Dark Phoenix | 2019 | PG-13 | – 1.6.5

Why is “Dark Phoenix” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action including some gunplay, disturbing images, and brief strong language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a few kissing scenes and cleavage revealing outfits; a car accident that causes the death of the driver with bloody wounds, several fight scenes that cause the deaths of people with bloody wounds and a couple of extended battle scenes that cause a lot of property damage, injuries, and deaths; and at least 1 F-word. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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After the death of her parents a young girl is taken to a special school for mutants with special abilities. As she grows to be a young woman (Sophie Turner) she is trained to use her powers for good and tries to control them, an accident imbues her with even more power and incredible powers invariably corrupt. Also with James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Alexandra Shipp, Evan Peters, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Jessica Chastain. Directed by Simon Kinberg. Several lines of an unidentified language are spoken with English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:53]

Dark Phoenix SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A man and a woman kiss in a few scenes. A man and a woman hold hands in a flying vessel as they soar out of the atmosphere.
► A woman wears a low-cut dress made of a clingy fabric that reveals cleavage and bare shoulders. A woman wears a low-cut top and T-shirt that reveal cleavage in several scenes throughout the movie. Men and women wear tight-fitting suits in a few scenes. Women wear low-cut tops that reveal cleavage.

Dark Phoenix VIOLENCE/GORE 6

 – A man and woman fight and the woman blows up a house with a blast of energy causing rubble to fall on a young man (we see him OK later), a man shoots at the woman and she deflects the shots and she throws a woman that approaches her into a pile of wood where she is impaled through the abdomen killing her (we see blood on the woman’s clothing and pointed pieces of wood are soaked with blood). A fight between people with special powers, alien beings and soldiers shows several participants being shot (we see wounds open and then quickly heal). A fight sequence shows a pointed piece of metal moving toward a woman’s eye, she crushes the metal helmet that a man is wearing and it breaks in pieces off his head (we see a bloody cut on his face), a blast of energy throws the man out a window and he crashes to the ground (we see some bloody wounds on his face), and a man throws a woman into a wall. A woman with special powers is stabbed through the back with a sharp object, she recovers and crushes her attacker’s head into fragments.
► An extended battle scene on a train shows alien beings attacking people with special powers, and humans firing weapons at them: we see aliens being struck and their wounds (they are not bloody) appear to heal quickly, and a man with special powers tears off pieces of metal and uses them to stab or encase alien beings; another person with special powers uses his pointed tail to stab an alien (we hear a crunch) and another man with special powers uses his long hair to choke others; a soldier is killed and we see blood in his mouth as he dies and an alien is thrown onto the tracks in front of a speeding train and struck (we do not see the aftermath), an alien jumps from a train into a helicopter and grabs the pilot through the windshield causing the chopper to crash, a man with special powers is slammed into a train car and lies motionless, a woman with special powers sends flashes of electricity into the air and is startled when they have no effect on an alien who absorbs the energy, and a man with special powers crushes a train car where several aliens are trapped. A woman with special powers blasts several opponents and causes them to burst into small fragments (no blood is seen); she holds an alien by the throat and causes an explosion from a build-up of energy that blasts them both to fragments. A woman with special powers holds a stranded space vessel together while a rescue takes place and a power source outside the ship explodes and the energy seems to enter her body (we see her floating unconscious and the skin on her face cracks with glowing light coming out and her eyes have glints of glowing embers in them).
► The radio station in a car changes by itself and a young girl in the back seat yells “Quiet!” causing the driver to slump over and swerve into the path of an oncoming truck; the car flips, glass shatters and we see the driver and passenger with bloody wounds as they lie still (the young girl is unharmed and we see a few flashbacks to this scene later in the movie) and the car is crumpled on the road. A woman reaches toward a man’s abdomen and we see the fabric of his shirt depress as he gasps and falls dead. A woman kills a man by reaching toward his chest and he gasps and falls to the floor (there’s no blood). A woman with special powers yells “Stop” and a blast of power bends trees and throws people standing nearby (we see a man with a bloody cut on his face and she lies on the ground unconscious with embers around her). A woman with special powers lifts a helicopter off the ground and a man with special powers struggles to keep the helicopter from crashing; it eventually speeds away. A woman with special powers causes a helicopter to start up and tip over breaking off the propellers and throwing chunks past people and one piece sticks into the side of a structure.
► Two people with special powers transform to what looks like clouds of smoke and back to normal inside a stranded space vessel, where they rescue several astronauts and return them to Earth. An unconscious woman wakes up and tells a man, “Get out of my head,” she becomes agitated and we see the man fall unconscious with blood trickling from his nose. A woman with special powers confronts a man about why he didn’t look for her after an accident and when she becomes agitated she breaks a glass in the man’s hand and the man collapses on the floor. A woman becomes angry and uses a blast of energy to throw police cars into the air as they approach her. A woman with special powers causes a man confined to a wheelchair to stand and walk up a flight of stairs (we see him grimacing in pain). A woman leaves her house to retrieve her dog that barks incessantly; when she finds it, she also sees movement through dark woods toward her (they’re beings that look humanoid), we hear her gasp and a crunch and the dog whimpers as one of the beings takes over the woman’s body (the action is off-screen).
► A woman’s face is missing part of the flesh and we see what looks like metal underneath; the outer flesh quickly reforms. Mourners gather in the rain around a dirt mound at a funeral. A woman touches a man’s face tenderly and he collapses, gently falling to the floor. A man reaches for a bottle of whisky on a table and the bottle shatters. A woman hyperventilates and rubs her shirt, which is soaked with blood. Soldiers with taser collars restrain several people with powers and we see them being held in a transport vehicle. A space shuttle blasts off and we see it in space spinning out of control later after a power surge; a group of people with special powers flies to meet the vessel and rescue the astronauts and we see holes in the fuselage of the shuttle.
► A man says of a woman, “If I find her, I’ll kill her.” A man gives a young girl a pen and tells her that she can use it for good or to poke someone’s eyes out. A young girl says, “I break things.” A new report talks about an order for mutant internment camps.

Dark Phoenix LANGUAGE 5

 – At least 1 F-word, 1 scatological term, 1 mild obscenity, name-calling (special, weird, crazy, scared little girl, bad, evil), exclamations (shut-up), 1 religious profanity (GD), 3 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus Christ, God, For God’s Sake). | profanity glossary |

Dark Phoenix SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man drinks glasses of whisky in a few scenes, several men and women drink wine with a meal, young people at a party drink punch (it is not clear if it is alcoholic), people are shown drinking whisky in a bar scene, and men and women drink wine at a celebration.

Dark Phoenix DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Mutants, evolution, promises, unchecked power, abandonment, evil, using power for good, truth, love, family, control, alien species, trauma, fear, taking risks, publicity, guilt, remorse, grief, vengeance, death of loved ones.

Dark Phoenix MESSAGE

 – Incredible power can be hard to control and it corrupts those that possess it.