The New Mutants: An Elegy

These are not heroes, they are better. They are champions of self, unlikely friends, and most importantly survivors.

Thoughts on the X-Men Franchise before I start the Review: 

When I watched the final frames of Logan (2017) in theatres I shed a tear. I thought to myself this is the proper end of the X-Men that has carried on from when I was preteen till my late twenties. In the final scene one of the young mutants, and that is key, walks off with their fellow mutants into the harsh wilderness and before leaving Wolverines grave puts the cross ajar to make an X. A poignant riff on John Wayne’s The Cowboys ending. From there it seemed the franchise had no threads left to pull.

That moment ended Wolverine’s storyline, a storyline defined from the beginning by pain and solitude. That pain and solitude was expressed succinctly when Rogue asks him in X-Men (2000) “When it comes out does it hurt?” and he pauses before responding “everytime.” I think that my understanding was that this line was deeper, because for Rogue and the other young mutants when their powers came out was when it hurt.

That pain has always lingered in the X-Men franchise but, unfortunately the series shied away from this. Often dabbling but never embracing the kind of loneliness, depression, and awkward self awareness that were foundational to the opening of the first film. For me the X-Men appealed to me as a preteen and teenager. It was a story about emerging into adulthood into a world of conflict, wherein the sides are already established. Some moments still managed to capture that inherent sadness and loneliness.  

There is the classic often remembered example of Iceman’s parents asking him if he can stop being a mutant in X2. Also in that film was a brief moment when Nightcrawler admits to Jean Grey and Storm in a church that he carved designs in his skin. The moment when Angel self mutilates his mutation in X3 even. Most notable perhaps is the struggle of Beast in First Class to find a way to pass as non mutated to woo Mystique. His efforts only pushing her away with his internalized mutantphobia. In the scheme of the franchise however these were brief detours, they were never the main event. 

X-Men as time went on took more cues from Marvel and leaned into the kind of bombastic displays that are so common in superhero films. Downplaying or forgetting altogether the internal struggles of their characters. I have always loved the X-Men. I am one of the proud few to have seen Dark Phoenix in theatres, under the pretense that it would be the last film and that New Mutants would be scrapped altogether under Disney’s new ownership I thought it was a flawed but decent end. I was wrong, a better end was waiting in development hell. 

The New Mutants Review

I am beyond happy to report that The New Mutants is the best X-Men film to come out since Logan, and easily for me one of the most daring and personal X-Men films ever made. If Logan was the funeral then The New Mutants is an elegy. Logan leaves our group of young mutants to fend for themselves in a future without Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and leaves it to the audience to guess what will become of them. The New Mutants poses a difficult answer to that unknown fate. An answer that speaks for the most marginalized, abused, and traumatized who have no one supporting them but those that wish to take advantage of and exploit them. 

The New Mutants is frightening, in that it suggests that Professor Xavier’s School for gifted Youngsters giving children the best education and supports that money can buy to facilitate their growth as human beings is just one experience of mutants. In small dark corners of the world there are mutants who are trapped, abused, misunderstood, and caged. In our film caged, by a fellow mutant played by Alice Braga, whose Dr. Reyes serves as a darker and in many ways, more realistic overseer than the idealistic and omnipresent Xavier.  For our cast of characters no power dynamic exists between the X-Men and the Brotherhood to choose from. For them the only power they have access to is within themselves and each other. 

Our protagonist is a native American girl whose entire reservation was destroyed by the kind of cataclysmic event that superhero films often end with. We are introduced to this world through her eyes as she wakes in an asylum filled with so-called New Mutants. And what good company our cast of New Mutants is.

