Does "The New Mutants" feel "New" enough?

20th Century Studios

Release Date: August 28, 2020

The New Mutants was a solid little movie, which feels like an odd thing to say about a movie set in the X-Men Universe. We've gotten such big movies from the former 20th Century Fox Studios X-Men films, from to the stakes, tp the powers, and even the set pieces. The New Mutants is very opposite of that and brought the X-Men franchise closer to what I think it missed out on over the majority of the 9 movies before it: a simple, grounded story. The movie feels much more like a Brightburn than a Days of Future Past, with a smaller, more indie-like feel. Coming in with an $80 million budget, it is the 3rd smallest budget of the X-Men related films, trailing only the original X-Men movie and the first Deadpool.

The film doesn't waste time with a large build-up, setting Dani Moonstar up as the focus character and getting the audience into the mental facility in about 5 minutes. The rest of the film takes place on the grounds of the facility, other than a few glimpses into Limbo, which aids the more grounded feel. The first half of the film is much more Breakfast Club than horror X-Men, focusing on introducing the core six characters of Illyana, Dani, Roberto, Sam, and Raine, as well as the primary antagonist Dr. Reyes. We get a feel for the characters from their interactions with each other, mostly spent on feeling out the new girl, but also still getting comfortable with themselves. None of the characters appear to have been in treatment very long nor have they accepted their powers and embraced their mutantdom. This leaves us with nothing but a bunch of teenagers and some unoriginal teenage rebellion tropes, like drugging the adult and sneaking out of the house.

As the characters layers slowly become peeled back, strange things start happening at the facility, and the mutants are beginning to have strong hallucinations/dreams about the traumas they appear desperate to hide. This aspect of the movie and how it handled the slowly uncovered traumas I thought was done very well and the actors provided an accurate representation of the differing levels of resistance and reactions to the therapeutic process (trust me, I'm a therapist). If you've seen any of her other performances, it should come as no surprise that Anya Taylor Joy's performance as Illyana Rasputin is a highlight of the film, bringing a dynamic and complex representation to the character. Ultimately, it is the three female leads of the movie (Joy, Hunt, Williams) who not only stand out, but gave enough to their characters that its a shame this is (most likely) the end for them.

As the films continues building the physical manifestations of the character's traumas, you get the horror-esque element of the film. Though it is never a horror film as its genre, it does use horror-like visuals and tone to influence the sense of urgency for the characters. I never felt as though it was enough and think the movie would've benefited from pushing the horror aspect closer to something like Insidious, rather than an adult Goosebumps. The movie did not include some of the horror focused scenes a few trailers, leading to the belief that the movie may have been toned down some. Nevertheless, the minimal horror level didn't hurt the film too much, but it felt like a wasted opportunity.

As you'd expect, the mutants slowly recognize that the facility and Dr. Reyes are not what they've been told and begin to fight back. One botched euthanization later and all hell breaks loose, leaving the group to fight their fears and one giant ass demon bear. The mutants finally give their manifesto of acceptance and use their powers to save one of their own, ending with a symbol that all fears can be overcome. Sure, a little sappy and the conclusion felt quick and anti-climactic with the power options available, but the movie was only 94 minutes. Ultimately the entire movie was a representation of exposure therapy, from talking about their fear, to visualizing it, confronting it, and overcoming it, and all of those things happen. The movie doesn't really deliver anything special overall, except some cool Magik action sequences and explicit ties to the rest of the, now defunct, Fox X-Men universe. While these connections were exciting to see (connections to Essex Corp., acknowledgement of the X-Men, scenes from Logan), they fall short in the end knowing that the movie will never connect with anything else and that leaves the film feeling just a tad bit empty. Was it something different? Sure. Different enough? Probably not. But hey, it was definitely better than “Apocalypse” and “Dark Phoenix”.

RATING: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 1/2

Strengths:

1. Good character development

2. Doesn't shy away from it's ties to the X-Men Universe

3. Grounded, straightforward story

4. Everything with Illyana/Magik

Weaknesses:

1. Not it's fault, but the movie ultimately feels alone in its universe

2. Anti-climactic conclusion

3. Minimal horror utilization

4. Not enough backstory on Dr. Reyes or the facility