OUT OF THE ASHES

Marvel’s mutants rise again in X-Men: Dark Phoenix Words MATT looker

I f fans felt that X-Men: The Last Stand botched its adaptation of the classic Dark Phoenix Saga storyline, good news comes with this rebooted second attempt. Long-term X-Men collaborator Simon Kinberg is reviving the plot for the latest film, causing it to rise very much like a… well, you get the idea.

This new film is a passion project for Kinberg, who not only wrote the script (his fourth in the X-Men franchise), but is making this his directorial debut: “[The film] was so clear in my head, emotionally and visually, that it would have killed me to hand this to somebody else to direct.”

Sophie Turner returns as Jean Grey, who unleashes her full powers when a space mission goes awry. Alongside her will be the other younger mutants introduced in X-Men: Apocalypse and the class of First Class: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult, as well as Evan Peters’ Quicksilver, and Jessica Chastain, who plays a mysterious shapeshifter who manipulates the Phoenix.

“This is probably the most emotional X-Men we’ve done and the most pathos-driven,” says McAvoy. Emotion? Power? Space missions? This looks like it could just be the Dark Phoenix fans have been waiting for.

director simon kinberg starring sophie turner, JAMES MCAVOY, MICHAEL fassbender, jennifer lawrence, JESSICA CHASTAIN eta 5 february 2019