‘THE NEW MUTANTS’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

The Cursed ‘X-Men’ Spin-Off Film

It’s a shame this film had a turbulent time in getting released at cinemas. 😦

As I understand it, ‘The New Mutants’ was meant to be the first in a trilogy of ‘X-Men’ spin-off films. The director Josh Boone and his co-writer Knate Lee pitched the idea to ‘X-Men’ producer Simon Kinberg. The idea was accepted and work was soon made on making the first ‘New Mutants’ movie.

Sadly, ‘The New Mutants’ suffered in terms of its release date. The film was made from July to September 2017 and it was meant to be released at cinemas in April 2018. Unfortunately, the film was rescheduled to February 2019 instead to avoid the release of ‘Deadpool 2’ around that period. 😦

The film was then rescheduled a second time to August 2019 to avoid the release of ‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix’. The film was again rescheduled a third time to April 2020 by Disney after acquiring 20th Century Fox. That was when a number of reshoots and edicts by Disney were declared upon the film.

The biggest blow to this film however was when it got rescheduled a fourth and final time to August 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. As you can imagine, not a lot of people went to see this film when it was finally released at cinemas in August 2020 because of Covid-19. That included me. 😦

At the time, I made a vow not to attend cinema releases of films whilst the Covid-19 pandemic was still happening. It’s a shame ‘The New Mutants’ didn’t get the reception it needed in terms of critical acclaim and commercialism. It’s unfortunate it finally got released at a time when panic was in the air.

Maybe getting the film released on Disney+ would have helped, maybe not. With that said, I wasn’t particularly excited by ‘The New Mutants’ as a potential ‘X-Men’ spin-off film. I’m sure I would have seen the film even it was released at cinemas and if the Covid-19 pandemic never happened at all. 😐

But this is a different type of ‘X-Men’ spin-off film compared to what I’ve seen in previous ‘X-Men’ films. For one thing, this happens to be a horror film. Not an action film. I’m not one for horror films and it’s intriguing that this ‘X-Men’ spin-off film goes in that direction rather than having action in it.

That’s not to say there isn’t any action that happens in the film, but it mostly takes place in the film’s second act towards its climax. The film’s first half has our main characters talking and getting to know each other at a secret facility, and experiencing horrific nightmares coming to life before them.

I’m fine with films containing character drama as I prefer seeing that as opposed to films being bombastic with lots of action scenes. However, I would like to see a balance of action and drama in a film, and maybe perhaps a touch of comedy in order to lighten the mood in perhaps a dark situation.

‘The New Mutants’ seems to struggle balancing the character drama and action scenes at the film’s end with horror elements thrown into the mix. There are times when this approach does work, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s not a terrible film by any means, but it isn’t something to be thrilled about.

I should point out that this film happens to be released by 20th Century Studios which is a renaming of 20th Century Fox once Disney acquired the company. I know I saw ‘The Call of the Wild’ in 2020 beforehand, but seeing ‘The New Mutants’ released by 20th Century Studios feels wrong somehow.

The film’s stars include Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Alice Braga, Blu Hunt and Henry Zaga. Some of these stars have been famous in other film and TV productions beforehand including ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Stranger Things’ and the film ‘Split’. Most of these I haven’t seen yet!

It’s intriguing how this film looks into the development of five young mutants who are being held at a secret facility. In most ‘X-Men’ films, you struggle to identify each ‘X-Men’ character. Here, it’s not a major issue which is a relief in a way as you’re allowed to get to know each of the five characters. 🙂

Mind you, it would have been good if the film had a longer running time compared to other ‘X-Men’ films. Most ‘X-Men’ films are either two or two and a half hours long. ‘The New Mutants’ happens to be one hour and a half. Wow! That’s the shortest running time I’ve come across in an ‘X-Men’ film. 😐

A problem I have with this film is that it takes a while to set things up to introduce each of the five characters, plus the medical doctor looking after them, which we’ll get to in a bit. It does feel slow-going as you watch the film with getting to know the characters, especially with less action happening.

Had the film had the ability to go to varying places other than being stuck in a secret facility that kept the five mutants contained, maybe the film would have been more interesting. I know this is meant to be setting up a horror house aspect to the film whilst at the secret facility, but it feels dull.

Also, in terms of this being connected to the ‘X-Men’ film series, there’s not that much to go on. There are namedrops of the X-Men here and there. Essex Corp from the post-credits scene of ‘X-Men: Apocaylpse’ resurfaces and there’s also a sort-of tie-in connection to the film ‘Logan’, I believe.

