The New Mutants

Und gerade mir hat es nicht so gefallen! Horror, X-Men, eine Handlung mit romantischer Linie und Spannung? Das soll da angeblich sein, aber ich habe es nirgends gefunden. Ein Horror, bei dem ich keine Angst habe! Die X-Men, die eher wie eine Serie wirken, als dass sie auf eine Filmleinwand gehören, das funktioniert hier aber auch nicht, weil eigentlich kein Film so lang ist. Und dann die romantische Linie, die nicht vertrauenswürdig ist, die Chemie funktioniert einfach nicht, und im Ganzen kam es mir vollgestopft vor. Und die Spannung? Am Ende - vielleicht - ein wenig... Also stehe ich wieder dazu, dass daraus nichts wurde und ich keine Fortsetzung möchte, geschweige denn dass ich es mir noch Mal anschaue... 3/10 (08.09.2020)

Auf diesen Film habe ich lange gewartet. Damit meine ich jetzt nicht seinen Verzug, sondern nur das, um welchen Film es sich handelt. Es ist eine Geschichte aus der X-Men-Welt, in der es aber keine X-Men gibt. Das war für mich immer reizvoll. Es handelt sich hier um neue und interessante Helden. Der Film ist in manchen Hinsichten anders als andere Mutant-Filme (überraschenderweise beziehen sich The New Mutants am meisten zu Logan: The Wolverine, aus dem sie sich ein paar Sekunden ausgeliehen haben). Der Film hat eine angenehme Horrorstimmung, ähnlich wie in der ursprünglichen Version von Nightmare - Mörderische Träume; er enthält keine überflüssigen digitalen Zaubertricks, die es erst im eindrucksvollen Finale gibt… Eine hochwertige, bescheidenere Geschichte, die abseits der Hauptserie steht und ruhig länger sein könnte. Ihre Fortsetzung würde mich bestimmt neugierig machen. Die Pläne der Autoren wurden aber vom Studio ruiniert, das mit dem Misstrauen auch das Publikum angesteckt hat. Es ist wirklich schade. Dani und Rahne haben großes Potenzial! (03.09.2020)

The New Mutants hat Horror, Science Fiction und Action in seiner Beschreibung, aber nach dem Ansehen muss ich feststellen, dass fast keine der Genre-Ebenen so funktioniert, wie ich es mir gewünscht und erwartet hätte. Der Trailer selbst hatte mehr von einer unheimlichen und actiongeladenen Atmosphäre als der Film selbst, was wirklich schade ist, weil es eine Menge Potenzial und einen Hauch von Andersartigkeit zu den anderen Teilen des X-Men-Universums gab. Die Charaktere und ihre Fähigkeiten sind einerseits interessant, andererseits aber auch etwas schlaff, so dass man nicht wirklich den Drang verspürt, mit ihnen mitzufiebern - die einzige Figur, die mich zumindest ein bisschen interessiert hat, war Illyana (sowie Lockheed und ihre dämonischen "Smileys"). Auch die (in vielen früheren Filmen) bewährte Krankenhausumgebung funktionierte nicht so, wie sie hätte funktionieren können oder sollen. Meine Erwartungen an The New Mutants waren einfach zu hoch. (02.09.2020)

This potentially interesting horror comic-book film turned out to be such an eviscerated nothing. The New Mutants would like to lean on the characters, but the creators are virtually uninvolved with them. They'd like to differentiate themselves from other X-Men movies by setting them in the horror genre, but the scary scenes are more or less stripped down here. And while it looks pretty nice and the bunch of heroes are quite likeable despite their shallowness, it's not enough for a good movie. After years of waiting, a film that does practically nothing to impress has arrived in the cinemas. (28.08.2020)

