20th Century Studios
We all know it has taken a long time for The New Mutants to hit theaters. No point in me writing a full paragraph about it when it’s constantly talked about. I’ve been looking forward for this film for some time now. The idea of a horror X-Men/Mutant film intrigued me, especially since it had a talented and up-and-coming cast. I was ready for a different take on the franchise but was it worth the wait? Not really.
In terms of X-Men movies, The New Mutants is the quietest of the bunch. With many films featuring a world ending threat, New Mutants feels tame in its plot, but a unique one at that. Five young mutants, who are just discovering their abilities, are being tested at a secret facility against their will. The film features the mutants Magik, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot, and Mirage, all before they discovered their full potential and took on their mutant names. At times, this film feels like a YA movie with teenage angst. Relationships are building throughout the movie while a couple of them argue with each other. The film takes its time to develop the characters, showcase their fears, and help them discover their abilities. It trades in the big blockbuster moments for more personal moments for a young group of mutants.
The film attempted to give an understanding of the characters and their situations, but it was just surface level at best. These are characters with such potential, but I never felt connected to them or cared about their storylines. Fear plays a big part in the movie which is where the horror elements come into play. Writer Josh Boone, who also directs the film, chooses to use that a way to develop the characters and it doesn’t fully work. Each mutant who is held against their will gets a moment to explain their fear and then it is used against them throughout the movie. Mirage was given the most development throughout the film since she was the first character we were introduced to. Her powers are kept a secret throughout the movie, but honestly it was easy to figure out what they were if you didn’t know who she was from the comics. I wanted to know a lot more about Sunspot and Wolfsbane since I thought their powers were unique for the X-Men/Mutant world, but they only used their powers a few times in the film.
The film is significantly darker than any X-Men film I have seen besides Logan. Not only in terms of the story but also in the way that it is shot. The film is very contained and the facility they are kept at gives off a haunting vibe. Once the mutants start to use their powers, more vibrant moments come out such as Magik’s ability to transport and use the Soulsword, a bright sword that attaches to her arm when she is ready to use her powers. The visuals for the bigger moments involving the mutants fighting against a demon bear, yes, a demon bear, were impressive and offered different visuals than I have seen before in a comic book movie.
I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed with this film. I understand that it has been pushed back several times and Fox had plans to do more films like this, but for it being the last Fox X-Men/Mutant film, it was anti-climactic. It definitely feels as it should be released in the middle of the franchise, not the last film, but I guess that is what you get when you push back the film multiple times. I easily could have seen this movie spawning more films and then be integrated into some of the bigger X-Men movies. Now that Disney owns Fox, which includes all the X-Men characters, including the five in the film, I don’t think they will have any interest in continuing their story, which is shame because if given more films, they could have fleshed out the characters and continued to the craft the tone that was set up in this movie.
It isn’t the worst X-Men movie, that spot goes to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but it certainly isn’t the best either. I will say that I did appreciate the unique approach to the film, and I like how it stands out from other comic book movies. We are in an age now that filmmakers are taking risks with comic book movies and creating something different than the average comic book film. I see where Josh Boone wanted to take these characters, but it hardly reached a level that was exciting or compelling.
The New Mutants has a run time of 1 hour 38 minutes and is rated PG-13 for violent content, some disturbing/bloody images, some strong language, thematic elements and suggestive material.
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