One of the biggest hurdles in front of the latest Fox “X-Men” film, “Dark Phoenix,” is the fact that the storyline featured in the film is the same that was adapted back in “X-Men: The Last Stand.” And if you’re a fan of the comic books or the films, then you probably know that ‘The Last Stand’ is far from a quality piece of cinema. In fact, it was so bad, Fox rebooted the entire franchise with the follow-up, “X-Men: First Class.” Well, writer-director Simon Kinberg has decided to tackle the storyline for the upcoming “Dark Phoenix,” and has recently talked about his surprising inspiration and why he’s apologizing for ‘The Last Stand.’
“I’m sorry for ‘X-Men 3,’” said Kinberg at this weekend’s NYCC (via EW). “We tried to tell the ‘Dark Phoenix’ story and we didn’t do it properly. So, with this ‘Dark Phoenix’ story there is no ‘cure’ plot, there is no other plot. It is the Dark Phoenix story, as told in comics, as told in the cartoons.”
One thing sticks out with that statement. He seems to allude that the major issues with ‘The Last Stand’ revolve around the cure subplot. However, as many would attest, the real issues were more about direction, writing (courtesy of Kinberg), acting, and how badly the ‘Dark Phoenix’ storyline was treated. The cure plot was way down the list of issues.
However, regardless of the details, the apology is welcome. He continues, “Sophie [Turner] is the center of the film, that’s why she’s the one person that’s in the teaser poster. The entire movie revolves around her. It’s a movie that goes into space and is cosmic, very much inspired actually by what [Taika Waititi] did with ‘Thor’ — even though the tone is totally different — but just the ability to make a character movie that still feels grounded, and fun, but is in whole other universes. Jessica Chastain’s character plays an alien, and that’s all I can tell you about that. But, yeah, it’s the ‘Dark Phoenix’ story and if you’ve read that comic I think you’re going to like the movie a lot.”
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Fans have been waiting for years for Fox to do the “Dark Phoenix” storyline justice on the big screen. So far, expectations have been tempered due to the first, underwhelming trailer for the film. That being said, it appears that Kinberg has learned something, even if it’s from the odd influence of Waititi’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” and will hopefully give audiences one final quality “X-Men” film before Disney reboots the whole franchise in the coming years.