After a long and tumultuous production process the new entry in the Marvel X-Men universe has finally arrived on screens. However, rather than following Professor X and his band of well known mutants The New Mutants introduces the audience to five brand new teenage mutants as they come to grips with their powers and the trauma of growing up different.
The five teens, who are locked away inside a mysterious facility with Dr Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga), are Dani Moonstar (Blu Hunt), Rahne Sinclair (Maise Williams), Illyana Rasputin (Anya Taylor-Joy), Samuel ‘Sam’ Guthrie (Charlie Heaton) and Roberto ‘Bobby’ Da Costa (Henry Zaga). Each of the teens has a mutant ability, which when combined with their traumatic pasts can become incredibly dangerous.
As the film progresses these kids begin to form bonds as the events at the facility become more and more unusual and sinister. Ultimately this bond sees the five combine forces to expel the evil trapped within the facility with them.
Given that this film was originally set for release in 2018 but then subsequently delayed multiple times expectations were low, which was actually advantageous. The New Mutants certainly isn’t a bad film but it doesn’t have the gravitas or spectacle of other entries from under the Marvel banner or even within the X-Men universe.
Had it not been for the occasionally graphic violence and heavy hints at child sexual abuse this film would have felt right at home on a streaming service such as Disney+. However on the the big screen it falls a little flat.
★★ ½
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