New Mutants

8/10

New Mutants, based on the X-Men related comic book series, is about a group of teen mutants being held in a facility until they properly learn to control their powers. Suspicious events commence. This movie was supposed to come out in 2018 before Dark Phoenix and has been held back till now. (The switch to Disney from Fox probably was responsible for some of the stalling on how to handle this.) Now that it's finally come out I'm surprised at the delay. I mean, I could see the executives giving this little advertising or moving it to a weak box office month, but they didn't need to wait this long. Overall, I rather liked the movie.

This is one of the more unique takes on superheroes, being a combination of teen drama and horror. The strongest part is the characters, all managing to be distinct with a good cast playing them. 

The movie looks great. The film has this polished look to everything. It's greyness sets the bleak tone but isn't shot too darkly. The facility this movie mostly takes place in is appropriately creepy looking. It has this sterile, decrepit look while the building exteriors and grounds are pretty grand. The traditional big fight at the end is also definitely different from most films of this type by having some really unique visuals.

However, I can see other people not liking this as much as me. A lot of this movie is just people talking. It could've been shorter. In fact, the pacing may prevent me from watching this again soon.

It's a little hard to believe that the facility is run by only person. Given the powers and raw emotions of the teen mutants, you'd expect there'd be more people there in case things go awry or at least for basic building maintenance or  medical or technical support. Also, the character Ilyana's powers feel vaguely defined. 

I don't know if I can recommend this to everyone (especially if you're not a fan of teen drama, there is a lot of that in this.) However, director/co-writer Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) had a clear distinct vision and I admire the effort.