Dark Phoenix (2019) ✦ Full-Length Watchalong Reaction
Added 2025-02-15 16:15:00 +0000 UTCHi everyone! Up next in the X-Men series...
I'm really looking forward to your comments on this one. 😏 Thanks for watching!
If you'd rather watch on YouTube, click here.
✦ KL
Comments
Well. I had a quiet enough day at work so I multi-tasked and watched the reaction. You provided a very thought out review afterwards, but I did notice about half way through the movie there was no trademarked KL Sway which says a lot about how much you were or were not enjoying what you were watching. I also heard your call for someone who knows the comics to provide input, I don’t really see anyone else responding so I’ll give it a go. The first X-Men comics I read as a kid was the collection of The Dark Phoenix Saga. I mostly read backwards from there, so I’ve read X-Men from the 60’s through the 80’s. The movie lines up with the comic on how Jean attained the powers of the “Phoenix Force” in space when she encounters the solar flare. Everything after that is its own thing. Some background on Jean, she was one of the original X-Men created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee in 1963, her hero name was Marvel Girl. The X-Men had a history of going into space and working with alien species. Charles had a romantic relationship with an alien leader. Lilandra of the Shi’ar Empire. Space adventures and aliens were very common in X-Men comics. The story where Jean dies, resurrects, and takes on the title Phoenix happened in the late 70’s/early 80’s. Jean was the Phoenix for over 3 years. She slowly loses her humanity as the Phoenix and ultimately destroys a galaxy, killing billions. She then becomes the Dark Phoenix in an epic story that wraps up years of storylines. It’s what she is best known for and the whole story is gripping and heartbreaking. They have tried twice now (btw, same screen writer for The Last Stand and Dark Phoenix) to adapt it. But they can’t. The entire story of Jean as the Dark Phoenix is the equivalent of the Marvel Infinity Saga. Imagine someone trying to write one movie and shoehorn in the first 21 Marvel movies. Honestly, if you want to skip the comics, you can get a taste of classic X-Men comics in the cartoon series from the 90’s. It’s on Disney+ and they recently released a revival season called X-Men ‘97. I haven’t watched the revival yet, but I’ve heard good things.
Bryan Dempsey
2025-02-19 23:52:23 +0000 UTCLOL no worries! You can always watch my review to get an idea of what I thought about it!
kaiielle
2025-02-17 17:53:35 +0000 UTCI do rly wanna know your opinion and reaction to this movie but I don't think I can fully sit through the whole thing again😭 so I think I'll wait for the youtube edit lol
Nabila Rahmani
2025-02-17 17:43:10 +0000 UTCWill probably not shock you to learn that I liked and am looking forward to what you think of New Mutants -- although I will put an asterisk on that as it came out during the pandemic. As such, I saw it at a drive-in and it was not the best viewing environment as there was plenty I couldn't see and hear.
Tyler Foster
2025-02-16 23:27:04 +0000 UTCYeah, burnt out is definitely how I saw every actor with the exception of Michael Fassbender, whose performance felt the same to me compared to the previous movies. J-Law def felt "done" with what little we saw of her in this film.
kaiielle
2025-02-16 02:50:06 +0000 UTCDaryl & William: LOLLLL
kaiielle
2025-02-16 02:48:46 +0000 UTC😂😂
kaiielle
2025-02-16 01:29:31 +0000 UTCEh. I may just watch the Hidden Figures reaction again.
Bryan Dempsey
2025-02-15 21:59:39 +0000 UTCI acknowledge this film is many problems but I think going with a kind of incomplete script is probably as much to blame as rushing through production. I feel like the actors were getting burnt out. First Class 2011, Days of Future Past 2014, then Apocalypse 2016, and this 2019. I think J-Law was pretty much done with the character if I remember interviews correctly back then. ***A much easier way to consume some of the Phoenix story might be reacting to the X-Men Animated series. The story is closer to the comics. That entire series might be fun to watch like I did on a Saturday morning.
Christian Rennie
2025-02-15 20:29:41 +0000 UTC*grabs popcorn* THIS is the sort of timey-wimey brain-melting discussion I like to see here. 🍿
William
2025-02-15 18:51:44 +0000 UTCSee I'm reading all this, nodding along, and going yep, yep, cool, cool, interesting take on it all. As always, brings me right back to, offs do I hate prequels.... 🤣
Daryl
2025-02-15 18:51:41 +0000 UTCI am! I'm curious.
kaiielle
2025-02-15 18:44:20 +0000 UTCInsert The Doors song “THIS IS THE END”….wait…don’t tell me you’re gonna watch New Mutants???
boss435
2025-02-15 18:41:32 +0000 UTCHaha nah I wouldn't say that. Your comment just had me requestioning my own understanding of the timelines, is all.