But apart from that, there isn’t anything to strongly connect ‘The New Mutants’ to the other ‘X-Men’ films. Maybe a cameo of Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy, it really doesn’t matter) or a cameo of Deadpool meeting the New Mutants in say a post-credits scene meeting would help.

I also think a missed opportunity could have been utilised. Had the five young mutants been trained to become X-Men like they hoped that they would be before they realised they were being trained by Essex Corp to become killers, perhaps this film could have had the potential to become pretty spectacular.

Instead, the film feels like it’s focusing on a lot of young teenagers getting to know each other and you could have easily edited the ‘X-Men’ films out without realising this is supposed to be part of the ‘X-Men’ film series. It’s frustrating not a lot of ‘X-Men’ elements can be found in this particular film.

Just to talk about the comic books aspect of the film, ‘The New Mutants’ were originally created in comic form by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod. They originally made their debut in ‘The New Mutants’ graphic novel published in September 1982. I haven’t come across that graphic novel at all.

Unlike the other ‘X-Men’ films where I generally knew what the ‘X-Men’ characters were like in the comics, I had no prior knowledge as to who each of the ‘New Mutants’ characters were from not checking out their comic appearances. The film does provide leeway in introducing the characters. 🙂

I don’t think you need to worry about not knowing who the ‘New Mutants’ characters are without reading the comics. The film does provide a decent introduction to them. Whether they’re faithfully adapted from the comics or not is yet to be determined. There might have been changes along the way.

It’s also intriguing that these ‘New Mutants’ characters don’t end up in special costumes/outfits/uniforms like the ‘X-Men’ have done in their movies. Mind you, that might have been developed for future ‘New Mutants’ instalments had the rest of the trilogy not been cancelled.

The film’s main star happens to be Blu Hunt as Danielle ‘Dani’ Moonster, a Native American mutant who would later become Mirage in the comics. Surprisingly, she’s not given a top billing in the film’s cast. Her name’s not even included on the back of the DVD cover for the film, which is very unusual.

I hope this isn’t one of those instances where someone like Sarah Sutton didn’t have her name on the back of the 1973 ‘Alice Through The Looking Glass’ DVD, even though she’s like the main star of the show! Blu Hunt’s name should have been included on the back of ‘The New Mutants’ DVD cover.

Apparently, ‘The New Mutants’ is Blu Hunt’s film debut. She’s best known for her roles in the supernatural drama series ‘The Originals’ and the sci-fi drama series ‘Another Life’. I’ve not seen those yet. I hope Blu Hunt has a varied film and TV career. This might be only time she’ll play Dani. 😦

It’s intriguing how this film focuses from Dani’s point of view as opposed to the other mutants at the facility. She loses her father after her entire reservation has been destroyed by a growling tornado, leaving her the only survivor. She gets to know the other mutants. Some she becomes friends with. 🙂

Some she doesn’t. The most interaction Dani has is with Rahne Sinclair, whom she falls in love with in the film. I appreciate the love story between Dani and Rahne being sweet, tender and intimate. I’m glad it wasn’t done over-the-top. There could have been many graphic sex scenes between them.

This brings me onto an intriguing point. The film is rated 15 in the UK, yet there isn’t that much gory violence you would expect from say a film like ‘The Suicide Squad’ from 2021 which was pretty foul-mouthed and violent. Not that I’m disappointed. I’m glad. It’s just this film could have easily been a 12.

Mind you, there are some bloody images featured in the film especially with the Dr. Reyes character being bloodied up in the film’s second half. There are also the horror aspects like the Smiley Men looking terrifying in the film. So, I guess the film is justified being 15 rated instead of 12.

Maisie Williams stars as Rahne Sinclair who would later become Wolfsbane in the comics. Maisie Williams. Hmm. I wonder where I’ve seen her before.

Ah, that’s where I’ve seen her before. Hey! Maybe Ashdilr and Clara were responsible for the changes and confusing mess to the ‘X-Men’ film timelines in an attempt to avoid returning to Gallifrey. It would make sense! 😀 Maisie Williams has also been in a thing called ‘Games of Thrones’.

But that’s not important. 😀 I enjoyed Maisie Williams’ performance in ‘The New Mutants’. It was nice to see her in something different for a change as opposed to just seeing her in ‘Doctor Who’. It’s also intriguing that Maisie uses a Scottish accent to play Rahne as opposed to her English accent.

In the film, Rahne can transform into a wolf. She also happens to have religious beliefs – Catholic, I believe. Rahne struggles to reconcile her wolf transformation powers with her religious beliefs. She was branded for being a witch by a Catholic priest before she escaped to end up at the secret facility.

