There were a lot of reasons to complain about ‘X-Men: The Last Stand‘ with its attempt to tell an iteration of The Dark Phoenix Rising story, and now we’ve learned that some of those complaints might be carrying over into ‘Dark Phoenix’ as well. While acting and story choices were all issues, it was a large straying from the source material and the new take on Jean’s transformation into the Phoenix that had fans up in arms and didn’t thrill audiences. Unfortunately, many of the aspects from the comic story are also going to be missing from ‘Dark Phoenix’ which is going to put even more of a damper on the expectations of those who loved the original books.
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As to how and why much of the original story was cut, writer and director Simon Kinberg has shared that:
“Early on, I felt like I really wanted to focus the movie on our main characters and I really wanted to focus upon Jean’s struggle. I wanted the movie to feel grounded, and I wanted it to feel emotional and intimate, and not have too many things that would distract or take away from Jean’s evolution, deevolution, struggle, final decision in this film. I wanted that arc to feel like it was a really emotional experience for the audience. And so things like the Hellfire Club [and the] Shi’ar Empire felt as though they were such huge subplots or plots from the original saga that they could potentially take away from the focus on Jean and the X-Men. And so instead of doing Lilandra as a character, which would require the relationship with Charles and all what comes with that, I made Jessica’s character sort of an amalgam of different alien characters that are part of, in a way, resembling this Shi’ar storyline but not going all the way there.”
With audiences not having had enough time to create the same emotional attachment with Jean as the comic readers had been able to, putting a focus on the character was likely the right decision. However, with two of the significant aspects being removed from the film, it will be interesting to see if the story feels less epic in scale.
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Are you looking forward to checking out ‘Dark Phoenix’ on the big screen? Do you feel that the narrative will be hurt without the Hellfire Club or Shi’ar storylines coming into play or was cutting them the right choice? Share your thoughts in the comments below, True Believers!
This is the story of one of the X-Men’s most beloved characters, Jean Grey, as she evolves into the iconic DARK PHOENIX. During a life-threatening rescue mission in space, Jean is hit by a cosmic force that transforms her into one of the most powerful mutants of all. Wrestling with this increasingly unstable power as well as her own personal demons, Jean spirals out of control, tearing the X-Men family apart and threatening to destroy the very fabric of our planet. The film is the most intense and emotional X-Men movie ever made. It is the culmination of 20 years of X-Men movies, as the family of mutants that we’ve come to know and love must face their most devastating enemy yet — one of their own.
‘Dark Phoenix’ will rise in your local theaters on June 7th, 2019!
Source: Screen Rant
