Ahh! After two years, it's here! It's time to review The New Mutants!
Originally set to be released in April 2018, this film has been plagued with delays due to reasons ranging from studio politics to a global pandemic. Those waiting for the film began to wonder whether it would ever see a theatrical release or at least just be sent to streaming. The New Mutants did finally hit theaters back in August, but between wanting to keep up some level of social distancing and the film's low critical score, I felt more comfortable waiting for the home release. Now that that's happened and I finally watched it, was the final film in Fox's X-Men franchise worth the incredibly long wait?
As it turns out, it was actually decent. I don't know if my expectations were just low with how it kept getting delayed, but I was surprised with how enjoyable I found it. It's nothing ground breaking, but a lot of the elements in place are executed well, making it a unique entry for the X-Men franchise.
Meant to be a horror superhero film, New Mutants does well in this aspect with some great visual effects as our protagonists experience their darkest memories and having to overcome them to survive. While it does get some decent scares in, I kept having this itch that they could have gone further with it. By the time we get to the climax, the horror aspect dropped down considerably and felt like another superhero movie with a big CGI powered slugfest. Still, if we compare this film to the other horror comic property this year, "Helstrom", I certainly got more out of New Mutants.
Within the world of X-Men, it's very similar to TV shows like "Legion" and "The Gifted" as we once again use a microscope to look at another part of the universe that's not connected to the major characters of the franchise. With our main characters basically in a mutant group home, we get to see how some are unfortunate enough not to be taken in by Xavier. All that said, the film doesn't shy away from connections, as the X-Men are referenced and we get another Mr. Sinister tease that ultimately wouldn't pay off (though I guess that allows Marvel a shot at the character). The setting of New Mutants is contemporary (possibly set a few years before the events of "Logan"), though one of the original plans was to set it during the 90's and feature James MacAvoy's Charles Xavier, and there were times I could see where the 90's setting would have worked. Though to be honest, the film probably would have worked in any timeframe they chose.
Our small cast were all around entertaining, each of them having a distinct background and personality that play off well with each other. My favorites of the film were Maisie Williams and Anya Taylor-Joy as Rahne and Illyana, respectively. The relationships between characters were fun to watch as well as they learn to come together. My favorite in this aspect was the romance between Rahne and Dani, though I have to give a shout out to the budding friendship between Roberto and Sam, even though they weren't able to reach the bromance level they're known for in the comics.
While "Dark Phoenix" ended the main series with little impact, "The New Mutants" shows how much creativity could still be had with the X-Men franchise, even though a future with these characters was gone before it really started. As the last film in the overall series, I can say it closes things out not necessarily with a bang, but with at least a little more flash.
As a whole, I think Fox did the best they could in their 20 years with the X-Men and I thank them for their part on making the comic book movie mainstream and the iconic performances that resulted from their films. But now we look to the future. The ball of limitless potential that is the X-Men is in your court now Marvel, and I look forward to see what you do with it.
My Final X-Men Film Rankings:
1. X-Men: Days of Future Past
2. Logan
3. X-Men: Apocalypse
4. Deadpool
5. Deadpool 2
6. X-Men: First Class
7. X2
8. The Wolverine
9. X-Men
10. The New Mutants
11. X-Men: Dark Phoenix
12. X-Men: The Last Stand
13. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
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