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The New Mutants is the X-Men film which took almost three years to finally get released. It didn’t come out to great acclaim, and especially in getting a cinema release during the pandemic, it felt like Fox just had to get it out the door because the X-Men franchise has moved across to Marvel, and will soon be rebooted. Well, as soon as cinema productions actually begin again…
Dani Moonstar (Blu Hunt) is amongst a large group of people who live on an Indian reservation, including her father (Adam Beach), who are all on the run after the place explodes, due an a F5 Tornado crashing down – – or so Dani’s told, yet she’s quite sure she heard growling!
She later wakes up in a secure facility, away from everyone and everything she knows, and surrounded by four other mutants – Rahne (Maisie Williams), Illyana (Anya Taylor-Joy), Sam (Charlie Heaton) and Roberto (Henry Zaga) – each of whom will reveal their powers as the film progresses. As for Dani’s own specialties, she doesn’t even know herself, yet. There is some potential to this since because they’re classed as ‘new mutants’, they haven’t yet learned how to control their powers, hence making them more dangerous… but then since the characters are teenagers, they just act like teenagers, such as Illyana behaving like a complete bitch towards new girl Dani.
So, you think you can just leave this place since the gate is wide open? Not so. The ever-resourceful Dr. Reyes (Alice Braga) has ensured it’s protected by a massive forcefield, trapping them in forever.
As Reyes monitors them overnight for Psionic energy (so they can use a Psion organiser?), it’s ridiculous that she would look after five dangerous mutants on her own 24/7, and with no backup. But there’s no time for such sensible questions because a nonsensical plot just likes to throw in a plenty of weird stuff going on, instead of anything that requires humans to write a script… even if the credits claim they did.
The New Mutants has 60 minutes of setup – such as confronting past memories… blah, blah, blah – and then 30 minutes left to deliver whatever it might have in its arsenal, but while I thought this might have been a spin-off from Logan, after the young mutants are seen at the end, it wasn’t brought into the plot and no other X-Men characters even got a mention.
The only thing that did seem pertinent is that given how long this took to get released, I saw one person joke online that by the time it does actually get released, even Maisie Wiliams’ children will be 18!
20th Century Fox really shouldn’t have bothered with this fart of an effort. Even when the Smiling Man turns up, the whole situation is dealt with way too quickly, leaving a film where there’s just no depth to any of it. In fact, it’s just a rather dull mess that doesn’t make any sense. When the kids do get to show off their powers, there’s only one baddie to defeat, you know Fox will have wanted to give a sequel an option – so some or all of the cast may or may not survive in the proceedings – but as we know, there will be no sequel because everything has transferred over to Marvel.
The New Mutants is available to buy now on Blu-ray, Amazon Video, 4K Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 94 minutes
Released: January 4th 2021
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Format: 1.85:1
Rating: 2/10
Director: Josh Boone
Producers: Simon Kinberg, Karen Rosenfelt, Lauren Shuler Donner
Screenplay: Josh Boone, Knate Lee
Music: Mark Snow
Cast:
Rahne Sinclair: Maisie Williams
Illyana Rasputin: Anya Taylor-Joy
Dani Moonstar: Blu Hunt
Sam Guthrie: Charlie Heaton
Dr. Reyes: Alice Braga
Roberto da Costa: Henry Zaga
Dani’s Father: Adam Beach
Sam’s Father: Thomas Kee
Young Illyana: Colbi Gannett
Reverend Craig: Happy Anderson
Smiling Man: Dustin Ceithamer
Frozen Cheyenne: Jacinto ‘Spirit Wolf’ Vega
Wolf: Chuck
Smiling Man (voice): Marilyn Manson
November 23rd 2020:
The New Mutants has a confirmed release date of January 4th 2021 on Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray and DVD, and I’m looking forward to it after all this time. It’ll certainly be something to spend your Xmas money on, especially as we’ll probably be heading for Lockdown 3 at that point, given the way things are going.
The extras on 4K, Blu-ray and digital are as follows:
- Origins & Influences – Legendary comics artist Bill Sienkiewicz and the filmmakers explore the origins and influences behind The New Mutants.
- Meet the New Mutants – Cast members share their experiences while filming and reveal how they bonded as a family, much like the characters in the film.
- Deleted Scenes
- Roberto Suns & Dani Climbs
- “She’s a Demon”
- “Everybody’s Type” & Chores
- Dani’s Nightmare – Alt
- “I Need to Cool Off”
- “We’re on Lockdown”
- Take out the Source
- Director Josh Boone Chats with Marvel Comics artist Bill Sienkiewicz
Pre-order the film now on Blu-ray, 4K Blu-ray, DVD and digital.
July 24th:
The New Mutants has another new trailer, and another new release date, but after being put back so often, will it still come out when cinemas aren’t yet in full swing and probably won’t be until Spring 2021?
Some people just want this to be released on Disney+, while another person on Twitter said that by the time it comes out, Maisie Williams‘ kids will be old enough to see it(!)
At this point, the film is released in the UK on August 28th… maybe. I hope it does come soon, as I’ve really been looking forward to it. Logan was great, even though Dark Phoenix was rather a mess.
Check out the Comic-Con Teaser & Opening Sequence below:
January 6th 2020:
The New Mutants now has a full trailer and, since it’s 2-3 years since it was first announced, everyone’s wondering what the point is, given that 20th Century Fox no longer have the rights after this movie, and so when Marvel fully take over, everthing ‘X-Men’ will be rebooted, so there’ll be a new Professor X, Wolverine and so on, so what’s the point of this?
Well, the 2015 Fantastic Four movie only came about because Fox were contractually bound to make three Fantastic Four movies in ten years; they’d made two, and no-one wanted a third, so they made a film so bad that no-one would want another. And there we were.
So, that’s what I think will happen with this.
Anyhoo, The New Mutants is released in the UK on April 3rd 2020… maybe.
Check out the trailer below:
October 17th 2017:
The New Mutants shows that while the main set of films have gone as far as they can with the best one, Logan, there’s always chance for another reboot. And since, as Logan centered around on Wolverine and new girl Laura, I’m wondering if this would take that point in the story and go forward, as the billing just states that five young mutants, just discovering their abilities while held in a secret facility against their will, fight to escape their past sins and save themselves.
Instead, this one stars Anya Taylor-Joy (Split) with Maisie Williams, Alice Braga , Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt, Henry Zaga, Happy Anderson, Mickey Gilmore and Thomas Kee.
I thought this might be the next Jennifer Lawrence X-Men movie, but that’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix, due out on November 2nd, 2018.
In the meantime, The New Mutants is due out on April 13th, 2018.
Director: Josh Boone
Writers: Josh Boone and Kante Gwaltney (based on the comic book by Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod)
Check out the teaser below:
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.