It could be said that 20th
Century Fox’s “X-Men” movies, which started in 2000, was a major contributor to
the revitalization of the American superhero movie. With film rights of
different Marvel Comics characters scattered to different film studios, it led
to the growth of the genre until the so-called “House of Ideas” launched the
Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise in 2008. As for the X-Men, they ironically
decreased in box-office pull and comic-book prominence as the MCU took center
stage. With “Dark Phoenix” flopping last year, the Fox spinoff “The New Mutants”
found its premiere pushed back repeatedly. With a new release date confirmed
for it, came a new trailer.
Comic Book Resources tells us that a long preview for X-Men
cinematic spinoff “The New Mutants” was released by 20th Century Fox
this Monday, January 6. It is welcome news for fans of the titular team and its
characters, introduced in 1982 by Marvel Comics as a younger generation of
mutant superheroes serving as “underclassmen” to the more prominent X-Men teams.
Filming of the movie was actually begun in 2017, only for premiere-scheduling
and later, the acquisition of the Fox film studio by Disney that kept putting its
release off.
The trailer shows more of the
limited setting of “The New Mutants,” touted in earlier Fox blurbs as a
superhero horror story in the world of the X-Men movies. It takes place in an
old medical facility run by a scientist, Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga), who is
overseeing a group of teens who, like herself, are mutants – people born with
superhuman abilities that usually manifest during puberty.
Her study group includes Native
American illusion-caster Danielle Moonstar (Blu Hunt), devout Scots lass (and
mutant lycanthrope) Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams from “Game of Thrones”), “human
rocket” Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton), Brazilian solar energy-powered superhuman
Roberto Da Costa (Henry Zaga), and Russian teleporter and mage Illyana Rasputin
(Anya Taylor Joy), who is the younger sister of X-Man Colossus, seen in past “X-Men”
movies.
While initially appearing as a legitimate
if isolated facility, it becomes clear to the teen mutants being monitored that
they cannot leave the institute’s confines. Furthermore, a dark force seems to
be manifesting in the place, capable of peering into people’s heads and
projecting horrifying replicas of their darkest fears. With little trust in
their keepers and in each other, these young super-humans must find the will
and resolve to survive the gathering danger, together.
Although primarily a horror story
as envisioned by director John Boone, “The New Mutants” is still a film
featuring mutants with powers, and part of the trailer gets to showcase these
abilities in amazing fashion. A major draw is the scene where Illyana draws on
her powers as depicted in the source comics: magical armor covering one arm and
a weapon, the Soul-Sword, formed from the purity left in her corrupted soul.
She then confronts a creature that resembles a famous New Mutant adversary, the
Demon Bear. Whether this is true or not will be revealed when “The New Mutants”
arrives in cinemas at long last this coming April 2020.
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