…After AoS has ended, I admit that I thought that we have seen the last of MCU for a while, and been quietly focusing on the newest DC animated movie, ‘Superman: Man of Tomorrow’ for the last recent while. …And then life threw us a curveball in the form of ‘The New Mutants’ movie and what can I tell you? Real life sucks for a reason, but ‘The New Mutants’ did its’ best to top that.
Where to begin? ‘The New Mutants’ movie is depressing, in a
lukewarm sort of way. ‘Dark Phoenix 2019’ had thin, thin plot, (which was a
re-adaptation of a comic-book plot adaptation, so this makes DP19 twice as
sad), a lot of plotholes, and clear enough signs of restructuring, possibly
caused by budget issues, as well as the FOX’s own real-life issues with MCU,
(cough, ‘Captain Marvel’ cough), so it should’ve been a low enough bar to
clear. ‘The New Mutants’ didn’t do that, though it probably tried.
Where did its’ troubles begin? ‘The New Mutants’ is a ‘young
adult’ (YA) genre, which is mostly a literary genre, and it already does not
work there. The entire YA concept is an artificial construct, one that is
ignored by both children and adults, because what is a young adult? There are toddlers and pre-toddlers, children,
(pre-teens), teens, and adults – so what is a young adult? Something, or
someone, who is not an old adult? Is this term even appropriate and politically
correct in the modern Western society to begin with? How is it being defined,
and treated, in real life, as opposed to social media and co.? The answer is
silence.
…There is a theory, however, that Rick Riordan’s ‘Percy
Jackson’ novels are YA novels, and the movies about PJ’s adventures are YA
movies. In that case, ‘The New Mutants’ were already in trouble, as the two PJ
films were some of the worst movies ever, YA or not: the YA adult genre isn’t
transferring from the novel to the screen very well, whether it’s the PJ films,
or the one about the dystopian future with predatorous city-trains and all. ‘Hunger
Games’ with Katniss Everdeen, was not a bad film, but it was just one adapted
novel out of several – not a good dynamic.
‘The New Mutants’ fit into this tendency quite well, (which
is bad news, remember?). The cast, biologically speaking, are teenagers/young adults, but in the terms of movie mechanics it
means that they are children who are acting out adult roles; Magik’s get-up/clothing
is especially prominent at this angle. Yes, she’s bad, (as opposed to evil),
but if she isn’t a grown-up, then her
style isn’t entirely legal, and if she is
biologically and sexually mature, then the entire ‘New Mutants as teenagers’
plot concept is gone and done instead.
…Yes, the X-Men franchise,
as the rest of Marvel/DC/etc. comics is aimed at younger people rather than the
grown-ups, (though how this manifests in real life is something else), but it does
not mean that its’ characters are
teens. Rather, they are depicted how ever the plot demands – young, old,
neither, both, anything else – without a set age. Period.
…Yes, ‘The New Mutants’ were probably intended to be a
reboot of the X-Men franchise in general, but the various real life factors,
including the takeover of FOX by Disney/Marvel largely ended all of those
hopes, at least in the short term. Sadly, this knocked the main real life
motivation from beneath the movie’s feet, leaving it meaningless and pointless…
even if it was not already.
As for the actual execution of ‘The New Mutants’ movie… it
is lackluster. The magnificent five of the film have very little action going
on for most of the film, and the plot is a standard, paint by the numbers one.
We got the heroes, the monster that they need to defeat, and a secondary
villain that also needs to go down – the end. (Incidentally, in the canon, Dr.
Reyes was working for Professor X rather than Mr. Sinister/Nathaniel Essex…usually).
Moreover, this is exactly what happens, leaving the audiences with little excitement,
speculation and wonder as to what is going on, and in what direction is it
heading? …Even if you don’t know much about the original ‘new mutants’ plot
line, you can probably figure it all out within the first half-hour or so of
the film.
The characters themselves are new, only not – quite a few of
them had appeared, (albeit in different incarnations), in the original X-Men
films, (Earth-10005, if anyone cares). This here is Earth-TRN812 instead, but
who cares? The movie is just that forgettable, as the characters and the cast do
not care about anything, but just
trudge on, waiting for the movie and their participation in it, to end. There
is no hope in it, no involvement – at least in the AoS finale there was some hope, in shape of an Easter Egg
called ‘S.W.O.R.D.’ – maybe Daisy, (Chloe), and her immediate team will move
from S.H.I.E.L.D. to S.W.O.R.D. as Marvel’s next phase comes up – ‘The New
Mutants’ doesn’t have this feeling, this franchise is over, at least for now. The
movie is just vapid and pretty much familiar, just as ‘Doolittle-2020’ had
been, and that is all there is for it.
…Of course, it can argued that the team DC is not doing that
much better with the latest Superman film, and that is not a bad statement to
make – but that is another discussion.
For now though, this is it. See you all soon!