There’s the breakout star of the film Illyana Rasputin. Played fantastically by Anya Taylor-Joy and a loveable dinosaur sock puppet in what must be the most fantastic and, totally believable riffs on Harley Quinn ever.  Then there is the indomitable Maise Williams rocking an Irish accent for all that it’s worth. She portrays a girl whose religious beliefs are not undone by the heinous Catholic Priest from her past, who literally branded her a witch. Nor is she torn in the slightest by her queerness. A wonderfully telling moment occurs as she is watching an episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer on DVD, the episode in season four where Willow and Tara kiss.  Throw in Charlie Heaton with the twangiest accent that ever twanged, but sporting a feeling of such hurt that he makes it believable. A handsome Henry Zaga rounds out the cast as a hyper masculine but vulnerable Brazlillion rich kid, whose fear of intimacy harkens back to the character of Rogue and her fear that anyone she shares intimacy with will be hurt. 

You are in for an unpredictable and enjoyable character drama punctuated with scenes of visual horror and fantasy similar to Fukunaga’s/Muschietti’s IT and Del Toros Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, along with riffs on various asylum dramas. Did I mention this is an X-Men movie? 

It is in the purest sense. As we follow our cast of protagonists we do not see them saving cities, or punching out gods from space. No, we see them struggle to save themselves and each other as they are trapped in a world whose machinations are beyond their understanding. We witness friendship and love blossom in unlikely ways. We see the first genuinely queer romance in a “superhero” film and it is not a stray kiss in the background of a scene. It is grounded in a friendship that blossoms into an explicitly queer relationship. 

We see people process trauma in a visceral way that ties into the rules of their superness. These are not heroes, they are better. They are champions of self, unlikely friends, and most importantly survivors.

Maybe super survivors wouldn’t sound as cool. In a year where so many feel trapped physically and sometimes mentally The New Mutants offer something that is always needed. A way out. Heroes that you can cheer for, because if they win, then maybe you can. I think we all need a little bit of that right now. 

God bless Josh Boone and the cast of this film. I think that this movie was meant to be released now, in this time, and even if it bombs it will serve as a final beautiful gasp of potential that the X-Men franchise always had. I said this better end to the franchise was waiting for us in development hell a bit ago. I can’t help but feel it came out when we found ourselves in development hell too. 

Okay so that’s the movie review, but a couple funny asides about the first movie I’ve seen in theatres in forever. 

My experience watching this in the theatre was profoundly fun. I was fortunate to have the theatre to myself. Giddy with joy I giggled and laughed and cheered at every trailer. I yelled “This is Sparta” at the new Gerad Butler trailer about him outracing a comet in an obvious Deep Impact riff. After the Death on the Nile  trailer I said “Anybody else an Armie Hammer fan? (pause) Well I like him.” And during the Liam Neeson trailer for his next thriller I just kept saying “Liam Fucking Neeson Fucking shit up!” throughout. 

I also mocked the MPAA who have suddenly unceremoniously dropped an A. Thus all of the trailers said “MPA” on the rating screen. Every Time I saw it I said “M-P-A”

I sighed and then stated loudly “Twentieth Century Fox is dead. Long live twentieth Century Fox.” when Disneys “Twentieth Century Studios” logo appeared to the fox fanfare.

Eventually the movies started. Then a family came in, about 15 minutes into the damned thing! OF COURSE! It would not be a movie theatre if a bunch of talkative fidgety kids didn’t show up to break the illusion. After about fifteen minutes with this family behind me, whispering, playing with the chairs, etc.  I just got up and moved down to one of the front rows. I was miffed but settled back into the escapism. Then, a couple minutes later Maise Williams and Blu Hunt started making out. Then Henry Zaga and Anna Taylor Joy started making out! This family brought their eight year olds into the steamiest and thematically darkest blockbuster movie they could have. I didn’t notice them leave, but they did. As the credits rolled I looked over my shoulder and realized they’d left.  I can think of no greater endorsement for this film. This is for the weird, the fucked up, the overly sexualized, this movie is for the New Mutants. What a joy it is to see a superhero film with the chutzpah to go there. I clapped as the credits rolled. I was alone and that felt okay for the first time in awhile.