We finally have our first Marvel movie since Avengers Endgame. Just because there’s a pandemic doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get more superhero movies, But unfortunately, this is not the best way to kick off Phase 4. The New Mutants has finally hit theaters and it’s also the first movie that we’ve been able to see in theaters since the pandemic. While it’s entertaining enough, it certainly doesn’t live up to what we have come to expect with Marvel. However, that’s to be expected as it’s time to start introducing new heroes that will play a larger role in the series or so we think. The New Mutants is technically a spin-off of X-Men and what I can’t figure out, was this a way to introduce the X-Men in the Avengers universe? Or is this a way to complete the X-Men saga? Who knows, but one thing is for sure, this film feels more like a subplot to an X-Men movie where they introduce new characters that will eventually end up at Charles Xavier’s mutant school. I’m not saying the movie is bad, it’s just not good! It’s a largely forgettable average superhero movie despite having a pretty good cast. But this movie does have one thing going for it…It was great to see a movie in the theater again after 4 months.
The story centers on a group of mutants who think they’re training for the X-Men, but are put in a secret facility run by the Essex Corporation. To avoid spoilers, I won’t go into too many details regarding their true purpose, but nothing is what it seems at this facility. The mutants are a weird group that were supposed to connect with like we do other members of the X-Men, but with no direct connection to the X-Men characters that we’ve come to love There’s no reason to get excited for these characters…If part of the movie had been legacy characters showing up to rescue them, then that would have been a great X-Men story/ However, this story is just a simple way of introducing a new group of mutants that I guess are supposed play a larger part in the overall Marvel story. The two standout performances are by Maisie Williams and Anna Taylor-Joy. The characters are being tested on and at the same time, confront their fears and past tragedies. The whole story is about them escaping! Predictable, I know! The best part of the story is them connecting and their own version of mutant group therapy. For me as a film fan it’s very reminiscent of Flatliners with Kiefer Sutherland and Julia Roberts where the characters as they’re trying to get as close to death as possible have to deal with their past and end up connecting with one another. There certainly some fun action in this movie and the horror elements work on many levels. However, after so many X-Men movies where we’ve been able to connect to characters like Wolverine and Cyclops as well as Professor X and Magneto, it’s just hard to get excited for these characters without having any real connection to the X-Men. This is a movie that should have been watched on Disney Plus. It feels more like a streaming movie that will set up a bigger story. Yes, we’re used to origin stories for individual characters before they come together as the Avengers, but these characters are supposed connect to the X-Men and without any legacy characters showing up, one must ask, why should we care?
My biggest criticism is not the action or even the horror elements, it’s that this movie plays more like a 45-minute subplot to a larger X-Men movie. These characters are just not that interesting without characters were familiar with in the X-Men universe. The movie has a wonderful cast, but after so many Marvel movies that connected to one another and different storylines that are woven together leading up to the Infinity Wars, The New Mutants just doesn’t measure up. Maybe it will eventually! The themes and the plots are also very similar to a British superhero show called Misfits where a group of young people locked away in a facility, accidentally gain superpowers and must learn to live with each other, and then they break out. But of course you have time to connect with these characters because it’s a series compared to a movie that’s less than 2 hours. The only spoiler that I will give is that there is no mid-credit scene or “end of credits” scene that helps set up the future for these characters in the Marvel Universe. While it is supposed to be an X-Men spin-off, how do we know that if there’s no scene that sets up the connection of these characters to a larger universe. Every other Marvel movie has had this. At the end of the day, this movie seems like a weirdly out of place, standalone film within the Marvel universe. It’s a fun one-timer, especially getting to see it in theaters, but sadly, this story will be forgotten in the years to come and doesn’t give Marvel fans any real reason to care about these characters.
