Update — August 28, 2020: The New Mutants has been labelled "the worst X-Men movie ever" and "best forgotten" in scathing first reviews.
Thanks to the Disney-Fox merger, several reshoots and the slight inconvenience of a global pandemic, the X-Men horror spin-off has seemingly been delayed more times than any other film in history – but it's now finally made its way to US cinemas, with a UK release set for September 4.
Related: The New Mutants originally featured Storm as a "sadistic jailer"
However, according to the handful of critics who have already seen the film and lamented the experience, it really wasn't worth the wait.
Check out some reviews below:
Forbes
"It's the worst X-Men movie ever, akin to watching a terrible TV pilot for a series that you already know didn't get picked up.... Whether it justifies itself as an X-Men movie is irrelevant since it is a very bad X-Men movie, the worst of the franchise by default."
What to Read Next
The Hollywood Reporter
"For most of the planet — that is, the portion of the planet able to see this new release from Disney’s 20th Century Studios in a movie theatre — and especially for the film’s likely target audience, Mutants will provide an eye-rolling case of déjà vu."
JoBlo's Movie Network
"In some ways, I’ll say this - NEW MUTANTS couldn’t have gone to streaming. The brutal fact is no one would have wanted to sit through it. It’s a pretty bad film, utterly devoid of the charm and imagination that’s made Josh Boone (THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and the upcoming "The Stand" limited series) such an up and coming director."
Punch Drunk Critics
"The New Mutants is almost certainly the end of the line, and Boone doesn’t do enough to justify its inclusion as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a shame because, given the nature of the script, the team could easily be made to fit without much trouble."
Variety
"Despite all the meddling and interference the film reportedly went through, The New Mutants feels pretty coherent in the end. What it doesn’t achieve is a memorable personality of its own."
The Wrap
"None of the mutants’ superhero names are used once, and we’re only given passing glances at their abilities — this is very much an origin story, and one that would have benefited from less table-setting."
Original: The New Mutants is finally being released after a number of delays, with US audiences able to see the movie from tomorrow (August 28) and UK fans from September 4.
The X-Men horror spin-off has had a troubled journey to the big screen, but we're finally getting the opportunity to meet Wolfsbane (Maisie Williams), Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy), Cannonball (Charlie Heaton), Mirage (Blu Hunt) and Sunspot (Henry Zaga), a group of young mutants who are beginning to discover their abilities while being held in a secret facility against their will.
But the film's difficulties aren't over yet. The film has not been made specially available to critics to review, meaning that they will need to attend a general cinema screening to see and review it – something which a number of critics have refused to do due to health and safety concerns.
Related: New Mutants director on cutting big X-Men heroes
The movie's single English-language review at time of writing comes from The Hollywood Reporter's Jordan Mintzer, who saw the film in France, where it opened on Wednesday (August 26).
It's a bit of a mixed review from Mintzer, who writes: "Generic and, at its best, straining to be heartfelt, director Josh Boone's adaptation of the Marvel spin-off comic series is a Marvel movie spin-off in its own right, making vague references to the X-Men franchise but attempting to stand on its own.
"Unfortunately it rarely does, even if the film's trio of young and tough female leads manages to give your typically male-dominated genre something of a feminine twist."
Indeed, Mintzer praised the "good performances from (the) cast, especially the troika of Blu, Taylor-Joy and Williams, who add layers of panache and emotion to their characters while kicking ass at the same time".
Related: New Mutants star discusses movie's lesbian romance
For the time being this is the only review we're getting, because many US critics are declining to go to the cinema to see it in the absence of a digital preview copy.
Screen Rant has published an article explaining why it won't be reviewing the movie just yet, saying: "Screen Rant is not asking or expecting any of our team members to feel pressured into going to see films in non-drive-in theaters and/or non-virtual cinemas right now.
"For the same reason, we won't be assigning any of our employees to theaters to cover/review the latest releases for the time being, including this weekend's The New Mutants."
The AV Club has published a similar article, writing: "We are... adopting the official policy of only reviewing films our writers can safely watch, whether in a socially distanced press screening or with a digital screener."
Related: The New Mutants cut Deadpool and X-Men references
Director Josh Boone recently explained why a streaming-first release wasn't possible for The New Mutants, saying that a contractual agreement means it needs to be released theatrically.
"With most movies, you sign contracts that guarantee a theatrical release, so it needs to open to ever go digital in the first place," he said. "We just, too, would like people to see it in the theatre. But it needs to obviously be at the right time when it's safe to go back."
The New Mutants is out now in the US and on September 4 in the UK.
![X-Men Collection [Blu-ray]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1559566547-51S2vykKGbL.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "X-Men Collection [Blu-ray]")
![Marvel's The New Mutants DVD [2020]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1623253999-511UhKIH17L._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Marvel's The New Mutants DVD [2020]")
![Logan [streaming]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1559566605-51hSQqD3G9L.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Logan [streaming]")
![Once Upon a Deadpool [streaming]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1559566729-51NFVnohQxL.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Once Upon a Deadpool [streaming]")
![Deadpool Double Pack [Blu-ray]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1559566694-51gZuVHbDLL.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Deadpool Double Pack [Blu-ray]")
![X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga [Uncanny X-Men (1963-2011)]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1559566771-61mi25M2r6L.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga [Uncanny X-Men (1963-2011)]")
![X-Men: Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut [streaming]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1559566799-518mVirtVqL.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "X-Men: Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut [streaming]")
20th Century Fox/Marvel X-Men: Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut [streaming]
Digital Spy has launched its first-ever digital magazine with exclusive features, interviews, and videos. Access this edition with a 1-month free trial, only on Apple News+.
Interested in Digital Spy's weekly newsletter? Sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.
Reporter & Sub-Editor, Digital Spy Susannah is a freelance writer and sub-editor, specialising in the entertainment industry. She graduated in 2014, with a BA in English and American Literature and Creative Writing, and an MA in Creative Producing. She’s been writing for Digital Spy ever since, after first getting involved through work experience, and has written hundreds of stories for the site on a range of topics, from The Sims to Doctor Who. Susannah has also written for Reveal Magazine. Her special interests are soaps (her Mastermind subject would be 2000s Coronation Street), Marvel and Star Wars. She can also quote far too many lines from Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
