The New Mutants

After a cheesy big-budget Michael Bay-esque explosion on her Indian reservation, Dani wakes up in a sketchy secret hospital facility. She’s soon joined by four other “special” teens for “therapy” sessions. Before long, the teens find out that where they are is less like a hospital and more like a prison – they can’t leave! Plagued with several release date changes, The New Mutants was originally slated to come out in 2018, but was postponed due to re-shoots, then delayed due to Disney’s purchase of Fox, then put off to make room for the release of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and then rescheduled yet again due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For the comic book nerds out there, this movie features four members of the original New Mutants: Wolfsbane, Mirage, Cannonball and Sunspot, with Magik being a member of the team’s second roster. Make no mistake, this is not a decent Disney Marvel movie, it’s a mediocre Fox Marvel movie. Like Dark Phoenix, it’s quite lackluster. The movie tries to be so dark/edgy that it plays out kind of Hot Topic-y, reminiscent of the goth kids from South Park at times, which is funny on one hand, but disappointing on the other. Even Marilyn Manson provides a cover of the song “Cry Little Sister” off of The Lost Boys (1987) soundtrack, so it doesn’t get more cliche teen angst/brooding than that. Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams is the only semi-big name in the cast.

[PG-13]