We had such high hopes for The New Mutants. The internet collectively loved the horror-infused first trailer for the movie that dropped all the way back in 2017, and after Dark Phoenix flopped last summer, X-Men fans kept their fingers crossed that the ever-delayed teen-flavored spinoff would prove to be a better final installment of Fox’s X-franchise. At long last, The New Mutants opens in theaters today, but it’s been met with damning reviews from critics.
Josh Boone’s movie currently sports a paltry 20% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews. Things could improve, then, as more critics give their thoughts, but that’s definitely not what we wanted to see. The audience score is somewhat better, but it’s still only 55% on the back of 163 ratings. So, this isn’t even one of those times when you can say “well, at least the fans love it.”
But what’s so bad about it? Well, a lot of things, apparently. According to Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail, “it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where Boone goes wrong, because there are just so many options to choose from.” Meanwhile, Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter described it as: “Generic and, at its best, straining to be heartfelt… making vague references to the X-Men franchise but attempting to stand on its own. Unfortunately, it rarely does.”
Forbes‘ Scott Mendelson has to be its harshest critic, though. “It’s the worst X-Men movie ever, akin to watching a terrible TV pilot for a series that you already know didn’t get picked up,” he sums up in his review. On a brighter note, many folks highlighted stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams and Blu Hunt as giving strong performances, with hopes that they could get the chance to work with better material in the MCU.
This is all pretty disappointing, then, but it remains to be seen what the Marvel/X-Men fandom makes of the movie at large. Tell us, though, will you be checking out The New Mutants in cinemas? Let us know in the comments section.