For years, people have been wanting a 15 rated (R rated in the US) X-Men film. When ‘New Mutants’ was planned to be rated a 15 there was hope that FOX was at last listening to the fans. The film was originally supposed to be released on 2018 but was delayed to do re-shoots…then Disney decided to think it a “great” idea to buy FOX (probably throwing a tantrum because FOX’s 15 rated X-Men films ‘Deadpool’ and ‘Logan’ were doing better than any of their MCU films were at the time). Then of course the pandemic delayed the film even more.
We finally got it released in September 2020. To mixed reviews. Some said it was alright whilst most said that it was…not good, to use a censored version. The film was part a psychological horror and comic book horror film which made it interesting for me enough to watch it. It also included echoes of the X-Men TV show ‘Legion’ (of which I’ve only been able to watch the first series as I can’t seem to get the other two) but there’s no connection despite the feel of the film.
The film starts off with Dani Moonstar (Blu Hunt) being woken up by her father as their reservation appears to be getting destroyed by some unknown force. Her father grabs her and together, they run into the woods so that he can hide Dani under a tree. Dani’s father then leaves her to try and help the others but is then killed by the unknown force. Dani tries to make a run for it but instead of being killed, she gets knocked out.
Dani wakes up in a facility where she tries to get out until a woman Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga) reassures Dani that she’s safe in a hospital that looks after people like Dani. People who are mutants. Dani understandably has no idea what her mutant powers are but is reassured by the seemingly kind woman that that’s what they’re there to find out.
Dani then is introduced to the other mutant members of the facility; Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams), who has the power to turn into a wolf, Illyana Rasputin (Anya Taylor-Joy), who carries a purple dragon hand puppet that she calls Lockheed; Roberto da Costa (Henry Zaga), who comes from a wealthy family from Brazil; and Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton).
Whilst during the therapy session, Dr. Cecilia Reyes tries to get the teens to open up and talk a bit about themselves and talk about what happened when their powers first manifested. Of course, teens being teens- mutant teens in this case- aren’t willing to open up. Especially when it comes to revealing about what happened the first time their powers showed.
Dr. Cecilia Reyes then suggests to a very reluctant Illyana to show Dani around the facility. Illyana reluctantly agrees to and she and Dani leave the session.
Once Dani belatedly learns from Illyana that the facility that they’re in is a prison and that they can’t get in or out, events take a dark and scary turn.
As I said before, the film got many mixed reviews. Personally…even though I’m a huge X-Men fan, I thought it was alright but it could’ve been so much better if FOX were really wanting to do a 15-rated horror comic book film. I thought it didn’t get interesting until towards the end of the film when…well, I wouldn’t want to spoil it for those that don’t like spoilers so I’ll leave it at that.
Basically, it’s alright but I do agree with a lot of people on this one; ‘New Mutants’ isn’t the best X-Men film…and Disney’s interference after they bought FOX didn’t help matters either.
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