In August, the world bid a fond farewell to a number of stars of the silver screen and the small screen. In brief, shown below, is my passing tribute to those stars who leave an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, and in particular the world of film and television. May you all Rest In Peace, and thanks for the memories . . . .
Reni Santoni, Tom Pollock, Wilford Brimley, Leslie Randall, Brent Carver, Kurt Luedtke, Silvana Bosi, Linda Manz, Gary Cowling, Ben Cross, Benny Chan, Allan Rich, Lori Nelson, Caesar Cordova, David S. Cass Snr., Chadwick Boseman and
Norm Spencer.
* Reni Santoni - born 21st April 1939, died 1st August 2020, aged 82. Santoni was American Actor of film and television who accumulated 103 screen acting credits to his career spanning six decades and launching with a small role in the drama film
'Strangers in the City' in 1962. Following a number of appearances in TV series over the following years, his next big screen roles came with
'Enter Laughing' in 1967, then
'A Great Big Thing' and
'Anzio' both in 1968, and
'Guns of the Magnificent Seven' in 1969. His next more notable big screen appearance same in 1971's
'Dirty Harry' with Clint Eastwood, then
'Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid' with Steve Martin in 1982,
'Bad Boys' in 1983 with Sean Penn,
'Brewster's Millions' in 1985 with Richard Pryor and John Candy,
'Cobra' in 1986 with Sylvester Stallone,
'The Pick-up Artist' in 1987 with Robert Downey Jnr.,
'The Package' in 1989 with Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones,
'28 Days' in 2000 with Sandra Bullock with
'Clean Sweep' recently announced. In the meantime there were numerous appearances on single and multiple episodes of television series including '
The Odd Couple', 'The F.B.I.', 'Barnaby Jones', 'Lou Grant', 'Hawaii Five-0', 'The Rockford Files', 'Charlie's Angels', 'CHiPs', 'Hill Street Blues', on thirteen episodes of
'Sanchez of Bel Air', 'Moonlighting', 'Miami Vice', on seven episodes of
'Midnight Caller', 'Murder, She Wrote', 'NYPD Blue', on eleven episodes of
'Murder One' and its follow up mini-series
'Murder One : Diary of a Serial Killer', on four episodes as Poppie the unhygienic Restauranteur on
'Seinfeld', 'Judging Amy', 'Gray's Anatomy' with
'Franklin & Bash' being his final small screen role in 2012. He also broke into the field of voice over work providing expert characterisations whenever required, including on Eddie Murphy's
'Dr. Dolittle' film series.
* Tom Pollock - born 10th April 1943, died 1st August 2020, aged 77. Pollock was an American film Producer and studio executive. He started his career as an entertainment lawyer, before transitioning to a studio executive and film Producer. He was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Film Institute and a co-owner of The Montecito Picture Company which he formed in 1998 with film Director and Producer Ivan Reitman. He was Executive Producer on twenty-two films from 2000 onwards beginning with
'Road Trip' that year, and going on with
'Evolution', 'Killing Me Softly', 'Disturbia', 'I Love You, Man', 'Up in the Air', 'Chloe', 'Hitchcock', 'Draft Day', 'Ghostbusters' in 2016,
'Baywatch' and
'Father Figures' in 2017 being his final film executive produced, with
'Ghostbusters : Afterlife' due for release next year and
'Godmothered' currently in post-production.
* Wilford Brimley - born Anthony Wilford Brimley on 27th September 1934, died 1st August 2020, aged 85. Brimley was an American Actor of film and television who amassed seventy-seven screen acting credits throughout his career spanning five decades and launching with a small uncredited bit part in 1969's
'True Grit' and 1971's
'Lawman'. His first big screen outing in a credited role came opposite Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda in
'The China Syndrome' in 1979, followed by
'The Electric Horseman' that same year with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda again, then
'Brubaker' in 1980 with Robert Redford again too.
