One of the most awaited 2020 films, New Mutants, has finally been released after over two years of being delayed. The film has been delayed for so long first because there were planned reshoots that never occurred, then there was Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox’s Studios and later the COVID-19 outbreak delayed the film even further. While the film is still not available to watch digitally, I will not be covering any major spoilers.

New Mutants is the last of the X-Men film series, ending a 20-year long franchise. Other films in the franchise include Deadpool and Logan.

Overall, New Mutants was a mediocre film. It wasn’t a bad film, but it also wasn’t a great one. There were a few standout performances from the cast, especially Blu Hunt’s Danielle (Dani), Moonstar and Anya Taylor-Joy’s, Illyana Rasputin.

The film came off as wanting to be a horror-filled Breakfast Club superhero film. It features five teens locked up in an institute as they learn to control their powers and later overcome their fears while they manifest into reality. These characters are based on the ones from Marvel Comics. 

While the film is enjoyable, there are a few things that didn’t work for me. The final fight was full of so much action and computer visual effects, I could hardly tell what was going on in the film. Some character choices seemed to come out of nowhere, especially towards the end of the second act. The film also touches basis with serious topics such as suicide, trauma and racism, but are quickly dropped within minutes.

As mentioned before, the character performances are the film’s biggest strength. The actors really made these performances realistic. Something else that really stood out was the embrace of the characters’ unique powers. 

One character has an interesting helper in the third act and this caused it to be an audience-favorite in theaters. The horror elements definitely aided in separating this from other superhero films. The fears of these teens are truly terrifying.

Although New Mutants does have connections to other films in this franchise, it leaves the audience wanting more answers that will probably never be answered. The film was originally planned to be the first of a trilogy, but it will not continue due to the film’s rights reverting back to Marvel Studios. 

Unfortunately, the events of this film tease a much larger threat and possibly even a crossover with the other properties, such as X-Men and Deadpool that are also not likely to happen.

It’s a shame we probably won’t get the chance to see these actors playing these characters again. It would be cool to see Illyana and Dani in a future film. Luckily, for those that want more Marvel mutant movies, there are talks to bring back Deadpool into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in his own rated-R threequel. There is no word out yet when, or if the New Mutants characters will appear in the MCU anytime soon.