PLOT: After a terrifying force decimates her Native American reservation, Dani Moonstar (Blu Hunt) wakes up in a mysterious, abandoned hospital run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga), with her fellow patients all being teens that have been convicted of murder and possess mutant powers.
REVIEW: After years and years of delays, Josh Boone's long-awaited THE NEW MUTANTS finally hits theatres this weekend, but was the wait worth it? Is this a triumphant new beginning for the X-Men franchise or a misbegotten final nail in the coffin of what was once one of the former 20th Century Fox’s crown jewels?
I can tell you that I went into THE NEW MUTANTS wanting to like it. The knives have been out for this movie ever since the first delay, and the press tour for the film, where journalists, myself included, had to conduct interviews without seeing the film was highly unusual. Disney has seemed unsure of what to do with this project they’ve begrudgingly inherited, although they steadfastly refused to cave to fan demand and release it on one of their streaming platforms.
In some ways, I’ll say this – NEW MUTANTS couldn’t have gone to streaming. The brutal fact is no one would have wanted to sit through it. It’s a pretty bad film, utterly devoid of the charm and imagination that’s made Josh Boone (THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and the upcoming "The Stand" limited series) such an up and coming director. Listening to him talk about the film, you can tell there was a lot of passion there, but the movie simply doesn’t work. All they can hope for is a quick box office death and to move on.
Imagine an X-Men film, without any of the X-Men. They're alluded to, but you never see anyone. There are no real villains either, at least not ones we ever really get a look at. Braga's character works for the Essex Corporation, but any threat they pose is ditched in the hasty, unsatisfying finale, which pits the teens against giant, super-powered bear, that, in the context of the film, may not even be real. There's no sense of danger to these kids, who you're sure will walk away unscathed at the end. In some ways, it feels like Disney might have gone back in and chopped any overt links to the MCU so they could start again, and it’s hard not to blame them.
Unless you’re a devotee of the characters here, the young cast won’t stand out in a big way. In the comics, the young team are students of Charles Xavier’s. He sits this one out – although I’m sure there was intended to be some sort of cameo as the movie seems to take place in the late nineties which would put it around DARK PHOENIX in the continuity. I’m sure it was supposed to lead right into a nice little expansion but all of that’s been excised if it was ever there at all. Instead, it’s a teen movie where Blu Hunt’s Dani Moonstar wakes up in a mysterious institution that houses fellow mutant teens. There’s Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin, a Russia victim of human trafficking. Then there's Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair, a Scottish teen who turns into a wolf, Henry Zaga as Roberto, a Brazillian rich kid who can burst into flames, and Charlie Heaton as Sam Guthrie, who can kind of fly and hails from the coal mines of Kentucky.
This is an issue by the way – the accents. Heaton sounds ridiculous, with a southern drawl that’s more Barney Fife than reality. Anya Taylor-Joy is similarly way over the top as the Russian mean girl – or at least she’s mean until all of a sudden she’s not. Only Williams comes off well, but I suspect that’s because she’s the only seasoned pro in this kind of thing, with newcomer Blu Hunt sidelined in her own film. Her character, who grows into Mirage, sits out most of the finale. At least the romance between her and Rahne is handled sensitively.
Boone, clearly working on a low budget, doesn’t do too much to make this visually appealing, and considering how well-versed he is in music, it’s too bad the setting isn’t taken advantage of more, as some songs would have livened things up. There’s not much beyond a choice Replacements track. This is a one-off that, sadly, should have stayed buried, and one whose failure all involved will hopefully be able to shake off. If you’re keen to return to theaters, this is not the movie to do it with. Wait for Tenet.