'Borderline' came next also in 1980 with Charles Bronson, then
'Absence of Malice' with Paul Newman in 1981,
'The Thing' in 1982 with Kurt Russell,
'Tender Mercies' in 1983 with Robbert Duvall,
'10 to Midnight' with Charles Bronson also in 1983,
'Harry & Son' in 1984 with Paul Newman again,
'The Natural' with Robert Redford once more in 1984,
'Cocoon' in 1985 for Director Ron Howard,
'End of the Line' in 1987 with Kevin Bacon,
'Cocoon : The Return' in 1988,
'The Firm' in 1993 with Tom Cruise and
'Hard Target' with Jean-Claude Van Damme,
'In & Out' with Kevin Kline in 1997,
'Did You Hear About the Morgans' in 2009 with Hugh Grant and
'Cellophane' currently in pre-production at the time of his death. In the intervening years there were appearances on ten episodes of
'The Waltons', on forty-six episodes of
'Our House', on
'Homicide : Life on the Street', 'Walker : Texas Ranger' and
'Seinfeld' amongst others. He was also the long time face of of TV commercials for the Quaker Oats Company, and also worked on TV ads for Liberty Medical, the American Diabetes Association and Bryan Foods.
* Leslie Randall - born 19th October 1924, died 2nd August 2020, aged 95. Randall was an English Actor of television and film who enjoyed success in both the US and UK. During his career spanning six decades he notched up just twenty-four screen acting credits beginning with the 1952 made for TV movie
'Trial Gallop' with Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine. His first big screen role came in 1960 with
'Just Joe' followed by
'Mystery Submarine' in 1962,
'Billy Liar' in 1963 with Tom Courtney and Julie Christie then Derek Jarman's
'The Garden' in 1990 with Tilda Swinton,
'Goal!' in 2005 and its follow up
'Goal II : Living the Dream' in 2007 with
'Last Chance Harvey' in 2008 with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson being his final acting role. In the meantime there were appearances on
'The Monkees', 'I Dream of Jeannie', 'Family Affair', on thirteen episodes of his own comedy sketch show
'Joan and Leslie' which ran from 1969 to 1970 and which he also Directed, Produced and wrote for,
'Emerdale Farm', 'Casualty', 'Peak Practice', 'Doctors', 'According to Bex' and
'My Family'.
* Brent Carver - born 17th November 1951, died 2nd August 2020, aged 68. Carver was a Canadian Actor of cinema, television, and theatre who accumulated forty-six screen acting credits to his name throughout a career which began on a single episode of
'Beachcombers' in 1972. He followed this up with eight episodes on
'Inside Canada' in 1974 and his first big screen role came with top billing in 1983's
'The Wars', and then
'Cross Country' later that same year. '
Shadow Dancing' came next in 1988, then
'Millennium' in 1989,
'The Shower' in 1992,
'Lilies' in 1996,
'Deeply' in 2000,
'Ararat' in 2002,
'The Event' in 2003 and
'Romeo and Juliet' in 2014. In the meantime there were numerous made for TV movies and TV series appearances including
'The Pirates of Penzance', 'Much Ado About Nothing', 'The New Twilight Zone', 'Street Legal', 'Leonardo : The Dream of Flight', 'Deep South', 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow', 'Deep in the City' and
'Save Me' most recently in 2017. He collected four award wins and another four nominations for his screen work, as well as a Tony Award win for his role in the stage show
'Kiss of the Spider Woman' in 1993. His other stage shows took in the likes of
'Hamlet', 'Cabaret', 'Cyrano de Bergerac', 'Richard II', 'Parade', 'Fiddler on the Roof', 'King Lear', 'The Lord of the Rings', 'The Elephant Man', 'As You Like It', 'Twelfth Night' and
'The School for Scandal' in 2017. In 2014, Carver received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award - Canada's highest honour in the performing arts, for his lifetime contribution to Canadian theatre.
* Kurt Luedtke - born 28th September 1939, died 9th August 2020, aged 80. Luedtke was an American Screenwriter who generated just three writing credits throughout his career which were
'Out of Africa' in 1985 with Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as well as it garnering another six Oscar wins and four other nods. He also wrote 1981's
'Absence of Malice' with Paul Newman and Sally Field, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, as well as 1999's
'Random Hearts' with Harrison Ford and Kristen Scott Thomas. All three films were Directed by Sydney Pollack.
