Disney, on digital from 28/12/20 and on DVD, Blu-ray™ and 4K Ultra HD™ on 4th January 2021

After a tornado apparently destroys the reservation where she lives, Dani Moonstar is brought to a hospital where her mutant powers can be assessed…

One of the very few movies I’ve seen in the cinema in 2020, The New Mutants impressed me more at then time than it did my colleague (see our review here). As with Deadpool and Logan, it was clear that this was trying to do something different with the X-Men franchise, whose excesses had reached their peak with Apocalypse. Delays and then the Disney purchase of Fox may actually have worked out in the film’s favour – a load of reshoots were in store that got cancelled, and the movie has reverted to co-writer/director Josh Boone’s original idea: a horror film in the X-Men universe.

For most of its running time, it’s a much smaller, more personal film than any of the others, with Blu Hunt, Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams in particular getting some moments that would have felt forced in the more four-colour universe of the main pictures. Alice Braga pitches her character of Dr Reyes well, broadening her performance as the various plot twists unfurl. Visually, it’s not trying to out-epic the other superhero movies – with Avengers: Infinity War originally planned to be released around the same time, this was a good decision – and there are some dark moments.

Are there loose ends? Sure, but many standalone movies have that, and it’s not a reason not to catch this. It’s a coda to the Fox X-Men universe and it would be great to see some of the characters make their mark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point.

The extras on the disc weren’t available for review, but include 10 minutes of deleted scenes, and what’s described as director Josh Boone “chatting with artist Bill Sienkiewicz”.

Verdict: Worthy of more attention than simply for completists wanting the entire Fox X-Men set, The New Mutants tries to be something different. 7/10

Paul Simpson

Available on digital from 28th December 2020, and on DVD, Blu-ray™ and 4K Ultra HD™ on 4th January 2021