REVIEW - 'The New Mutants' (2020)

“The New Mutants” has had a hell of a ride. Let me give you a quick timeline here:

In 2015, “The New Mutants” was announced with Josh Boone to direct.
“The New Mutants” gets a release date for April 13, 2018.
In January 2018, “The New Mutants” gets pushed back to February 2019, to avoid overlapping with “Deadpool 2.”
Two months later, it gets delayed another six months to August 2019 to avoid overlapping with “X-Men: Dark Phoenix.”
In March 2019, Disney and Fox made their merger official. Now that Disney owns them, they moved “The New Mutants” to April 3, 2020 to incorporate their other films.
Amidst COVID precautions, they move the release date to August 28, 2020. This was the official release date.

Obviously, it’s not your typical release schedule. After almost six years since it was announced, it finally got released in theaters. The result is unsurprisingly better than X-Men’s latest entries, (“Apocalypse” and “Dark Phoenix”) but is still not even close to the glory of the earlier predecessors. Although the final movie of the X-men/Fox franchise could’ve been a lot worse.

“The New Mutants” follow five mutant teens trapped in a facility that’s supposed to show them how to control their powers. Obviously, something a lot more sinister is going on. When Dani Moonstar arrives, all the teens start having horrible visions of their worst fears, whether that be an evil priest, a burn victim, or horrifying “Smiley Men.”

Although the plot is fairly simple, “The New Mutants” manages to stretch it out into a feature length film without feeling overlong. Yet, the formatting is eerily similar to 2019’s “It Chapter Two,” with all the “worst fears come to life.” There are a number of visual scares, but judged by the fact that what was supposed to make this movie original was its horror, it disappoints.

The main way “The New Mutants” suffers is hard to determine. I think it might have been too small of a story for an entire movie to cover, as it really doesn’t get rolling until about three quarters of the way through. Something just feels missing throughout, and despite a nameless reference to Professor X, it really doesn’t feel like an X-Men film.

Maisie Williams in a scene from “The New Mutants” (20th Century Studios, 2020).

Another disappointing factor was the cast. Despite being full of young stars such as Anya Taylor-Joy (“Split,” “The Witch”), Charlie Heaton (“Stranger Things”), and Maisie Williams, (“Game of Thrones”), the performances are vastly underwhelming. Three of the titular characters have horrendous accents that completely take you away from the enjoyment of the movie, with Charlie Heaton’s obviously fake Southern accent, Taylor-Joy’s over-exaggerated Russian(?) accent, and Maisie Williams’ barely recognizable Scottish accent. There was so much potential with the small group of teen actors, but they barely scratched the surface of what they could do.

Although the acting is less than ideal, the characters are one of the best parts of the film. Their unique powers aren’t like anything we’ve seen before in previous X-Men movies, so it was a joy to watch when they were on screen. Unfortunately, they were barely on screen at all, with most of the stars only getting to showcase their powers for about thirty seconds. Anya Taylor-Joy’s Magik definitely had the most on-screen action, with her being the lead player in the climax of the film.

The special effects were surprisingly great. Whether it be a humongous demon bear or a werewolf transformation, all the effects were smooth and realistic.

The slow and tedious plot is probably the weakest part of “The New Mutants,” but otherwise, it definitely wasn’t the worst X-Men movie. It wasn’t the epic finale I hoped the Fox franchise would have, but it was a good, average superhero film with some heart. I hardly think it’s worth going to the theaters for it and risking your health, but I suggest renting it when you have the chance. And although the X-Men are in better hands now with Marvel, I sure am sad to see it go.