The New Mutants Review: 3 Ups & 7 Downs
Ups...
3. Anya Taylor-Joy Steals The Show
By far the most entertaining thing about The New Mutants is Anya Taylor-Joy's presence as Illyana Rasputin aka Magik.
Her inconsistent accent aside, Taylor-Joy brings without question the most pronounced sense of attitude and actual character to the table, making Illyana both cheekily mischievous and thoroughly tortured in her own right.
She does her level-best to generate interest out of the flat central narrative and spin the familiar teen melodrama into something more inspired, and as such steals every scene she appears in.
It's a shame the script doesn't have more to offer her, but it's also clear that of all the characters in the movie, Magik is the most fully-formed, and the one who could most seamlessly make a leap over to the MCU - unlikely though that is.