The New Mutants (2020 Film) Review

The much-delayed remnant of a franchise long gone has been released at long last. Does "The New Mutants" prove it was worth waiting through its many setbacks to see?

Five young mutants must band together if they are to escape a shady facility, achieve freedom, and conquer the forces that keep them locked away.

Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, and Henry Zaga star as the film's five young mutants: Rahne Sinclair, Illyana Rasputin, Samuel "Sam" Guthrie, Danielle "Dani" Moonstar, and Roberto "Bobby" da Costa. Alice Braga plays Dr. Cecilia Reyes, the group's captor and a mutant with the ability to generate force fields.

Josh Boone ("Stuck in Love," "The Fault in Our Stars") directed "The New Mutants" and co-wrote the film with Knate Lee. The script is based on the "New Mutants" comic books, which were created by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod. Simon Kinberg, Karen Rosenfelt, and Lauren Shuler Donner produced the film. 20th Century Studios distributed "The New Mutants" with Marvel Entertainment.

Overall Thoughts

It's October 13, 2017. You get up early for school because there's this early morning class you take, and while you're waiting to leave home, you see the trailer for this upcoming X-Men movie, "The New Mutants." It seems to have nothing to do with the other entries in the series, so even though you're not bursting with anticipation for the film, your curiosity is aroused. Then the film gets delayed again, again, again, and again. Suddenly, you find yourself about to begin college, and this film you first saw advertised in high school is released to theaters, and you go see it.

As it turns out, "The New Mutants" is aggressively average. Had the film not possessed a seemingly endless amount of release dates, thus creating this weird aura of mystery around it, I believe the media reports leading up to its release would've more reflected the quality of the actual film. That is, more middling as opposed to anything special, be it special-good or special-bad. Like "Dark Phoenix" before it, there's parts to enjoy and even admire about "The New Mutants," but also areas to groan aloud at the lazy, stitched-together feel of the finished product. Apparently, all the reshoots that were planned at one point never took place. What you see in theaters is what was originally filmed, and it shows.

"The New Mutants" is a hybrid mash-up of "The Breakfast Club," "It," and "Glass." The five mutants have backgrounds and personalities that, even if not exactly the same, are reminiscent of the five teenagers sent to detention in that well-known and frequently imitated John Hughes film. Instead of going to detention, these youth are held in some sort of hospital, where they are forced by a shady doctor to undergo mutant therapy. While at the hospital, the five mutants, one after another, relieve their worst fears and learn to confront their past trauma. Although, here, it's not because a homicidal clown is preying on them, but something far more unremarkable. It's difficult to become invested in this story when there are few new ideas offered by the filmmakers. Fortunately, there are other areas to appreciate.

As far as the cast is concerned, Anya Taylor-Joy is the stand-out as Illyana Rasputin, a Russian teenager with a thick accent who has killed many men and seen some disturbing things, most of which is eluded to than shown. Even though she's stuck playing what is, essentially, John Bender with magic powers, Taylor-Joy imbues Illyana with her own style of snark, making her the most entertaining character in the film. Charlie Heaton puts on a thick accent as well, one that is often distracting, but his Samuel "Sam" Guthrie has visually diverting superpowers and a couple compelling character moments to make his small role more notable. Maisie Williams's Rahne Sinclair has neat abilities, too, as well as effective character and action moments, but much of her role is spent building a romantic relationship between her and Blu Hunt's Danielle "Dani" Moonstar, thus short-changing the other aspects of her character. Hunt's Moonstar possesses some fascinating abilities, but they are underutilized and the character has the least-interesting backstory out of any of the mutants in the building. Henry Zaga's Roberto "Bobby" da Costa is unable to make any impression because his role is near-nonexistent. The writers assign him a dark backstory, but they proceed to do nothing with it, which makes you question why they went to such a dark place to begin with.

As far as where "The New Mutants" fits into the X-Men series, the X-Men are frequently mentioned, though it is all talk and no show. For all the obvious shoutouts, the knowledge that Illyana is Colossus's sister is notably absent. You wouldn't know that if you didn't read anything about the character prior to seeing the film. Alice Braga's doctor character, who is legitimately unsettling as the one person standing between the mutant teens and their freedom, works for the Essex corporation, whose members serve as the main antagonists in "Logan." In fact, her affiliation with them is revealed through a reuse of a clip from that film, which is one of the worst ways they could have revealed that information in this observer's opinion. This clip from "Logan" is such a mismatch with "The New Mutants" that it's edited for content here, seeing as "Logan" was rated R and this is PG-13. The result is a few brief seconds of unreserved and unintentional awkwardness.

The horror elements are downplayed. While "The New Mutants" is not for younger viewers, there's hardly anything here that'll scare or excite horror fans who may choose to see this film based on the hints given in the trailers. The claustrophobic setting of this film is strongly felt and I commend director Josh Bonne for presenting solid action segments and effects, having never worked with any of those elements before. For all the action there is, though, I never felt like I understood the full potential of any of the mutants and their powers, so I wish there would've been more action in order to gain that full outlook. There are times where the business of the action and CGI makes it hard to tell what is being shown, but it's still an admirable effort. One might assume Boone devoted some of the runtime to a romance between Danielle and Rahne simply because he's done romances before.

The runtime is surprisingly short for a superhero film. It's very much an in-and-out experience going to see "The New Mutants." You leave having an okay time and you likely won't think much of it. It is nothing bad, nor anything great. I can't recommend seeing it in theaters, particularly if you're concerned for your health. For those among you eager to see something at your newly-reopened cinema, this isn't the grand return you're looking for. Save your enthusiasm and money for something more worthwhile. If your heart is set on seeing this, wait till it's available to watch in the comfort of your own home.

Rating: ★★½

Conclusion

This has been my review of "The New Mutants." I hope you enjoyed it. Have you seen the film? If you have, share your thoughts in the comments below. I have plenty of reviews and a ranking in the works, so look forward to those coming in the near future. I'm Dallin, your resident film fanatic, and I'll return soon with another review. Thank you for reading.