kaiielle
2025-02-15 18:03:37 +0000 UTCYeah that one was my idiocy 😆
Nathan Jasper, the Artist Formerly Known as Primary
2025-02-15 18:02:59 +0000 UTCSo if they're altered versions, then we can make an assumption that Charles and Erik *aren't* quite as aged up as we see them in the Original Timeline. 😉
kaiielle
2025-02-15 18:02:10 +0000 UTCSo here's how I understand it. Original timeline: X-Men Origins X-Men First Class X-Men X-Men United X-Men Last Stand The Wolverine X-Men Days of Future Past In XOFP Wolverine enters his 1973 body so basically everything after Logan walks away from the team in Origins is changed. New timeline Origins up to Logan leaving First Class Dark Phoenix Altered version of events 1-3 Altered version of events Wolverine Deadpool Deadpool 2 The New Mutants Logan
Nathan Jasper, the Artist Formerly Known as Primary
2025-02-15 17:57:36 +0000 UTCAnd Stewart was just cast as Charles in Logan cause it made the most sense to. 😋 God I kinda hate these timelines hahaha so confusing
kaiielle
2025-02-15 17:55:56 +0000 UTCYeah I guess I'm confused cause I thought the first 3 X-Men films were "erased" because of Days of Future Past so they don't "count" now. My understanding is Logan is the only movie that happens after Dark Phoenix in the "new" timeline.
kaiielle
2025-02-15 17:53:20 +0000 UTCYes, true, but they do still have an altered version of the original three films and The Wolverine as well. Logan mentions in Logan "The Statue of Liberty was a long time ago" and there's a samurai sword in his bedroom. Hints that those events did happen in some form. I always assumed they happened in 2000 just like the original movies but that might have been my folly assuming they were fixed points. So maybe those things happen much later in the alter-world
Nathan Jasper, the Artist Formerly Known as Primary
2025-02-15 17:52:02 +0000 UTCDidn't those happen 20+ years after Dark Phoenix? I might be getting the new timeline wrong but if not, that's plenty of time for them to age up to what McKellen and Stewart looked like. I think Michael's natural aging in his face and James having a bald cap was good enough to try and bridge that gap of aging.
kaiielle
2025-02-15 17:48:31 +0000 UTCNot to mention Logan being the new ending set in the altered future as well
Nathan Jasper, the Artist Formerly Known as Primary
2025-02-15 17:46:52 +0000 UTCNo, it just altered that future. We see Stewart speak to his past McAvoy self and in the altered future we see Stewart's Charles catching Wolverine up on what had changed
Nathan Jasper, the Artist Formerly Known as Primary
2025-02-15 17:43:29 +0000 UTCDidn't Days of Future Past get "rid of" McKellan and Stewart's Erik and Charles?
kaiielle
2025-02-15 17:41:46 +0000 UTCI seem to be one of the very few that defends this movie and I will not apologize for it. I personally like this one far more than Last Stand's take on Dark Phoenix. In fact my only critique is that this is set in the 90s so in 7 years' time McAvoy and Fassbender will look like McKellan and Stewart? They must see some shit to rapidly age them lol
Nathan Jasper, the Artist Formerly Known as Primary
2025-02-15 17:39:41 +0000 UTCThey really can't seem to do the Phoenix storyline justice.
Christopher simeon
2025-02-15 17:15:27 +0000 UTCYep I agreed. Most, but certainly not all the actors phoned it in. Or in one particular instance zoned out completely. 🤣 What was this trying to achieve? Retreading old ground with an ever more confusing shifting of events. Indictive of a situation that looks like a studio and actor contract committal / cash grab.
Daryl
2025-02-15 17:01:47 +0000 UTCGotta experience 'em all! 😂
kaiielle
2025-02-15 16:51:40 +0000 UTCWatching my review to get an idea of what the reaction may be like is a move for a movie you don't like haha
kaiielle
2025-02-15 16:51:29 +0000 UTCI sincerely appreciate your commitment not to skip movies. But sometimes, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to just forget to watch one? Haven’t watched your reaction yet, but thanks in advance.
Joe
2025-02-15 16:44:50 +0000 UTCOh yes! I have been waiting to avoid this one. 🤣 Obviously absolutely zero shade on you. I always love spending some time seeing you smile in a watchalong. I do have to wonder if this one prompted some run time checks. Honestly, I can't remember if it was, like you know, really bad. Just that I was in no hurry to watch it again, ever. Oh go on then, I have a listen to your after thoughts with minimal context. 😃
Daryl
2025-02-15 16:37:56 +0000 UTCSame lol, now do i make myself watch it again or wait for the you tube edit :P
Chris Elkins
2025-02-15 16:28:09 +0000 UTCIt was really difficult picking a facial expression for the thumbnail for this one! 😅
kaiielle
2025-02-15 16:17:58 +0000 UTCDidn’t even watch yet, but your face in the thumbnail says it all 🤣🤣🤣
Ray H
2025-02-15 16:16:16 +0000 UTC
