This has been a film that has been pushed back at least two or three times, once for re-shooting, the next time was when Disney bought out Fox that pushed all their projects back and then finally Covid-19 pandemic happened.
The question though, is the film worth the wait?
After waiting for it for so many years, I can honestly say no it isn't worth it.
The film starts with a proverb a phrase about how there's two bears fighting inside of you well, that is the wrong proverb to begin with, its actually two wolves, but they changed it to bears to make the story work.
It then starts with a father and daughter, Dani escaping into woods at nighttime being chased by a monster. It starts off promising at least. Then the father disappears and she's then rescued. It jumps forward in time and she finds herself in a hospital. It turns out she is a mutant. The hospital is in fact a discount hogwarts with other students that also have powers. However the film is short so it ends up with the students being all generic characters such as the one with the mean attitude, the timid romance character, and so on. All of them pretty boring characters that could have come any other young adult film or tv series. There's no time for real development, so they all act like stock characters. They all believe that they are being hired for the X-men.
As the film progresses all the mutants fears start appearing on screen, Dr Reyes is trying to find out what Dani's power is, as all the other mutant students have powers such as being able to open portals that Illyana can use. It also shows early on that the hospital is protected from a barrier that is held up by Dr Reyes as she is shown to be able to create barriers.It takes a while to get going and some of the scenes were actually good, that should have been developed further, such as the faceless smiling men, chasing them down corridors. Its the only time when there are some elements of horror, but its still very tame in my opinion. It turns out that Dany, the main character, is the one causing all the hallucinations for everyone else rather than the hospital or the experiments.
The film reveals towards the end that they are not being hired for the X-men but rather the evil Essex Corporation and tries to have Dr Reyes put Dani down. However Dani is rescued from her romance, Wolfsbane (Maisie Williams) and they all try to escape but Dr Reyes traps them all in barriers. Then the bear appears from the beginning eventually, killing off Dr. Reyes and it turns out that Dani has to overcome her fears to face it head on. Once she wakes up, the bear just disappears entirely. Then the film ends with them all getting outside, now free from Dr Reyes' magic and able to explore the world beyond. Roll credits.
Overall the film is pretty average and forgettable, it could have been made just that more scarier and intense and really developed those concepts. Perhaps even bring in the supposed bad guys from Essex corporation. Of course there was talk of it being a trilogy but it is unlikely. I give this film a 4/ 10. It's something that's been done before but its done better in other places.