The New Mutants

The New Mutants has had quite a troubled journey to the big screen. After dozens of script rewrites and numerous cast changes the film was eventually filmed in 2017. It then went through a series of plot reshoots before it's release in 2018. Fox, the studio making the film then delayed it's opening date to first avoid clashing with Deadpool 2 and then again to avoid a clash with X-Men : Dark Phoenix. Then just as it was about to see the light of day Fox was bought by Disney and a further delay occurred. Then Disney actually watched the film, didn't think much of it and reshot more of it. 2019 turned into 2020 and it got a release date in April. Then a little thing called the Covid-19 global pandemic once again kicked it in the teeth. Finally, finally it got released yesterday, in the shadow of Tenet, the biggest film of the year so far. Was it worth the wait? Eh........

After her reservation village is decimated by what she's told was a powerful tornado, a Native American teenager called Dani Moonstar (Blu Hunter) wakes up and finds herself trapped in a hospital ran by Dr Reyes. Dani's a mutant and in this hospital she'll be trained to utilise her mutant gift properly before she moves on the better known business. The other patients are Samuel (Charlie Heaton) , Illyana (Anya Taylor-Joy) , Roberto (Henry Zaga) and Rahne (Maisie Williams). 4 teenagers who, just like Dani have tragedy in their pasts caused by the manifestation of their gifts. But since Dani's arrival things have gotten weird for them all and they suspect it's something to do with her powers. Powers that she still doesn't know anything about.

The New Mutants is the 13th installment in the X-men series and while it ain't the worst of them it's far from the best either. It's too bland & tame (don't let the 15 cert fool you) to have any real impact. A post script to a series who's best days are a decade and a half ago. Reshoots and plot revision have left it choppy and feeling like important plot points are missing. But it's characters save it and the interplay between them is definitely the best part of the film. It's a massive change of pace from the others in the series too with its cast of 6 characters and one setting. It's like a super powered chamber piece and while it does go full CGI at the end as these films are wont to do it's low-key, low stakes story is a nice change of pace. Plus it leans into the horror aspects of the comic books it's based on far more than the others. We get a dab of body horror, some psychological trauma and hinted at darkness in the teens pasts but the need to keep it family friendly blunts any threatened edges. It's a pity because 3 of the others in the series were allowed to fully embrace an adult rating so why not this? 

Luckily a decent cast playing some solid characters do well. Marvel finally gets it's first gay relationship, the majority female cast feels refreshing in a genre usually dominated by male characters. Dani's an interesting lead and played with a nice vulnerability by Blu Hunt and her chemistry with Maisie Williams' lycanthropic Rahne feels genuine. Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin is fun too. Her Russian accent is hilariously syrupy and full on but she crackles onscreen and is the kind of character you'd look forward to seeing more of in future installments. But therein lies the rub. With Disney's acquisition of Fox they own all the rights to the X-men franchise and all characters within. Characters who will be transferred to the Marvel side of the Disney business. Marvel who are just about to reboot the X-men franchise meaning this film will be a one off. Oh it's all very confusing.

I'd have liked to have seen the originally envisioned version of this. One that more explicitly tied it to the X-men universe especially for viewers who wouldn't have known these characters from the comic books. For the uninitiated it feels like an outlier and, in light of what Disney/Marvel will do next, it also feels a bit pointless. But completists will get something out of it I suppose.

The New Mutants is in cinemas now.