The New Mutants (2020) would make for a compelling television series instead of a movie

 

Too short for a riveting movie, too fast-paced for a television series. So where does that leave it? (Image courtesy of imdb.com)

As fans of comics and horror, when Marvel announced that its latest movie, "The New Mutants", would be a horror genre, we couldn't quite believe it. A live-action Marvel comic adaptation AND a horror movie to boot? It sounded too good to be true... and so it was. 

Waiting for The New Mutants to be released was like completing a five thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle that was missing a few pieces. It was disappointing, aggravating, annoying and honestly, tiring. 

We were excited at first, but as the jigsaw puzzle slowly proved to be too tedious to complete, paired with the missing pieces, we just lost all interest in it altogether. Finally, when the manufacturers mailed the missing pieces and we were finally able to complete it, the full image it produced didn't exactly fit the picture on the box, resulting in buckets of disappointment. 

For us, this metaphor fit The New Mutants perfectly well seeing as when it was first announced, the casting, storyline and overall filming dates trickled in like piss. Then, because of production issues and the Covid-19 pandemic, the release date kept being pushed further and further back until all hype for the movie fizzled and died. 

It's like a marketing team's bad dream. (Image courtesy of indianexpress.com)

The New Mutants is a movie adaptation of the 1980's Marvel comic of the same name. Although the script is written for movie-goer consumption, they've stuck pretty close to introducing the original characters. It features five of the original mutant characters from the comics, mainly Danielle "Dani" Moonstar, a.k.a Mirage; Samuel "Sam" Guthrie, a.k.a Cannonball; Illyana Rasputin, a.k.a Magik; Roberto "Bobby" da Costa, a.k.a Sunspot; and Rahne Sinclair, a.k.a Wolfsbane. 

This movie tells the story of Dani Moonstone, a Cheyenne Native American, sent to a special treatment center for mutants (much like a discount version of Xavier's School for the Gifted) after her reservation was attacked by an unknown monster. The center is run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes, a mutant with the ability to conjure forcefields. While she's there, Dani meets the center's other mutant occupants, Guthrie, Rasputin, da Costa and Sinclair, played by Charlie Heaton, Anya Taylor-Joy, Henry Zaga and Maisie Williams respectively. 

As Dani is held there and undergoes tests, supernatural occurrences start happening that affect everyone in the facility mainly each of their deepest, darkest fears manifested. Dani and the other mutants start to realize that the center isn't exactly what its said to be.

It's like a discount version of the X-Men but with better dialogue. (Image courtesy of techradar.com)

The storyline isn't really worth the price of admission, but if you're a fan of Marvel and the X-Men, this is a movie which you should really watch. 

There are a ton of comic references inside and to see Anya Taylor-Joy take on the role of Magik was simply rewarding in itself. She was made for the character. Although we would've liked to see her trademark crown, there was a subtle nod to it in the movie. 

As for the rest of the characters, they were edged to the sidelines, with only small glimpses of their powers and abilities. Despite this, Maisie Williams did have a somewhat important role in the movie as the moral compass of the group and Dani's love interest. It was also clear that, despite the main storyline revolving around Dani, Illyana was the star of the movie and she may or may not have appearances in future Marvel projects. If she does though, we would really like Taylor-Joy to reprise her role. 

As the movie adopted a horror genre, the elements making it said genre fell flat. There were no jump scares and the ambiance was far from scary. They should've just kept with the action and thriller label and left it at that. 

Magik, taking names and kicking ass. (Image courtesy of gamesradar.com)

 

The pacing for the movie was pretty good, but the length of the movie was just too short. With a run time (including credits) of an hour and thirty minutes, it wasn't enough to flesh out everyone's character or the main storyline itself. 

We honestly think that The New Mutants would have made a good television series instead of a movie and Marvel should have put more thought before having it green lit.

In terms of camera angles, production quality, editing, music and other detailed aspects, it was pretty good, including the CGI for the powers. 

But what truly impressed us was how the movie managed to include Lockheed. For those uninitiated, Lockheed is the highly advanced, extraterrestrial dragon companion of Kitty Pryde, a.k.a Shadowcat. Throughout the comics, Lockheed has been a close companion of Kitty, and only occasionally accompanying Magik on missions. 

How they interpreted Lockheed as Illyana's purple sock puppet dragon which she often spoke to while at the facility but then makes a real-life appearance towards the end of the movie when Illyana conjured up Limbo was something endearing to watch. 

(Image courtesy of The New York Times)

All in all, The New Mutants wasn't exactly a disaster of a movie, but it was just a project that wasn't ready for the silver screen. Paired with the production issues, the constantly pushed deadline and the pandemic, it didn't have the typical impact Marvel movies usually had in the market and we feel that this contributed to the lackluster effect the movie gave off. 

Asian Does Horror gives The New Mutants 👻👻👻 emojis out of five.