X-Men: Dark Phoenix

Game of Thrones mainstay Sophie Turner returns as Jean Grey - and then some - in this star-studded chronicle of the young mutant's transformation into Dark Phoenix, the most powerful being in the galaxy. This is a robust revisit to the X-Men universe (based on the seminal 1980s comic-book story) and the gang's (almost) all here - Professor Xavier (James McAvoy), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Magneto (Michael Fassbender) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult). When the team's daring rescue of a space shuttle sees Jean absorb enormous cosmic power, no one knows how to control it, least of all the woman herself, with tragic consequences. The all-powerful Dark Phoenix is compelled to roam the world, leaving her wide open to the machinations of Jessica Chastain's mysterious alien, whose human form of a woman with no eyelashes, white hair and high heels ups the evil ante considerably. Fassbender, Kodi Smit-McPhee (as Nightcrawler) and Evan Peters (as blond speed king Quicksilver) are the standouts, while Hans Zimmer's score plays an essential part in the unfolding excitement. Under the able debut direction of writer/producer Simon Kinberg, this pacey instalment brings a close to 20 years of X-Men films and the birth of a fresh, new franchise once 20th Century Fox has completed its merger with Disney.