THE NEW MUTANTS

Generation hex

- Nick Setchfield

RELEASED OUT NOW!

15 | 94 minutes

Director Josh Boone

Cast Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams, Charlie Heaton, Blu Hunt

Circumstances, it’s fair to say, have not been kind to The New Mutants. In truth circumstances have smashed it in the teeth, rolled it into the gutter and administered a merciless booting while live-tweeting it all and cackling.

Shot in 2017, when the world was young, the thirteenth installment of the X-franchise originally targeted an April 2018 release slot. Endlessly rescheduled, dogged by rumours of exec-level disapproval of its tone and major surgery reshoots (dismissed by director Josh Boone), it seemed destined to stew in the can forever, victim of Disney’s devouring of 20th Century Fox. Now it’s been marched to the front as part of cinema’s strike back against Covid-19. It’s hard not to view it as cannon fodder.