It’s intriguing how this film introduces Rahne as a werewolf character with religious beliefs. Maybe it’s lucky she didn’t end up becoming a vampire instead. 😀 It’s also equally intriguing how Rahne with religious beliefs ends up falling love with Dani, making them both lesbian characters in the film.

I’m not sure how faithful that is to the comics and I’m not sure if there are many male and female characters who have religious beliefs, whether they’d be Catholic or Protestant, that end up becoming LGBT, but it’s a very intriguing angle to explore concerning Rahne and Dani’s relationship.

Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Illyana Rasputin who would later become Magik in the comics. As I understand it, Magik wasn’t one of the original ‘New Mutants’ characters in the comics. The original ‘New Mutants’ were Mirage, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot and Karma. Magik isn’t among them.

Not sure why they had the odd-one out mutant that wasn’t in the original ‘New Mutants’ team for the film. It could be due to the fact that Illyana is the sister of Colossus who had been in the ‘X-Men’ films. I’m not sure if it’s Daniel Cudmore’s Colossus or the CGI Colossus from the ‘Deadpool’ films.

Either way, Illyana is a Russian mutant who has sorcery powers as she can teleport to different dimensions (I think) and can manifest ‘the Soulsword’. She also has a purple dragon puppet called Lockheed that can transform into a real purple dragon once she, with blue-glowing eyes, is in action.

Wait! A dragon puppet becoming a real dragon?! That’s ridiculous! Isn’t that right, Cuddles?

Cuddles: My mouth doesn’t even open and close when you bring to me to life, Master!

I’ve seen Anya Taylor-Joy before in the 2020 film ‘Emma.’ 😀 She’s also been in the films ‘Split’ and ‘Glass’ with James McAvoy, I might add. How ironic. 😀 It occurred to me that you could have easily given Illyana invisibility and force-field powers like Invisible Woman from the ‘Fantastic Four’ movies.

At least that would explain why Anya’s Emma was nose-bleeding quite a bit when she was being proposed to in ‘Emma.’ 😀 Illyana also happens to be a jerk as well as a racist when bullying and calling Dani names like ‘Pocahontas’ and such. I’m not sure what the reasoning behind her racism is. 😐

Then again, when has racism been reasonable? I would like to point out Anya Taylor-Joy’s Russian accent for Illyana was a little hard to understand when she talked. I also found Charlie Heaton’s Southern accent for Sam…well, too Southern. Taking into account Charlie Heaton is an English actor.

Charlie Heaton stars as Samuel ‘Sam’ Guthrie who would later become Cannonball in the comics. Charlie is well-known for starring in the sci-fi horror series ‘Stranger Things’. I must admit, I found the three female mutant characters more interesting than the two male mutant characters in this. 😐

Sam is a mutant who can propel himself into the air and is invulnerable whilst doing so. There is a little exploration in terms of his past regarding working in coal mines and causing the death of his father, I believe. I don’t think there is much to say in that regard, as it’s touched upon quite briefly. 😐

I’ve also noticed Sam wears a bandage on his left arm. Doesn’t he take that off at all in the film? Sam is one of the three goodie mutant characters compared to Illyana and Bobby who seem to be jerks. Perhaps Sam should have spent more time with Dani and Rahne whilst watching him in the film.

Henry Zaga stars as Roberto ‘Bobby’ da Costa who would later become Sunspot in the comics. In fact, Sunspot appeared in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ where he was played by Adan Canto. That might have been an older Sunspot compared to the younger Sunspot we have in ‘The New Mutants’.

At this point, continuity in the ‘X-Men’ film series doesn’t matter anymore. Bobby/Sunspot is like the X-Men’s version of the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four. I’m surprised he’s not even mistaken for the Human Torch at times in the film. Bobby is from Brazil and happens to manipulate solar energy. 😐

He also spends a lot of time washing and drying dishes at the secret facility. You’d think they would get kitchen staff to provide all the meals for the mutants at this facility, right? (More on this later.) Bobby also seems to have the ‘hots’ of Illyana when they spend time in a swimming pool one evening.

Whilst I appreciate Bobby taking an interest in Illyana, it doesn’t really go anywhere. Also, it turns out not to be the real Illyana, as it was all a dream turning into a nightmare brought to life in the swimming pool. Bobby gets panicky when he tries to escape the facility, but Dr. Reyes won’t allow it.

