The finale of the X-Men series had its world premiere in Hollywood on Tuesday night and woke up to varying reviews.
Dark Phoenix, which stars British actor Sophie Turner in the title role, is the 12th in the film series.
It’s Turner’s first major role since the end of Game of Thrones, where she played Sansa Stark.
The superhero film – based on the Marvel Comics X-Men characters – finds her character Jean Grey receiving transformative telepathic powers.
The culmination of the story follows the completion of another epic superhero series, The Avengers, which saw its finale, Endgame, break box office records.
But the early reviews suggest critics are lukewarm about the new film.
The Guardian gave it two stars, saying “the mutant franchise fizzles out forgettably”.
“Sophie Turner stars in Jean Grey’s 90s-set origin story that offers glimpses of intrigue before regressing into a dull CGI-fest.”
The Telegraph thought it was even worse, giving it just the one star, describing the X-Men ending as “X-Hausting, X-Cruciating, and little reason to exist”.
Better marks came from the The Daily Express who gave it four stars, saying the “spectacular finale is most mature of franchise since [previous film] Logan”.
Variety don’t do stars but did say the film “attains a note of ominous majesty, thanks to Sophie Turner’s presence as an X-Woman consumed by the awesomeness of her power”.
Finally The Independent thought Dark Phoenix was a two-star film too, and “a superficial disappointment with nothing fresh to say.”
They write that “the latest entry into the superhero canon has no emotional depth whatsoever.”
The X-Men series began in 2000 with the eponymous opener and the last film came in the form of Deadpool 2 last year.
The 11 films prior to Dark Phoenix have made around $5.8bn (£4.6bn) in box office sales and it was reported last month that the latest effort was in danger of having the worst opening weekend of the franchise.
Previouly, X-Men Origins: Wolverine had the lowest opening weekend, making a $53.1 million debut in 2009.
On the red carpet at the TCL Chinese Theatre in California, Turner – who acts alongside fellow Brits James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Nicholas Hoult, as well as US star Jennifer Lawrence – explained how she prepared for the emotional climactic role.
“I think I cried,” the 23-year-old told Marvel Entertainment’s YouTube channel.
“I think I stated to work out then realised she was telekinetic, so I decided not to work out and cried a lot.
“It was great – and ate my feelings!”
Her new brother-in-law Joe Jonas clearly enjoyed it.
Earlier in the week Turner also revealed that she wishes she’d been able to keep her Las Vegas wedding to his brother and bandmate, Joe Jonas, private, but that she found it “funny” that it was livestreamed on Instagram by ‘wedding DJ’, Diplo.
Source: BBC News/Getty Images.