* Silvana Bosi - born 23rd July 1934, died 10th August 2020, aged 86. Bosi was an Italian Actress of film and television who had forty-four acting credits to her name in a career that launched in 1989 with a role in the Italian comedy film
'Mortacci' with Malcolm McDowell. She went onto roles in more mainstream and widespread films including 1999's
'The Talented Mr. Ripley' with Matt Damon, 2000's
'Bread and Tulips' with Bruno Ganz,
'Letters to Juliet' in 2010 with Amanda Seyfried and
'The American' that same year with George Clooney with her other screen credits being from her native Italy in locally made TV movies, feature films and television series appearances, with her last role coming in 2019.
* Linda Manz - born 20th August 1961, died 14th August 2020, aged 58. Manz was an American Actress of film and television who accumulated just twelve screen acting credits throughout her career which began with a small role in her debut feature film
'Days of Heaven' in 1978 Directed by Terrence Malick, and ended with David Fincher's
'The Game' in 1997. In between time there were other films including
'The Wanderers' in 1979,
'Boardwalk' in 1979 too and the made for TV movie
'The Orphan Train' also that same year, then the lead role in the Dennis Hopper Directed and starring
'Out of the Blue' in 1980,
'Longshot' in 1981 and then
'Gummo' in 1997. In between time she appeared in two TV series - on four episodes of
'Dorothy' in 1979 and on a single episode of
'Faerie Tale Theatre' in 1985. She appeared as herself in the 2016 documentary about the life of Dennis Hopper
'Along for the Ride'.
* Gary Cowling - born 4th November 1961, died 17th August 2020, aged 58. Cowling was an American Actor of stage, cinema and television who accumulated just seventeen screen acting credits to his name during his twenty year career in front of the camera. His first screen acting role came with a small part in
'What's Your Sign?' in 1997, followed by uncredited roles in 1998's
'Celebrity' and 1999's
'Sweet and Lowdown'. His next big screen role came with
'The Namesake' in 2006 with Cal Penn and Irrfan Khan, then
'Shooting Johnson Roebling' in 2007, and then
'The Accidental Husband' in 2008 with Uma Thurman and Colin Firth being his final feature film role. In the meantime, he appeared in
'Law & Order', 'The Sopranos', on three episodes of
'The Speed Creeper', 'One Life to Live', on seven episodes of
'Hustling' (of which he also Co-Produced or Produced twenty-seven episodes between 2011 and 2014), and an episode of
'Unproductive' in 2015 being his final screen appearance.
* Ben Cross - born Harry Bernard Cross on 16th December 1947, died 18th August 2020, aged 72. Cross was an English Actor of stage, screen and TV who amassed 104 screen acting credits to his name during a career that launched with the ten minute short film
'The Reprieve' in 1972. He then had a bit part in the 1974 TV movie
'Great Expectations' before his debut feature film role in 1977's
'A Bridge Too Far' with an all star cast. His breakout role came in his next feature film - 1981's
'Chariot's of Fire' in which he played the 1924 British Olympic athlete Harold Abrahams. That film won four Oscars amongst its total haul of seventeen award wins and nineteen other nominations. His other big screen roles over the years that followed included
'The Assisi Underground' in 1985 with James Mason,
'Live Wire' in 1992 with Pierce Brosnan,
'First Knight' in 1995 with Sean Connery,
'Turbulence' in 1997 with Ray Liotta,
'The Venice Project' in 1999 with Dennis Hopper,
'Exorcist : The Beginning' in 2004 with Stellan Skarsgard,
'The Mechanik' in 2005 with Dolph Lundgren,
'War, Inc.' in 2008 with John Cusack, J.J. Abrams
'Star Trek' in 2009 with Chris Pine,
'A Common Man' in 2013 with Ben Kingsley with
'The Hurricane Heist' with Toby Kebbel in 2018,
'Wildlings' in 2019 and
'The Rest is Ashes' this year being his final big screen role. Over the years in between there were numerous made for TV movies and appearances on single and multiple episodes of TV series, taking in the likes of mini-series
'The Flame Trees of Thika', 'The Citadel', 'The Far Pavillions', 'The Potato Factory', 'Solomon', 'Spartacus' and
'Ben Hur' plus other episodes on regular TV series including twelve episodes on
'Dark Shadows', on twenty-one episodes of
'Banshee', '12 Monkeys' and on four of
'Pandora' as recently as last year. The following feature films were in various stages of production at the time of Cross' death :
'Last Letter from Your Lover' (in post),
'The Devil's Light' (filming),
'Resilient 3D' (pre) and
'Liberty' (pre).
