The New Mutants Review: 3 Ups & 7 Downs

Downs...

7. The Terrible Script

Easily the worst thing about the film is its script, penned by both director Josh Boone and Knate Lee (Kidnap).

It becomes painfully clear from the first few minutes alone that exposition is largely the order of the day here, as most of the focal superheroes introduce themselves with paragraph-long lore dumps that the cast can only try to make sound vaguely natural.

It's a lot of tell and not much show, sadly, which is exacerbated by the fact that most of the origin stories are dreadfully dull and familiar, typically involving troubled youths fleeing abusive home lives.

If the bulk of the film's dialogue is rooted in dispassionately explaining the plot and the characters, the rest is accounted for by lousy "quippy" dialogue.

If Boone and Lee were probably trying to offer up a twisted, darkly comedic supernatural take on The Breakfast Club, the teen banter lacks the necessary juvenile wit and mostly comes off as obnoxious if not groan-worthy.