The New Mutants: Film Review

At one point, after its release was delayed yet again, it started to seem like The New Mutants, a spin-off of the X-Men franchise, was cursed and would never see the light of day. It became something of a joke online so I went in assuming it would be rubbish but it was actually decent. Not amazing, but fine.

The film begins with Dani (Blu Hunt) waking up in a mysterious facility and being told by Dr Reyes (Alice Braga) that she is a new mutant, although her power is unknown, and must stay there until she can control it and is ready to move on to Charles Xavier’s school. But weird things begin to occur within the facility – her fellow new mutants – Rahne (Maisie Williams), Illyana (Anya Taylor-Joy), Sam (Charlie Heaton), and Roberto (Henry Zaga) – start being haunted by their worst fears.

Naturally, The New Mutants takes a while to get going because there are new characters to be introduced and relationships to be established. There are some moments that I really enjoyed but ultimately it’s a pretty average superhero movie. It’s not terrible at all and it’s never boring but it also never levels up and becomes amazing. I was waiting for more, all the ingredients were there, but it was just fine.

I liked that Josh Boone went for a horror spin on the superhero genre with The New Mutants but I wish he had pushed the scares a little bit more. It wasn’t particularly scary but gave me the creeps and made me tense a few times. The horror angle made it feel different from other superhero movies, as did its self-contained nature – it’s those five characters and that one location for the bulk of the movie.

Williams does a great Scottish accent as Rahne and although her relationship with Dani is obvious and a bit cheesy, it’s a huge step for LGBTQ representation in Disney movies. Taylor-Joy’s character is an annoying brat at first but she becomes more tolerable once you know her story and she has the coolest-looking power. Total badass. Roberto is essentially the Human Torch from Fantastic Four and Heaton basically plays his introverted loner character from Stranger Things in this, but I enjoyed his Kentucky accent. Dani was sweet and likeable enough but not the most interesting lead.

I liked the characters, learning about their backstories and powers, and about the facility, and I would happily spend more time with them. It’s clearly designed as the beginning of a trilogy and I liked the direction it hinted at going in. I doubt Disney will sign off on any more which is a shame because it showed promise.

In cinemas now