"The New Mutants" is an X-Men movie, culled from the Marvel comic-book series of the same name (whose characters smack of DC's Teen Titans), though from its marketing spin, one might miss that. That's because "The New Mutants" is being spun more as a lead-in, Halloween flick than a superhero sequel. (But heck, wasn't that also the case with "Venom"?)
Directed by Josh Boone, who cowrote with Knate McLeod, "The New Mutants" could also be perceived as a reboot for the franchise, since "Dark Phoenix" didn't earn quite what was intended, though one would think that Deadpool sequels (whether peddled via Fox or Disney) would be the path to pursue, but so be it.
"The New Mutants" deals with teens who possess abnormal abilities and because of this are rounded up by a secret agency on the claim that their dangerous tendencies can be placated. (Sound familiar?) The allegorical references ride high as such, but as the youths endure their "therapy", they experience severe, behavioral burps, namely living nightmares that flaunt their select fears. (It's rather like facing Orwell's Room 101, though with elements of "The Breakfast Club"; "Dreamscape"; "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3"; "Flatliners"; "Forbidden Planet"; "Galaxy of Terror", "Event Horizon"; and if only for the sake of its Scarecrow stuffing, "Batman Begins".)
The mutants consist of Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams), a sensitive lycanthrope; Sam Guthrie (Heath "Stranger Things" Heaton), who can zoom through the air (Quicksilver--look out!); Illyania Rasputin (Anya Taylor-Joy), a Slender Men-stalked sorceress (and Colossus' sis, though it's never mentioned in the plot); Roberto da Costa (Henry Zaga), a budding Human Torch; Dani Moonstar (Blu Hunt), who can extract and exploit one's innermost monsters (right in terrifying tune with the movie's motif and therefore making her the story's focus); and Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga), who not only counsels the youths, but can entrap them in membrane-like bubbles whenever they get out of hand.
The kids battle their demons accordingly and along the way discover the real reason why they've been corralled. That gives them more than enough incentive to fly over the cuckoo's nest and get viewers behind them in the melodramatic process.
Though the youngsters' trek toward liberation is both daunting and foreseeable, the story moves at a quality clip, even if shaped by a twisted pulse. Is that good or bad for the X-Men franchise? You got me. I only know that I enjoyed the movie, and maybe you will, too, if you can conjure the anti-COVID courage to visit your local theater. (Who knows? "The New Mutants" might just prove the right antidote to get you all wound up for "Black Widow", "Wonder Woman 84" and Mr. Bond's "No Time to Die". Not a bad prospect in my estimation.)
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