Skip to main content

A Review of “The New Mutants (2020)″

 

image

The New Mutants was the last film in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise movies. It’s a spinoff movie based on the comic/team of the same name and focuses on lesser-known mutants Mirage, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot and Magik. The premise is simple “Five teenage mutants undergo treatments at a secret institution that will cure them of their dangerous powers. Invited by Dr Cecilia Reyes to share their stories, their memories soon turn into terrifying realities as they start to question why they’re being held and who’s trying to destroy them”.  I remember watching the first trailer and it was very interesting especially since it portrayed this movie as a horror x superhero movie which was something new. However, it had a lot of background development problems with Fox executives wanting reshoots to make it more horror causing a delay, Disney merging causing it to be in limbo, the coronavirus causing it to be delayed again. It eventually released 3 years after being filmed. The question is was this movie worth the long wait?

image

Firstly, the cast is pretty good and deliver for the most part. They do a good job for what they have been given and are convincing enough in their accents and portrayal of their character archetypes. Additionally, the chemistry between the entire cast is good even when they are antagonistic against each other. Wolfsbane (Maisie Williams) and Dani/Mirage (Blu Hunt) are great in scenes involving them together and Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy) is charismatic and dislikeable at the same time. Secondly, the third act of this movie is pretty enjoyable to watch with its surprisingly good action scenes and good CGI. Seeing the characters powers are also visually fun to watch. It is also the first superhero movie to give a proper representation to the lesbian community and not in the dumb “Star Wars” way.

image

Unfortunately, there isn’t anything else to praise about this movie. The first two acts of this movie are so boring and extremely slow-paced. The first act has a lot of setups to introduce us to the characters and the director (Josh Boone) does this by having constant talking. It was just so mundane and uninteresting to the point that I was begging for something exciting to happen. There is a scene where all 5 of them decide to have fun by taking a lie detector test and it is so draining to watch. The main character Dani gives a monologue about some Demon bear that feels like it is going on for way too long. The second act starts to have things happen but when these things happen they only last 10 seconds before going back to some boring conversations again.

image

The characters aren’t great themselves as they are all cliche archetype. We got Dani whos the nice POV main character, the nice girl Wolfsbane and nice boy Cannonball (Charlie Heaton), the asshole boy Sunspot (Henry Zaga) and asshole girl Magik. They all remain these type of characters from beginning to end with maybe Magik somehow not being an asshole anymore with no explanation. None of the characters has any depth to them and you barely know anything else about these characters as their past are not completely elaborated on.

image

None of the “surprises” in this movie is even surprising as the story is entirely predictable. The antagonist is predictable and all the explanation for the things occurring in this movie are also predictable. The horror aspect of this movie is all in the second act and there are barely any of it which is hugely disappointing. Furthermore, they are not even that scary. The superhero aspect of the movie is not handled well either due to pacing issues and boring characters. It also feels like scenes are missing from time to time such as the aforementioned Magik personality change where one scene before she is frightened and then 15 seconds later she is suddenly a badass without fear. Potentially the reshoots were going to fix this but sadly it never happened.

image

Overall, this movie is a gigantic disappointment. Even though the movie had a great and unique concept, it doesn’t matter when the execution is poor. It’s not a good superhero movie and it’s not a good horror movie either. Thankfully, the movie is just 90 minutes and the third act of the movie can give you some enjoyment but there are better superhero and horror movies than this.


 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A “QUICK!” Review of “The Prosecutor (2024)”

  The Prosecutor is an interesting film, as it’s actually a legal-focused thriller first and foremost, with the martial arts action coming second. I found this blend of genres to work surprisingly well, and I give Donnie props for trying something different. The movie features a phenomenal opening action sequence and an incredible climactic one too. When it comes to the action scenes, you definitely won’t be disappointed. However, the legal aspect—which makes up the majority of the film—is unfortunately a bit lacklustre and predictable. I wish the courtroom scenes had explored more of the complexities of the justice system and delivered more intense drama. It didn’t help that the villain was incredibly one-dimensional. Still, it’s an entertaining action movie overall, and this film does show that Donnie knows how to handle action.
Post a Comment
Read more

A “QUICK!” Review of “65 (2023)”

  I love Dinosaurs I also love Sci-Fi However, this Dinosaur and Sci-Fi movie doesn’t work. There is barely any plot, barely any character depth, and a severe lack of dialogue. I don’t know why the writer made the characters unable to speak the same language because it just hinders the character interactions. They don’t even explain what mission our main character was on and why the girl was there. It also has a lot of questionable things such as why a futuristic ship couldn’t sense an asteroid belt, yet the main character has a sensor that works great on the ground. The director and writer don’t make us care enough about anything. So you should not care to watch this.
Post a Comment
Read more

A “QUICK!” Review of “Heart Eyes (2025)”

  Heart Eyes has the makings of a really cool modern slasher character. The killer’s design is pretty cool, and the concept of killing couples on Valentine’s Day is a novel idea. The movie even starts off well with some creative kills. However, the movie goes downhill from there. It turns into an incredibly corny romcom—the dialogue is sappy, and the characters feel cartoonish. The movie then whiplashes between romance and horror, as if suddenly remembering there’s a killer on the loose. At one point, in the middle of a chase, the characters start opening up to each other—which was definitely not the time. Meanwhile, the killer becomes increasingly incompetent, failing to take out the main characters. The comedy doesn’t land, the romance is bland, but the kills are at least enjoyable. Just don’t go into this expecting a full-on slasher horror movie.    
Post a Comment
Read more