Spoilers ahead...
(of course)
(If you haven't seen it, go read something else)
(I warned you)
(Don't complain to me)
Well, by and large, I thought it was a reasonbly good movie, and a reasonably good adaptation of the overall themes of Dark Phoenix. There were a number of changes, most of which made sense within the relatively narrow confines they were allowed by being a movie. First, and most importantly, was that they elimanted the entire "cosmic" aspect of the story. No Sh'iar, no hint that the Phoenix was a truly cosmic force. At least the latter is actually more in tune with the story as originally written (though of course it's long since been retconned to being a cosmic force).
I did find it more than a tad odd that we never saw the firebird in the sky. With modern CGI, that graphic shouldn't have been any tougher than 73000 other things they did in the movie, it would have been impressive, and is part and parcel of the entire character of Phoenix.
So...
The Good: The "younger" X-Men. Iceman, Rogue and Kitty Pryde all showed well in this movie. I'm not surprised by Rogue's choice, and Kitty was a very nice "young" Kitty (c UXM 155 or so). Heh, a battle of wits betwen Juggy and Kitty? There's an unfair fight for ya. Peter didn't get nearly the time to shine that the others did though.
The Bad: Some of the changes in characters. Both Psylocke and Multiple Man are now evil mutants? There were lots of mutants they could have worked in as flunkies. Maybe they couldn't have used the "sat-image" bit, but that was a minor enough thing that it was no great gain. For that matter, bring in Wanda and Pietro.
The Ugly: Ok, this is by far my biggest gripe with the movie. It's really two fold. First of all, why did they get rid of Scott like that? I'll admit, since we never had a body, I kept expecting him to pop up in the ending fight, but he didn't. Why did some bonehead Hollywood director decide that they had to shift Wolverine into the prime role in the movie? What's more, is that they missed the fact that in the original story, Jean found the strength within herself to take her own life, knowing the stakes that were at hand. Instead, it's Wolvie, Wolvie, Wolvie.
Still, I'll give it an overall recomendation. It's not perfect (and not as good as X-2), but it at least understands the overall themes of the X-Books. For recent comic movies, not as good as Bat Beyond (haven't seen V yet... we have a very limited theater selection here, will be forced to wait until the DVD comes out I think). Hopefully, Supes will be better.
(On a side note: My Ex-Girlfriend's a Superhero has a very amusing premise. May be a waste of film, but the premise has serious potential.)
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