The New Mutants (Movie Review)

***This review will contain spoilers***

Summary:

Five teenage mutants; Mirage, Wolfsbane, Cannonball, Sunspot and Magik undergo treatments at a secret institution that will cure them of their dangerous powers. Invited by Dr. Cecilia Reyes to share their stories, their memories soon turn into terrifying realities as they start to question why they're being held and who's trying to destroy them. 

Jeez, another X-Men movie that just misses the mark. Great concept, terrible execution. I like the idea of the new mutants being introduced on the big screen but there was a huge missed opportunity. This movie should have been taken and utilized to set up the future of the X-Men universe. These X-Men movies have honestly been all over the place that it's hard to keep track on who is alive and which storyline we should be following. 

I like the new mutants that were picked for this movie but I would have done a lot more than what were given. The movie felt too bland. There wasn't really much of a storyline other than focusing on Dani and her abilities. I did like that Dani's abilities helped introduce each character and some of their worst moments/fears. It gave us a good insight. However, there wasn't much more going on with the movie. 

Here is what I would have done with this movie. Essex Corporation is holding the mutants to experiment on them, the mutants are being controlled/subdued by collars that stop their mutation which means they can't use their abilities. This ties in with Deadpool 2 since Essex was behind a foster home for mutant children that get abused, it would make sense Essex would get their hands on the same collars the government uses as seen in that movie. The new mutants get rescued by current X-Men members so it'll establish who's alive and where we're at in the X-Men universe. The mutants are brought to the school and introduced to Professor X and I would love for his first sentence to be "Welcome, you must be the new mutants." I love when movies and fictional works of art mention the name of the title within the work itself. I feel like it adds a little razzle dazzle. 

From there, Illyana comes across her brother "Colossus" Piotr and we can delve into their past and see their upbringing. Illyana has a deep and complex background, from how her abilities work to her past trauma. If the new mutants movie was done correctly Illyana could have had a standalone movie featuring her brothers; Piotr and Mikhail. That movie could go so many different directions, it could focus on her being kidnapped by Belasco and taken to limbo, through that it could tie in to the MCU and the multiverse. While in limbo Illyana comes across multiple alternate versions of X-Men characters. The movie could even cover how she became in control of limbo or her being mentored by Dr.Strange. There is so much potential with that character if done correctly. I believe she would be a huge hit. Especially, with how much young children/adults crave a strong female character. 

Going back to my idea for the new mutants, with them being at the school, they can now be trained to harness and control their abilities. I think if the Hellions would be added in to rival the new mutants lots of characters old and new could be introduced. The new mutants are sent on a mission to stop the Hellions from killing humans who work for Essex (because killing is wrong). 

I think a movie along these lines would help set up the future of the X-Men franchise because it would lead to future movies like The New Mutants 2, The Hellions vs The New Mutants, Magik etc. Sounds a hell lot more interesting than what they've been doing. 

Rating:

I am  going to give The New Mutants 2 stars on 5. There was an idea and an ok concept which is a lot more than what we have been given in the past few movies. But as you've seen from my long winded rant, this movie had the potential to do so much yet it did so little. The X-Men comics have so much source material to pull from that there's no excuse for the lack of creativity or foresight. Someone at Disney needs to reach out to me so I can give them some creative ideas for their X-Men movies.