When this movie was first shown back in 2017 I absolutely loved the idea of this being a horror film. I was excited for Fox to play with different genres as a means to add variety to the X-Men universe of films. Then the film went into limbo (pun slightly intended) and it finally released this year with no fanfare whatsoever.
The movie has a few problems but I will say that I enjoyed what Josh Boone was going for here. For the most part, it worked and thoroughly enjoyable. The cast was close to being spot on. Anya Taylor-Joy as Magik and Maisie Williams as Wolfsbane were brilliantly cast. Charlie Heaton was serviceable as Cannonball but probably would have really shined in a sequel. The big miss for me was Henry Zaga as Sunspot. While the actor and performance were fine it’s hard for me to swallow that this could not have been an opportunity for better representation. Roberto da Costa is not only Brazilian but he is a dark-skinned Brazilian which would have informed his character even more.
The potential here was pretty high and I hate that this will be a casualty of the Disney/Fox merger at the end of the day. I hope the current caretakers of the X-Men universe do not forget what New Mutants was bringing to the table.
Watched on Friday, November 6, 2020.
