The New Mutants – A Disappointing Waste of Potential

The history behind the troubled production of The New Mutants, the legendary horror X-Men spinoff, is common knowledge for the most part. The film definitely exists but unfortunately, it could have been something much more if only it were in more caring or even focused hands instead of being tossed around during the Fox/Disney merger. After reading plans of what it could have been and then watching this final product, puts things into perspective and will surely leave audiences longing for what the film could have been. As it stands, the film simply comes off as a dump job though not in the traditional sense. A studio whose intention to move in a different direction is finally moving on from a property that they were no longer interested in supporting. In the end, it’s not that the film is necessarily good or bad (it’s more of the latter), it’s just sad because it is full of potential that could never fully materialize (and won’t ever get the chance to).

Those familiar with the source material or any of the news regarding the film pretty much know how the story of The New Mutants goes but for everyone else, it follows a group of five young mutants who were still getting used to that fact, Danielle Moonstar (Hunt), Rahne Sinclair (Williams), Sam Guthrie (Heaton), Roberto da Costa (Zaga), and Illyana Rasputin (Taylor-Joy), under the care of Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga) at a mysterious medical facility. Over the course of the film and their time together, we get to learn more about them and the circumstances that led them there (or at least sort of) in what was a Breakfast Club of sorts. However, the rushed nature of the story and the character development didn’t allow time for it to breathe or for the audience to create an emotional connection with any of the characters. While there were some fun moments, they just weren’t enough.

These problems merely snowball once the unsurprising truth of their predicament is revealed as another subplot involving shoehorned (and not scary) horror elements only distract and convolute things. Arguably, the biggest problem with The New Mutants was how it tries to do so much, going in several different directions (superhero movie, coming-of-age drama, horror, thriller), without doing any one thing particularly well, mashing all those elements together into a half-baked mess. The relatively short running time, clocking in around the 90 minute mark, didn’t exactly help its case. While the characters (and their powers) and some elements of the story were admittedly interesting, it was just hard to care about them or the albeit predictable story as a whole but maybe that comes from the benefit of hindsight that it was all going to amount to nothing anyway which was disappointing more than anything else. However, seeing these characters inevitably come together was still somewhat compelling to watch. Although fans of the source material may get a kick out of seeing their favorite characters on screen, that’s still a small demographic.

While the plot may not have been there, The New Mutants does fare better, technically speaking. The cinematography and set design were both solid, fully utilizing the Medfield State Hospital near Boston to the point that it served as another character in the film. Meanwhile, the special effects that helped bring the teens’ powers and the film world to life were also surprisingly good. The script was okay but it, and the film, would not have worked nearly as well if not for the performances of Hunt, Williams, Taylor-Joy, Heaton, and Zaga and their chemistry. Though they are arguably on the thin side, they at least kept the film somewhat compelling to watch. Taylor-Joy as Rasputin, in particular, looks to have a blast here as her over-the-top Russian was a scene-stealer. The real shame is that audiences will probably not get to see these characters together again.

At the end of the day, despite all the delays, The New Mutants is simply a waste.

still courtesy of 20th Century Studios

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.