Of the nine films currently showing in local cinemas, six of them are either giant studio-remakes or sequels. It’s typical of the last few months, where trips to the cinemas may have triggered feelings of déjà vu, with some equation of superhero-sequel or Disney sequel/remake or monster remake commanding the majority of screens. This week, two continuing releases continue to thrive at the local box-office. “Dark Phoenix,” the seventh film in Fox’s main X-Men series is in its second week of release against “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” a quasi-sequel to the 2014 “Godzilla” which is part of another newly extended universe that will see Godzilla battling with King Kong in the near future.
In 2014, director Gareth Edwards’ sombre “Godzilla” was antithetical to the immediate spectacle of the franchise as it opted instead for a muted aesthetic. It worked to good effect for me, despite the criticisms of too little time with the titular monster. Michael Dougherty’s direction in “King of the Monsters” seems intent on course-correcting this sombre predecessor. And not for the better. This new film picks up five years after the first, in a world where Godzilla and titans like him are known and studied. The (mostly) new cast of characters are dealing with the fallout and ramifications of living alongside these ancient monsters, whose powers have been reignited and exacerbated by human interference. It’s a thoughtful, if familiar, science-fiction plot-point – human folly precipitating apocalypse. And, in its way, it’s a hook that announces “King of the Monsters” as vaguely conscious of the role of humanity in a world of fantasy: humanity as both destroyers and saviours of the world.
Except, despite this marginally thoughtful hook, plot and ideas are negligible in “King of the Monsters.” The film ostensibly surrounds paleobioligist Emma Russell, whose research and skill has been able to lead to the construction of a device that communicates with the titans. Although the film nods to a plot in Dr Russell having lost a child in the battle that ended the 2014 film, “King of the Monsters” is all about the monsters. We meet our first titan ten minutes into the film and it keeps launching news ones at us until the final battle sequence that sees Godzilla in a gargantuan face off with Ghidorah, an alien monster.
That final battle is a brawl that gives you all the high-energy thrills you could want from such a thing. It offers exactly the promised CGI-centred spectacle one expects from the franchise. But, the deployment of the battle also feels perfunctory and oddly dull in ways that represent “King of the Monsters” strange inability to sustain tension over the course of its run-time.
This issue is exacerbated when the human story takes over, with the majority of characters teetering between rote existences and preening tedium. Their incapacity to ground the (large amounts of the) film when they are the focus kills the momentum. But it is also doesn’t help that the consistent focus on the monsters makes the final battle lose some of the thrill of discovery since we’ve already seen them do so much. By the time we reach the would-be climactic end, we feel exhausted and just want it to be over. Within the film’s unsatisfying trajectory, the real titan is Vera Farmiga, who harnesses her acting prowess to superheroic heights in the role of Dr Russell to force some sort of emotional resonance and sense into this thing. Her final lines in the film make a valiant attempt to make this all worth it. She does not succeed. But her attempts are valiant and compelling enough to make the film around her more credible.
Luckily, “Dark Phoenix” fares better, even if critical response has been unkind. In this final film of the X-Men series, Jean Grey earns her own film as she must deal with her growing powers after a space mission goes awry. At first, “Dark Phoenix” seems like it may be biting off more than it can chew. The film’s opening, which (perhaps inadvertently) mimics the opening of the enjoyable “Shazam” from earlier this year, gave me pause. It has to work as a story of Jean Grey while functioning as an X-Men film, and that seems like a whole lot for a film like this to cover. And the opening scenes struggle a bit at building the world – Jean Grey’s ambivalence, the team’s ennui, and Professor Xavier’s pride at making mutants accepted tipping over into carelessness. But, by the time the film creates its first crisis – a solar flare envelopes Grey, making her inexplicably stronger – things get better.
“Dark Phoenix” is able to satisfy both sides of desire; it is compelling as an examination of that familiar superheroic ambivalence we’ve seen a lot of lately but also thoughtful in its examination of the isolation of being a hero, and the value of found families and (yes) the value of love. Certainly, the central thesis here is overly familiar. We know this story. And in this way, “Dark Phoenix” is not doing something particularly new for superhero stories, or stories of families. The expectation for the series to end on something explicitly unique may make what it is doing seem banal. What it is doing is crafting a narrative that depends, emphatically, on emotion and sensitivity that’s buoyed by spectacles that complement its story.
The film is aided by a stunning sound design that cultivates the sounds of fury and rage with stunning effect. Sophie Turner (of “Game of Thrones” fame) is, in some ways, riffing on her familiar performance as Sansa Stark. There is much of Sansa Stark in Grey’s own emotional journey, and even as the protagonist Jean is not the most dynamic player in her story. But it’s that earnest sincerity that “Dark Phoenix” has going for it. The film may seem to tremble at the umpteenth scene of Xavier extolling the all-conquering power of love to his team, and even though he and director Simon Kinberg seem to believe that, the “Dark Phoenix” is nuanced enough to recognise that love is always complicated and sometimes unsatisfying.
In this way, this sort of humble focus may seem muted for the end of a franchise, especially in the wake of the way the recent “Endgame” ended, with pomp and ceremony. Jean Grey is not necessarily a character one would extract as central to the series, and “Dark Phoenix” exacerbates that potential issue by pairing her with a villain who is more schematic and illusory than one would hope. But, it’s all towards an end-result that privileges the small-scale, ragtag camaraderie of the series and these group of characters. “Dark Phoenix” feels thoughtful and meditative in a way that surprised and left me surprisingly moved when the credits rolled.
“Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and “Dark Phoenix” are currently playing at local theatres.