* Allan Rich - born Benjamin Norman Schultz on 8th February 1926 and died on 22nd August 2020, aged 94. Rich was an American character Actor of film, television and theatre who amassed 132 screen acting credits throughout his six decade spanning career. He began his acting career at the age of just nine, and by the time he was in his late teens he was appearing in a number of Broadway productions. His small screen debut came in 1963 with appearances on
'Armstrong Circle Theatre', then
'Naked City', and
'East Side/West Side'. His first big screen role came in 1973 with Al Pacino in
'Serpico' and a year later with James Cann in
'The Gambler'. From here his other cinema outings took in the likes of
'The Frsico Kid' in 1979 with Gene Wilder,
'The Entity' in 1982 with Ron Silver,
'Betsy's Wedding' in 1990 with Alan Alda,
'Highlander II : The Quickening' in 1991 with Christopher Lambert,
'Guilty by Suspicion' also in 1991 with Robert De Niro,
'Quiz Show' in 1994 with Ralph Fiennes,
'Disclosure' that same year with Michael Douglas,
'Jack' in 1996 with Robin Williams,
'Amistad' in 1997 with Anthony Hopkins,
'Man in the Chair' in 2007 with Christopher Plummer with
'Wish I Was Here' in 2014 with Zach Braff being his final screen role. In the meantime there were numerous appearances on TV series including '
The Rockford Files', 'Hawaii Five-0', 'Kojak', 'Little House on the Prairie', 'Happy Days', 'CHiPs', 'The Incredible Hulk', 'Magnum P.I.', 'Hill Street Blues', 'The Fall Guy', 'Chicago Hope', 'The Nanny', 'Judging Amy', 'NYPD Blue', 'House M.D.', and
'2 Broke Girls'. Rich was also the co-founder of the not-for-profit organisation 'We Care About Kids', which produces educational short films for middle and high school kids, he became the personal manager to a number of Hollywood Actors, he mentored Rene Russo, and was the distributor and publisher of Hollywood photographic portraits taken by George Hurrell who contributed to the image of Hollywood glamour during the '30's and '40's.
* Benny Chan - born Benny Chan Muk-Sing on 7th October 1961, died 23rd August 2020, aged 58. Chan was a Hong Kong Director, Producer and Writer who throughout his three decade career amassed twenty-six Directing credits, twenty-five as Producer and ten as Writer. His Directorial debut came in the TV show
'The Flying Fox of Snowy Mountain' of which he Directed thirty-seven of its forty episodes and wrote the screenplay for all forty episodes in 1985. His first big screen debut came in 1990 with
'A Moment of Romance' which he followed up in 1993 with
'A Moment of Romance II' and then came
'Big Bullet' in 1996 and in 1998 his first collaboration with Hong Kong martial arts action star Jackie Chan in
'Who Am I?'. His other outings with Jackie Chan were 2004's
'New Police Story' which picked up seven award wins and another twenty-two nods from around the awards and festivals circuit, then
'Rob-B-Hood' in 2006 and
'Shaolin' in 2011. In the meantime, some of his other works included
'Gen-X Cops' in 1999 and its follow up in 2000
'Gen-Y Cops' with Paul Rudd and Maggie Q,
'Heroic Duo' in 2003,
'Invisible Target' in 2007,
'City Under Siege' in 2010,
'The White Storm' in 2013,
'Call of Heroes' in 2016, and currently in post-production at the time of his death
'Raging Fire' with Donnie Yen. Chan won two awards and eleven other nominations during his career.
