The New Mutants

The name you're looking for is I Am Number Four. This was, in fact, a similar high school debauchery that was made for the sole purpose of groping the potential for creating a new young adult franchise and was transparent about it all the way through. With films like The New Mutants, you almost tend to personify the film medium due to how naturally resistant it can be to these attempts to simply monetize it purely, without any further ambition or ability. Perhaps only unloaded sadists who will groan at the way actors struggle with their accents and ultimately their roles might find some satisfaction. However, the discomfort of watching it is far more pervasive. Witnessing the discomfort of everyone involved in a film of only six actors is rather comparable to being the only one to attend the birthday party of an unpopular classmate. (24/11/2020)

This is a fairly well-made mutant spin-off, though its delayed release promised nothing better than average despite trying for a while to be more of a psychological horror movie; either the studio talked Boone out of it or I’m just too much of a hardened viewer. The climax is an orgy of tricks reminiscent of a bout of fantasy fisticuffs on acid. I was distracted the whole time, wondering if the lesbian relationship storyline could still be categorized as LGBT or if it was in fact bordering on zoophilia. Roughly comparable to the last X-Men farewell film, Dark Phoenix. (15/11/2020)

A long-awaited movie – meaning that I had been looking forward to it, knowing how good it would be. This story draws from the X-Men Universe but does not feature the X-Men as characters. Unlike other mutant movies, this one introduces new, interesting characters (The New Mutants surprisingly references Logan – a few seconds of film shots were used). It has a pleasant horror atmosphere like the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. Until the impressive ending, no useless digital effects are used. It is a high-quality, captivating chamber story that is independent of the main series. I think it could be longer. If the studio hadn’t screwed up the plans of the creators and infected the audience with distrust, any upcoming sequels would have been worth watching. Such a shame! Especially with Dani and Rahne’s potential. (03/09/2020)

The New Mutants is labeled as a horror, sci-fi and action film, but after screening it, I have to conclude that almost none of the genre levels work as I would have liked and expected. The trailer had more of a scary and action atmosphere than the film itself, which is really a shame because there was a lot of potential and a touch of otherness to the other pieces from the X-Men universe. The characters and their abilities are interesting on the one hand, but somewhat threadbare, so that you don’t really feel compelled to root for them at all – the only character I was at least a little bit interested in was Illyana (and Lockheed and her demonic “smiley faces”). Even the proven hospital setting didn't work as well as it could or should have. My expectations were simply too high for The New Mutants. (02/09/2020)

New Mutants, a long-delayed affair that finally made it to theaters, would have been more at home on Netflix. It's not bad though, I was a bit annoyed that the whole film takes place in the dark and has very dark visuals (it felt like 480P quality in the cinema), but the setting in an institution is good and the characters are quite likeable, with Scream Queen Anya Taylor-Joy shining the most, already notching up 6. She's also appearing in the highly anticipated The Northman and Last Night in Soho, the girl just rocks, she's great and I'm rooting for her. Here she plays a sassy bitch and is also the best character in the whole film. The film is quite suspenseful and mysterious and the most interesting scene is the arrival of Smiley Man, who has a great mask and looked unpleasant. But the film is brought down by the very digital finale with the giant bear, which looked more teen fantasy than horror, but considering the problems the film faced it probably turned out better than expected. Story***, Action***, Humor>No, Violence>No, Entertainment****, Music***, Visual***, Atmosphere***. 6.5/10. (06/09/2020)