Movie Review - The New Mutants

This is the 13th feature in the franchise that began with X-Men (2000). It is an adaptation of the comic books or graphic novels from Marvel Comics about super-heroes, known as mutants, people who are born with powers or special abilities that usually don't reveal themselves until they reach puberty or their teenage years. The 12 previous, feature films focused on mutants who were already adults, so usually it was about people who already knew what their powers were and how to use those powers. The 2000 film had a teenage character named Rogue that provided the perspective of someone who is a veritable "new mutant" and is dealing with what's at first the horror of how these powers could hurt or kill people, even unintentionally. The 5th feature in the franchise called X-Men: First Class (2011) also dealt with teenagers in this world and how others might want to exploit or harm them. However, those stories for the most part weren't told from the teenage point-of-view.

Director and co-writer Josh Boone with this feature does tell this story pretty exclusively from the teenage point-of-view. Unlike the previous 12 features, this film isn't really an action-adventure. Some of those previous 12 leaned toward the dramatic. Boone's film leans more toward the horror genre, which certainly separates it from the twenty-something entries in what's known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The MCU tends to lean more toward the comedy genre. That's the opposite of what Boone is attempting. Instead of comparing Boone's film to those dozens of super-hero films that Marvel Comics have provided over the past two decades, the better comparison would be to the recent scary flick, It (2017).

Unfortunately, other filmmakers have beat Boone to the punch or else his horror angle would have felt more original. If Boone's film hadn't been delayed as much as it was, then it would have felt somewhat fresher. Yet, M. Night Shyamalan's Glass (2019) and David Yarovesky's Brightburn (2019) do a lot of what this film is attempting in terms of structure, plot or tone. Those films are basically horror films, within or in conjunction with the super-hero genre, as it were. They're set apart from films like Spawn (1997) or Blade (1998), which are super-hero films that incorporate horror elements or aspects like the occult, Hell demons and vampires. They're also set apart from something like The Toxic Avenger (1984), which is more campy horror. No, Boone's film wants to be more in line with Stephen King, John Carpenter or Wes Craven. In that, Boone didn't need to be original, but he needed to be effective in the horror and sadly, he isn't.

Blu Hunt (Another Life and The Originals) stars as Danielle Moonstar, a Native American girl who lives on a Cheyenne reservation with her family. She is the lone survivor when some mysterious force attacks her home and surrounding town. She's told that the force was a tornado, but she's not allowed to confirm this story because she's told that she's a mutant and she has to be institutionalized at the hospital in which she wakes up. What she realizes is that she's not allowed to leave because the doctor running the hospital has basically trapped her there.

In that, the plot and structure resemble Glass. That film benefited because it was the third in a trilogy that had already established all three of its protagonists previously. This film has the burden of having to establish not three, but instead five protagonists. It's not to say that you couldn't do a film where you established five characters and fleshed them out enough to accomplish what this film is trying to accomplish. It's just that the film would need more time. This film is a little over 90 minutes. Something like It or its sequel, It Chapter Two (2019) had five characters or so to establish and flesh out and both those films took over 120 minutes to do so. The latter required 169 minutes. Boone's film just feels too rushed in that most of the characters feel woefully underdeveloped.

Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) co-stars as Rahne Sinclair, a Scottish girl who was beaten and abused by a reverend after she started experiencing her mutant powers emerge. Despite the abuse she suffered, she still has her faith. Presumably, the hospital is in the United States. A lot of the X-Men films took place in the American Northeast. Yet, it's not clear how Rahne came to travel from Scotland to the U.S. to be in this hospital. It's also not clear what she thinks she's getting by being in this hospital. Some of the other teenagers have hurt or killed people as a result of losing control of their powers, so maybe they think they need to be in this hospital to learn to control their powers. However, that doesn't appear to be Rahne's problem or if it is, it's never made clear.

At one point, one of the teens says that they're being trained to join the X-Men, but again that doesn't seem to be Rahne's goal or if that is her goal, she never really articulates why or how that squares with what is her strong religious faith. At another point, one of the teens says that Roberto da Costa, played by Henry Zaga (13 Reasons Why and Teen Wolf), has been sent to the hospital to be "cured," but that sounds contradictory to any idea of being trained to be a X-Men or part of any mutant group. Also, when Illyana Rasputin, played by Anya Taylor-Joy (Glass and The Witch), admits to having murdered a bunch of people, no one questions that her being added to the X-Men, which is supposed to be a group of heroes, might not be the goal or trajectory for her. The point being is that none of the character motivations make sense.

The film doesn't delve into either Illyana or Roberto's backstory enough to get us to care about those characters anyhow. This would be fine, if this film felt like less of an ensemble, which ultimately it isn't. The protagonists seem to be Danielle and Rahne. The film develops a lesbian romance between the two, which again given the length of this film felt rushed. We don't get enough time with the two girls together, getting to know each other. There are good or sweet moments between them, but there isn't the kind of character development that would get me to care about their relationship beyond the obvious novelty of it being the first same-sex relationship put front and center in a theatrically released, big-budget, super-hero film. Some would probably point to Netflix's The Old Guard, but the same-sex relationship in that film didn't really rise beyond novelty either.

It would help if the narrative thrust of this film didn't feel so inert until what is the last 10 or 15 minutes. This certainly isn't One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) or Girl, Interrupted (1999) but with super-powers. Yes, it's about a group of people trapped in what's essentially a mental institution, but this one isn't as compelling as either that 1975 classic or the 1999 cult-favorite because Boone's film just doesn't have the time to do the best character-work that it could have and should have. Of course, that failing could have been forgiven, if there were thrills or even horrors here that were interesting or exciting in any way. Boone leans on the horror aspects, so one would expect to be scared or unnerved to any degree by anything here, and it's here that I compare it to the recent It film.

In my review for that 2017 hit adaptation of Stephen King, I argued that if nothing else It had a truly chilling opening sequence. It opened in fact with the brutal murder of a child, a murder that was terrifying and bloody. It was a death that really hit and made you feel what the stakes and what exactly the threat is right from the very beginning. The opening sequence in this film is shot and edited in a way to obscure what the threat actually is, or not what it actually is, but what it appears to be, a better glimpse. Boone's film doesn't even give us that. The opening to It doesn't fully show or explain what the monster is, but we get a better sense of how scary it is than we do here. As Boone's film progresses to its quick conclusions, the fears that supposedly come to life never feel like there's any weight or true consequences to any of them, which don't make them feel like true dangers. This scary movie, therefore, isn't scary.

Rated PG-13 for violent content, some disturbing, bloody images and strong language.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 34 mins.