* Lori Nelson - born Dixie Kay Nelson on 15th August 1933, died 23rd August 2020, aged 87. Nelson was an American Actress and model who was most active during the 1950's and '60's. Throughout her career she amassed forty-three screen acting credits beginning with a role in the 1952 Western
'Bend of the River' with James Stewart and Rock Hudson. That same year she appeared in
'Ma and Pa Kettle at the Fair' as Rosie Kettle - a role she would reprise a year later in
'Ma and Pa Kettle go to Waikiki'. She would follow this up with other features including
'The All American' with Tony Curtis,
'Tumbleweed' and
'Destry' both with Audie Murphy, then
'Underwater!' with Jane Russell,
'I Died a Thousand Times' with Jack Palance,
'Pardners' with Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis with the low budget Sci-Fi horror
'The Naked Monster' being her final screen appearance in 2005. Meanwhile, she made appearances on TV series mostly through the late '50's and early '60's on thirty-nine episodes of
'How to Marry a Millionaire' from 1957 through 1958 and then
'Wanted : Dead or Alive', 'The Texan', 'Wagon Train', 'Sugarfoot', 'Tales of Wells Fargo', 'Laramie', 'Whispering Smith' and on two episodes of
'Armstrong Circle Theatre' being her final screen appearance in 1961 until a single episode on
'Family Affair' in 1971, and then nothing until 1991's
'Black Gaucho',
'Secret Sins of the Father' in 1994 and
'Mom, Can I Keep Her?' in 1998.
* Caesar Cordova - born 16th May 1936, died 26th August 2020, aged 84. Cordova was an American Actor of film and television born in Puerto Rico, who accumulated just seventeen screen acting credits to his name in a career spanning twenty years form 1973 to 1993. His first on screen role came with the TV series
'Toma' in 1973 on a single episode before his first feature film '
Shark's Treasure' in 1975 with Yaphet Kotto. His following big screen roles over the years took in
'Death on Credit' in 1980,
'Where the Buffalo Roam' that same year with Bill Murray,
'Cutter's Way' in 1981 with Jeff Bridges,
'Nighthawks' also in 1981 with Sylvester Stallone,
'Scarface' in 1983 with Al Pacino, and then
'Carlito's Way' with Al Pacino again in 1993 which was to be his final screen appearance. In the meantime they were roles on
'Baretta', 'Kojak', 'Police Woman', 'The A-Team', and
'Cagney & Lacey'.
* David S. Cass Snr. - born sometime in 1942, died 27th August 2020, aged 78. Cass was an American Actor, Stuntman, Director, Writer and occasional Producer who amassed ninety-four screen acting credits, seventy-eight stuntwork credits, forty-two as Director, six as Writer and four as Producer throughout his career which began as an extra on a single episode of
'Wagon Train' in 1965. His first big screen outing came in 1970 in
'Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came' followed by
'Dirty Dingus Magee' with Frank Sinatra, then
'Enter the Devil', 'Earthquake' with Charlton Heston in 1974,
'Two-Minute Warning' with Charlton Heston again in 1976,
'The Island of Dr. Moreau' with Burt Lancaster in 1977,
'The Goodbye Girl' with Richard Dreyfus that same year,
'Heaven's Gate' in 1980 with Kris Kristofferson,
'Tron' in 1982 with Jeff Bridges,
'Smokey and the Bandit Part 3' and
'Best Seller' in 1987 with James Woods being his last feature film appearance. In the intervening years there were numerous TV movies which he Directed, and appeared in, and TV series too including
'The Wild Wild West', 'The High Chaparral', 'Bonanza', 'Mission : Impossible', 'The F.B.I.', 'Gunsmoke', 'The Waltons', 'Police Woman', 'Starsky and Hutch', 'The Six Million Dollar Man', 'The Bionic Woman', 'Wonder Woman', 'Centennial', 'The Rockford Files', 'Benson', 'Fantasy Island', 'Knight Rider', 'Magnum P.I', 'Simon & Simon' with TV movies
'Hard Ground', 'Family Plan' and
'Mystery Woman : Oh Baby' being his final three screen roles coming in 2003, 2005 and 2006 respectively. His first foray into Directing came in 1999, which Cass concentrated on after his acting stint, with a prolific output in the first decade of the 21st Century and which did not let up until
'Happily Never After' in 2017 and the short film
'Sisters' in 2018.
