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THE NEW MUTANTS (15)
SO THIS is how the X-Men franchise ends, with no X-Men and precious few thrills? The New Mutants has had a tricky path to the big screen, with lengthy delays in production and wholesale rewrites. And it shows.
It’s an origin story of sorts.
Five teenagers with developing superpowers find themselves locked up in a hospital with not a Wolverine or Magneto in sight.
Instead of Hollywood royalty such as Hugh Jackman and Ian McKellen, we have the stars of Netflix and HBO series in the hope of hooking in the Young Adult crowd. There’s Anya Taylor-Joy (fantastic in The Queen’s Gambit), Maisie Williams (OK in Game Of Thrones) and Charlie Heaton (dull in Stranger Things).
One of the group can explode like a rocket and fly at supersonic speed, but without control. Another turns into a wolf in moments of stress.
There are fleeting references to their belief they are being groomed as X-Men but that is the only apparent link to the previous 12 films.
Fans of the Marvel comics, familiar with the characters, may get more out of it, but it will leave newcomers cold. Director Josh Boone (The Fault In Our Stars) makes a halfhearted attempt to build a brooding atmosphere as our young heroes discover how to control the weird and wonderful things they can do.
There are clashes with their keepers which are well handled. But you quickly get the sinking feeling this is not going to mutate into a classic finale for the franchise.
By the time of the inevitable bang-crash CGI battle-royale in the final quarter, we’ve lost interest.
It’s not so much X but Why? And Zzzzzzz.
On digital now, DVD and Blu-ray from tomorrow.