Well, that took a while didn't it?
I was intrigued by the idea of a horror superhero film when this was first announced to be released in 2018. Also, while I didn't collect the New Mutants comics themselves, I was always a fan of the group when they guest starred in stories I was reading.
The film suffered from a two year delay, expecting to come out out in 2020.
Yeah... I wasn't really hitting the theater all that often at that time.
By the time it was released on disc in the late fall of that year, I had kind of forgotten about it.
Looking for discount items to add to one of my Disney Movie Club orders (RIP) I remembered it, and ordered it. (For the collection CANNOT HAVE SPACES!!!)
I'm not sure when that was. Anabelle likes several of the actors and while away at school said she wanted to watch it with me. This opinion, however, would vanish whenever she came home and she would never choose it.
Rosa and I were doing a rewatch of all the X-men films, because they remain awesome. (Except Dark Phoenix. Why do they always think they can squeeze two planned movies into one and have it work out.)
Anyway, the "Kid's Eyes" version for this movie was Anabelle saying, "Let me know if it's good."
Well, with a five year delay, it was good.
Like I said, I like the characters in the comics, they tweaked their personalities and powers a bit, but all the performers did a fantastic job of capturing their comic counterparts. To add in the more well known Magik, they left out founding member Karma, but gave aspects of her personality and tragic and damaged back story to Magik and other characters. Then again, they're Marvel superheroes created in the Eighties, of course they have tragic back stories. Its just some of them got shifted around this time.
I did have one problem with the film, but that was more my fault than the storytelling. A fair amount of the horror, and other important "surprise" reveals, had to do with slowly learning what all the characters' powers were. However, as a life long comic book geek, I knew them all going in to the film. Sunspot and Mirage's powers got the biggest shifts, (from their original powers, the characters did get upgrades that match what was shown on screen in later comic books) but were close enough to the source material to allow easy predictions.
Overall it was a well done, creepy take on the mystery "haunted hospital" idea. The movie has a short run time for a superhero flick (and hour and forty), meaning it moves along briskly. The ensemble cast is small enough that there is enough time spent on each of them, and it would have been cool to see them interact with the older X-men in later series.
I was concerned they were going to fall back on the overused, and stupid, Marvel idea of "Boo hoo, I am a woman and therefore lack the emotional control to deal with my powers." And I was right to be. However, at least this time, the character worked her way through that with the help of friends and didn't end up crazy, a villain, dead or all three. (Glares at Scarlett Witch writers.)
With the "all cards on the table" nature of Avengers: Doomsday they're talking about, there's always a chance this gang gets another crack at it. I feel they deserve it.
This is probably due to me hoping for a film adaptation of the X-men/ New Mutants "Asgardian Wars" story. The first X-men trade I read. Because how could I write a superhero movie review without referencing another definition of "my first" comic book.
Minor spoiler:
WOO! Lockheed!!!!
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