New Mutants, a long-delayed affair that finally made it to theaters, would have been more at home on Netflix. It's not bad though, I was a bit annoyed that the whole film takes place in the dark and has very dark visuals (it felt like 480P quality in the cinema), but the setting in an institution is good and the characters are quite likeable, with Scream Queen Anya Taylor-Joy shining the most, already notching up 6. She's also appearing in the highly anticipated The Northman and Last Night in Soho, the girl just rocks, she's great and I'm rooting for her. Here she plays a sassy bitch and is also the best character in the whole film. The film is quite suspenseful and mysterious and the most interesting scene is the arrival of Smiley Man, who has a great mask and looked unpleasant. But the film is brought down by the very digital finale with the giant bear, which looked more teen fantasy than horror, but considering the problems the film faced it probably turned out better than expected. Story***, Action***, Humor>No, Violence>No, Entertainment****, Music***, Visual***, Atmosphere***. 6.5/10. (06.09.2020)

This is a fairly well-made mutant spin-off, though its delayed release promised nothing better than average despite trying for a while to be more of a psychological horror movie; either the studio talked Boone out of it or I’m just too much of a hardened viewer. The climax is an orgy of tricks reminiscent of a bout of fantasy fisticuffs on acid. I was distracted the whole time, wondering if the lesbian relationship storyline could still be categorized as LGBT or if it was in fact bordering on zoophilia. Roughly comparable to the last X-Men farewell film, Dark Phoenix. (15.11.2020)

A psychological drama about a group of young people locked up in a mental institution. The doctor may tell them they're locked up for their own good, but given who employs her, it's clear the goal is quite different. A very unbalanced film, if you tune in for sci-fi and expect a lots of visual effects. And when you get used to it being mostly about conversation and relationship resolution, everything explodes. But yeah, the ending is good, so a better average for me. Rasputin (that's the name, right?) is a proper bitch, but the evil lies in someone else. Someone who murders on cue with an icy heart. The bear girl took way too long to do her thing. (06.08.2024)

There's so much wrong with this film that it's hard to find anything positive: the casting, the script, the execution, the final editing. An unoriginal story (too similar to Glass) that is tragically illogical and lame, to the point where I don't understand how it could have been released like this. Another terrible thing are the unoriginal characters. 1) An annoying Maisie Williams, who looks like a 13 year old girl and at the same time a 40 year old widowed lesbian feminist who can turn into a dachshund. 2) A swole rich kid who can burn. Wow. I feel like I've seen that character before. 3) A flying Charlie Heaton, playing the same freak as in Stranger Things and looking like he was chained to the basement heater by an abusive uncle as a kid. Good thing at least Anya Taylor-Joy was passable, although the role of the female electric Thor is a joke and you almost can’t believe that the star The Queen’s Gambit earlier this year would take a role in this film. It's perhaps worth mentioning the Smiley-men, who are quite visually creative, something that can't be said for the final CGI mess. Several cuts and years of chaotic work have unfortunately taken quite a toll on the film. What could have been a valuable and interesting addition to the X-Men universe has become a boring piece of garbage that doesn't know what genre to to be, so it mixes the worst of all of them, and the result probably shouldn’t have been released. (17.11.2020)

The name you're looking for is I Am Number Four. This was, in fact, a similar high school debauchery that was made for the sole purpose of groping the potential for creating a new young adult franchise and was transparent about it all the way through. With films like The New Mutants, you almost tend to personify the film medium due to how naturally resistant it can be to these attempts to simply monetize it purely, without any further ambition or ability. Perhaps only unloaded sadists who will groan at the way actors struggle with their accents and ultimately their roles might find some satisfaction. However, the discomfort of watching it is far more pervasive. Witnessing the discomfort of everyone involved in a film of only six actors is rather comparable to being the only one to attend the birthday party of an unpopular classmate. (24.11.2020)

What should be appreciated is the attempt at genre-bending, however if you're going for a horror spectacle (and the trailers are very misleading in this regard), you'll be disappointed. Not that there aren't horror themes, it’s just that the whole thing comes across as completely mediocre without a shred of invention. The story and the comedic concept itself may be fine, but the film tempts you with something that ultimately falls woefully short of the 50% mark. As such, this attempt at an X-Men horror crossover got stuck somewhere in the middle of its journey. A great idea in brutally mediocre execution. (08.09.2020)