Dark Phoenix

Turner is well-cast as Jean Grey, but she can't elevate this serviceable but unremarkable final X-Men film into the pantheon of memorable series endings. Writer/director/producer Simon Kinberg focuses on Jean's dark transformation, but that story comes at the expense of several characters who are limited to supporting/barely there roles. In other words, the X-Men who've made the previous First Class films watchable, funny, and clever aren't given enough screen time to shine. And some comic relief would have been welcome amid the grief and intensity of Jean's journey, but not even Quicksilver (Evan Peters) gets more than a zinger or two.

The action sequences are technically well-executed: a flurry of mutants fights first among themselves, then together against a common enemy. Fassbender and McAvoy, no longer the main characters, still play their key roles, but their interactions (until the end) are familiar and unoriginal. The crew deserves an award for Jean's impressive makeup, which apparently isn't just waterproof but also explosion- and near-apocalypse-proof: There's not a moment when Turner doesn't look positively luminous. Another memorable upside is that the film's main and most interesting characters are women, something Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) jokes about early on when she suggests that Charles change the name of the team to "X-Women." Perhaps in the next reboot, the franchise's women warriors will continue to be highlighted.