By the way, I haven’t mentioned that Dani’s power is the ability to create illusions based on the fears and desires of other people. This is meant to come out as a surprise to people by the second half of the film. Mind you, I’m quite sure people would have worked it out whilst they’re watching the film.

Like Blu Hunt, Henry Zaga’s name isn’t included on the back of the DVD cover either. You would think that they would fit in everyone who’s in the film on the back of the DVD cover. The cast of ‘The New Mutants’ isn’t as big as the casts for the ‘X-Men’ films. There isn’t a need to make them smaller.

Alice Braga stars as Dr. Cecilia Reyes, a strict mentor to the New Mutants group and a medical doctor who can generate protective fields around herself and the mutants. I made a mistake in thinking she’s not a mutant and she generated the protective fields with the use of technology at the facility.

I don’t think it’s made that clear enough whether she’s a mutant or not. She does turn out to be a member of Essex Corp when mentoring the New Mutants group. She starts off being friendly to the New Mutants before she’s revealed to be an enemy and is about to kill Dani in the film’s second act.

And yes, it’s very unusual that she happens to be the only medical doctor at the facility looking after these five young mutants. Maybe Essex Corp had to cut back on finances. At least give her two more members from Essex Corp to make it less suspicious to the five young mutants living at the facility. 😐

As well as kitchen staff! I get that this is meant to be a horror film, but you could have easily fixed that by having certain staff members at the facility being killed off one-by-one with the big threat that comes later on in the film. Also, Dr. Reyes’ motivation behind all of this seems vague in the film.

The film also features Adam Beach as William Lonestar (or should it be Moonstar?), Dani’s father. You may recognise Adam Beach for playing Slipknot in 2016‘s ‘Suicide Squad’ film. 😀 Dani’s father appears like in the start of ‘The New Mutants’ as well as in a dream sequence where Dani’s asleep. 😐

There’s Thomas Kee as Thomas Guthrie, Sam’s father and Happy Anderson as Reverend Craig from Rahne’s village. Both are illusions created by Dani. There are also the Smiley Men (who almost look like the Silence in ‘Doctor Who’). They’re played by Dustin Ceithamer and voiced by Marilyn Manson.

The big threat that appears at the end of the film happens to be a giant demonic bear. I’m not sure if that’s meant to be terrifying, especially with its demonic red eyes, but in some cases, you can easily make fun of the fact the New Mutants’ enemy happens to be a giant bear whilst watching the film. 🙂

To prove this point, I’m going to recreate what I said whilst watching the scene during the film where Illyana confronts the giant Demon Bear along with her purple dragon sidekick Lockheed. By the way, is it me or does Lockheed look like Spyro the Dragon from his video games? Because I think he does.

Illyana: Hey Yogi!

Tim as the Bear: My name is not Yogi! It’s Baloo!

Illyana: Lions and tigers and bears. Oh, my!

Okay, that was a terrible impersonation of Judy Garland from ‘The Wizard of Oz’! 😀

Actually, in doing some research, apparently there was a Demon Bear that the New Mutants faced in the comics. I know I should be considering the faithful elements of a comic book film adaptation, but the idea of an actual Demon Bear our main heroes fight against derives from the comics is absurd. 😀

After defeating the Demon Bear, the film ends with a new day dawning, as the New Mutants leave the unshielded facility to find the nearest town. Sadly, we won’t know what will happen to them next, as the next two instalments of ‘The New Mutants’ trilogy won’t see the light of day. This is really sad.

On Blu-ray, there are special features including deleted scenes, ‘Origins & Influences’ and ‘Meet the New Mutants’. There’s an audio commentary with director/writer Josh Boone and original ‘Demon Bear Saga’ artist Bill Sienkiewicz. There are also theatrical trailers.

‘The New Mutants’ is not a great film. But there is some decent character drama and I appreciate the action scenes that happen at the film’s end. It’s such a shame the film was rather slow-going and I don’t think making it into a horror film as opposed to an action film helps matters in its own output.

It’s a shame the film was plagued with four delays, and its eventual release at cinemas in August 2020 wasn’t helped by the fact the Covid-19 pandemic was still going on. It’s a pity we won’t see ‘The New Mutants’ trilogy come to fruition in its next two films, unless Disney does change its mind.

Somehow I doubt it, but it’s best to live in hope. Overall, ‘The New Mutants’ is a fascinating ‘X-Men’ spin-off film to check out and I’m glad I’ve seen it at last. Don’t expect this to be a full-on action-packed extravaganza as you would expect the other ‘X-Men’ films to be, since it’s not the case here.

‘The New Mutants’ rating – 6/10

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