Certification. 15
Running Time. 1 hour 34 mins
Director. Josh Boone
Cast. Alice Braga, Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Henrique Zaga.
Rating. 51%
Review.
Originally pencilled in for theatrical release in April 2018, the eventual release of Josh Boone's The New Mutants was a long, arduous and, at times, fraught process. Initial footage apparently received lukewarm responses from studio executives at 20th Century Fox, who subsequently demanded extensive reshoots. The film was then beset by further delays - a corporate merger [when Walt Disney Studios purchased 20th Century Fox in March 2019] and a global pandemic. But despite this protracted journey to the big screen, The New Mutants is nowhere near as bad as I initially feared.
The New Mutants was intended to welcome a whole new direction for the crumbling X-Men franchise following the release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix in 2019. Still set within the X-Men universe, The New Mutants contains a handful of hat-tips to both the film series and the comic books, but the film also works as a standalone film.
The film's plot isn't complicated. Five mutant teenagers - Dani Moonstar (Blu Hunt), Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Wiliams), Illyana Rasputin (Anya Taylor-Joy), Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton) and Roberto da Costa (Henrique Zaga) - are confined to a mysterious mansion and grounds, where they are studied 24-7 by Dr Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga) to determine the extent of their mutant capabilities.
The film remains engaging throughout thanks largely to the solid cast, particularly the three young female actors who bring these troubled protagonists to life. The claustrophobic setting only heightens sufficient intrigue and emotional investment.
One area where The New Mutants feels distinct is with its visuals, leaning towards a psychological horror aesthetic. Yet it falters because The New Mutants is not scary enough to be deemed a full-on horror film. Equally, there's not enough action to excite, nor enough melodrama to be a straight-up, young adult film. It's perfectly watchable, but I can't help but think this was a missed opportunity to really do something radical and different with the franchise. The end result is nowhere near as appalling as X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Apocalypse or X-Men: Dark Phoenix, but the film remains a disappointing finale to 20th Century Fox's X-Men franchise.
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