The Marvel Universe films have basically taken over the film industry over the past few years, deservedly so. The films in the series have delivered on the promise to make solid films with strong connections to the comics they were based on. This was the problem that the DC films suffered from, producers and writers who thought they needed to steer clear of the source material as much as possible. But DC wasn’t the only one.
The earliest incarnations of Marvel films in recent history did the same somewhere. In 2000 the first major film came out, THE X-MEN and in 2002 SPIDER-MAN hit the screens. Both used the basics from the comics but twisted them a bit in costumes, stories and tone. But fans wanted to see these movies and more followed. Neither series at the time were made by Marvel, with X-MEN coming from Fox and SPIDER-MAN Sony. Successful as they were it would take Marvel getting back the rights to most of their material for the better films to be made.
That being said Fox still retained the rights to the X-Men franchise and that included the New Mutants. Created in 1982 the comic was an offshoot of the original group that had grown up. This new team consisted of younger members and the movie follows that much of the comics as well as most of the original team. But like its predecessors it deviates and goes for a horror styled theme instead of what the comics created.
The film opens with Danielle “Dani” Moonstar’s (Blu Hunt) being awakened by her father as their reservation is hit by a tornado. Knocked unconscious she wakes in a hospital run by Dr. Cecelia Reyes (Alice Braga). Reyes informs her that her that everyone else was killed and she survived because she is a mutant with powers. This facility was created to protect mutants and to help youngsters come to grips with their powers.
She is introduced to the rest of the teens in the facility: Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams), Illyana Rasputin (Anna Taylor-Joy), Roberto de Costa (Henry Zaga) and Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton). Each has their own power as well as their own difficulties in getting along with other people. Sam tends to be shy, Roberto acts like a flirt, Illyana a snarky teen and Rahne the quiet and thoughtful one. Illyana is so nasty that she tricks Dani into making a run to escape the facility only to run into a force field that surrounds it.
As the story progresses we learn about the powers of each of these teens as well as their attempts to harness those powers. We also get the feeling things are not on the up and up here as Dr. Reyes watches all of them via closed circuit camera. In addition to these she gets readings on each of the teens showing their life signs and psionic abilities.
After her run in with Illyana Dani becomes closer to Rahne. Eventually the two begin a romantic relationship. This builds a tie between them that comes into play later in the film when the climactic battle (face it all of these movies have one). But it will take time before that happens and just what it transpiring is finally revealed.So is the movie any good? I’d heard the film was troubled being pushed back 2 years from its initial release date. The first trailer I saw gave me on desire to see the film since it seemed to deviate so far from the source material. So I went in wary. If you push all of that aside, watch the movie on its own merits without tying it into the Marvel Universe it is surprisingly decent. The acting is well done, the story isn’t bad and the directing is solid.
But at the same time it doesn’t feel like it adds anything new. We’ve seen the CGI creatures and powers done to death in recent years. And the choice to face off against a huge creature/bad guy at the end of the film has become all too common. This was one of the worst problems with the GREEN LANTERN film. So why make the same mistake here?
All in all the movie is entertaining enough and those who aren’t familiar with the comics will most likely enjoy it more than those who are. And some fans of the comics will accept this movie for what it is and be glad to at least glimpse those heroes they grew up with and loved hit the screen. While I enjoyed the movie well enough I’m not likely to buy a copy and add it to my collection. I doubt I’ll watch it again. It was worth seeing at least once though.
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