Logan Sork Film Reviews
The New Mutants
In 2016, 20th Century Fox announced the X-Men spinoff The New Mutants and was advertised as the first full-on superhero horror film. The film was completed in 2017 and was set to debut the following year in April 2018. However, after the trailer dropped, the film was delayed nearly a full year to February 2019. When Fox’s other major X-film, Dark Phoenix, moved to February, the film was again moved to August 2019. In that same year, Disney brought 20th Century Fox and again delayed the movie to April 2020. With the new date looming, the film was AGAIN moved to August 2020 because of the COVID-19 outbreak. For a long time, it seemed like we would never see the film but it’s finally here. So, was it worth the three-year wait?
The New Mutants is directed by Josh Boone and stars Blu Hunt, Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Henry Zaga, and Alice Braga. The film follows Dani Moonstar (Hunt), a girl who awakens in a mysterious facility following the destruction of her native reservation. She is informed by the head of the facility, Dr. Reyes (Braga), that she is a developing mutant and that the facility is dedicated to helping those who are just beginning to discover their powers. As she begins to grow closer with her fellow mutant patients, strange and terrifying things begin to happen around them, leading them to believe that the facility may not be all that it seems.
On paper, the concept of a superhero horror film is quite interesting. We have had superhero films with horror elements in the past, but never one that fully embraced the scary elements. In execution, however, the film never really reaches that potential. That is not to say that there isn’t anything that looked or felt creepy throughout the entire film, there was just never anything that scared me. This can likely be attributed to the fact that director Josh Boone has never really done anything horror related in his career. I’m not saying that you can’t level up and do something new but, unfortunately, Boone shows he just doesn’t have a firm enough grasp on the horror elements to deliver some memorable scares.
There are other elements, however, that make up for the lack of scares. The characters and the actors playing them are quite fun and bring a great sense of comradery to the film. Each member of the group brings a certain dynamic to the group and play off each other very well. And while the idea of teenagers getting to know each other by bonding over tragic backstories is certainly nothing new, their stories are different enough that it at least makes them stand out and feel unique. The actors also do a great job elevating the characters, each getting a chance to shine and really show what their character brings to the group. They also have great chemistry with each other, which really pulls you in and gets you to care for the group as they bond and get to know each other.
However, while the film does take time to get to explore its characters, it also takes a while for things to pick up. A mystery is presented near the beginning of the film, but if you simply connect the dots, it’s rather easy to solve. Still, the movie puts so much time into trying to figure out the mystery that by the time the characters figure it out, you are already ten steps ahead of them. And while yes, it is nice to see the characters bond with each other, something interesting or intriguing must happen to keep the audience engaged and, for the first half of the movie, that doesn’t happen too often. Once the film gets going, however, there are a ton of great scenes in which the characters show off their powers as they battle whatever forces are attacking them. These scenes are quite fun, but by the time you get there, it will have likely lost anyone who wasn’t totally down to watch it in the first place. Had the film been paced better, It may have been more memorable. Instead, the movie saves all the cool stuff until the end, leaving us to sit through a lot of average things to get there.
If I had to pick one word to describe The New Mutants, that word would be “average”. This is by no means a bad movie, but it certainly isn’t a great one. The characters and performances are very good, as is the last half of the film. Unfortunately, you have to sit through some pretty boring stuff to get there and there are no scares to be found anywhere in this supposed horror film. In end, I thought it was fine and if you have no interest in seeing it you certainly won’t be missing anything spectacular. However, if you are interested in seeing it, there’s certainly nothing wrong with that either.
6.5/10