of the films in the franchise. I’ll maintain in the face of any opposition that, as fantastic as that first entry is, Apocalypse is what we originally should have gotten back in 2000 instead because it gave everyone involved more of a chance to shine rather than simply devolving into the Wolverine show, and if we had we would still be singing its praises to this very day. Dark Phoenix’s continuation of this quality can be seen the most in its action sequences. They’re not terribly exciting and are held back by some lackluster SFX, but showcase each hero’s abilities in ways that make them feel instrumental to victory in the battles. Which is good because they have one heck of an interesting foe to overcome. On top of Jean’s resurfacing trauma and newfound power boost causing her to act a little haywire, the X-Men must also contend with an alien invasion of sorts. It’s a nice change of pace from the typical supervillain archetype and succeeds where its peers who have tried something similar have failed by making the extraterrestrial menace truly creepy, weird, and fascinating. I wish we had gotten to learn more about them. They pair well with the title heroine’s internal struggle and exploration of Charles Xavier as anything other than a consummate leader to create a plot I was surprisingly invested in, even if it is hit at points with some horrendous dialogue.

aNd By ThE wAy ThE wOmEn ArE aLwAyS sAvInG tHe MeN aRoUnD hErE. yOu MiGhT wAnNa ThInK aBoUt ChAnGiNg ThE nAmE tO x-WoMeN.

• The one female character who doesn’t do anything other than stir the pot.

Despite ultimately coming off as half-baked, I would have loved it if they would have continued down this path. While even more flawed than Apocalypse (which was really just hurt by superhero fatigue and arriving about 16 years too late more than anything), it’s still a glimpse into the kind of X-Men flick I and many others have always dreamed of. The light Evolution vibes are a delight, for example. It’s a shame this younger incarnation of the mutants never got the outing they deserved and that their last hurrah is largely a disaster. If you read up on the troubled production you’ll find a quite a bit of studio interference behind the scenes led to a lot of promising content by removed such as the Hellfire Club, the Shi’ar, and an altogether larger element of the cosmic. Once again, a case of Fox making poor decisions that hurt the final product. All that being said, I nonetheless had a better time with this than I was expecting too. Unfortunately, the only ones likely to count themselves among me as a fan are going to be the most forgiving comic book devotees.