The Stream: Disjointed, slightly annoying, and a bit random.

The Big Screen: Some pretty cool special effects.

The Final Bill: Just interesting enough to keep you on your toes and confused.

– S2S: Movie Review
Director: Josh Boone
Writers: Josh Boone, Knate Lee | 4 more credits »
Stars: Maisie Williams, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton | See full cast & crew 
Genre: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes
In theaters August 28, 2020 and for rent on streaming sites

Streamers, I’m not going to lie to you. I’ve been holding this review for a minute and I’m just now feeling so guilty that I have to get it out of my queue. The New Mutants finally hit theaters after years of delays and reshoots in August but of course there was the pandemic. I actually got a chance to watch this in the theater with one other person in November. Honestly, I’ve been quite intrigued by this long-awaited film. I had fears of flop-page on my mind, but let’s see what the delays and reshoots did to fix this film. I mean the opening scene and trailer look pretty good. Check it out below the review and then come back and check out what I thought of this film.

Here’s what I thought about this movie – so much potential and so much left on the table. I think the producers and directors left so much on the table. The best way to describe this is when a high person has a great idea and as every second that passes the brilliance slips away to the most mundane typical of stoner thoughts. No, this isn’t a stoner movie, but the idea of a cool psychological-horror-thriller as a superhero movie slowly turned into a teen angst whiny superhero movie. Oh man! I have issues and I’ve killed people blah blah blah. Now that I think about it, they minimized these backstories which otherwise would have been pretty horrifying; however, when nightmares come true it can be quite freaky. This is where I stand with this movie as a whole. Each character and storyline feels just like that. Great idea starts and is boiled down to the most basic bland whiny depiction. There was so much room to grow and it really makes me think, “what did this movie look like before the reshoots?” I feel this movie could’ve been more raw than it is. I know studios desperately try to make films with a PG-13 rating to maximize their audiences but this needed the R rating to be effective. And don’t get me started on producing this film and having no plan for a franchise. The biggest thing about this movie is the potential. We’ve started now and sequels actually could be interesting, but will any even be made. This movie was better off being a teen show similar to The Runaways and Cloak and Dagger on Hulu.

Nevertheless, braving the theaters for this was a mistake but also strangely gratifying. The New Mutants has potential but ultimately will leave you slightly empty. There are cool and creepy pieces of art in the film but those scenes are surrounded by random and sappy teen high school moments. For free, this movie is a solid random watch; but for renting purposes, this is a handful of popcorn that will have you cleaning the house while it plays in the background.