* Chadwick Boseman - born 29th November 1976, died 28th August 2020, aged 43. Boseman was an American Actor, Producer, and the Director of two short films in 2008 and 2012. Wanting to originally write and Direct, he began to study acting to learn how to relate to actors, and in 2008 relocated himself from Brooklyn to Los Angeles to take up a career as an Actor. During his short yet distinguished career he accumulated thirty-five screen acting credits launching proper in 2003 on an episode of
'Third Watch'. His first big screen role came in the 2008 sports biographical film
'The Express' which was followed up by top billing in 2012's
'The Kill Hole', and then perhaps his breakout starring role as Jackie Robinson, the first African-American major league baseball player of the modern era, in the 2013 historical sports biopic
'42' with Harrison Ford. Another sporting themed film followed in 2014 with
'Draft Day' with Kevin Costner, and then the biographical film in which he portrayed Rock 'n' Roll music legend James Brown in
'Get on Up' also in 2014.
'Gods of Egypt' came next, then his first outing as T'Challa the King of Wakanda (aka Black Panther) in the Marvel film
'Captain America : Civil War', a role he would reprise in the hugely successful standalone MCU film
'Black Panther' in 2018 and then again
'Avengers : Infinity War' that same year and in the even more successful and critical lauded
'Avengers : Endgame' in 2019. There has also been
'Message from the King' in 2016,
'Marshall' in 2017,
'21 Bridges' in 2019,
'Da 5 Bloods' for Spike Lee earlier this year, with
'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' recently completed but yet to be released on Netflix,
'Yasuke' in pre-production and the Marvel Studio's animated series
'What If . . . ?' to which Boseman lent his voice talents as Black Panther and due for release in 2021. Early on his career he also appeared in a handful of TV series including
'Law & Order', 'CSI : NY', 'ER', 'Cold Case', on nine episodes of
'Lincoln Heights' and on thirteen episodes of
'Persons Unknown' amongst others. He collected ten award wins and a further thirty nominations from around the awards and festivals circuit. Boseman tragically died from complications from stage III Colon Cancer which he had been secretly battling for four years, and which earlier this year had progressed to stage IV.
* Norm Spencer - born 23rd February 1958, died 31st August 2020, aged 62. Spencer was a Canadian Actor and Voice Actor of film and television who notched up thirty screen acting roles throughout his career beginning with his voice work on
'Babar : The Movie' in 1989. For the following five years he had roles in live action TV series including
'E.N.G.', 'Top Cops', 'Katts and Dog' and
'Forever Knight' before landing perhaps his most well known voice role as Cyclops in the video game
'X-Men : Children of the Atom'. This was to be his signature role which he would reprise over the following years on the animated series of
'Spider-Man', 'X-Men vs. Street Fighter', then on sixty-eight episodes of
'X-Men', and on the video games '
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter' and
'Marvel vs. Capcom 2 : New Age of Heroes'. In between time there were further live action roles on
'Due South', 'Earth : Final Conflict', 'Relic Hunter', 'Bait', 'Cradle of Lies', and on seven episodes of
'Majority Rules!' His final voice acting work was on thirty-two episodes of the animated series
'Rescue Heroes' closing out in 2013 but not before lending his voice talents also to the animated series
'The Busy World of Richard Scarry', 'Silver Surfer', 'The Dumb Bunnies' and the animated feature
'Rescue Heroes : The Movie'.
Seventeen deaths reported this month from the film and television community at large, and that community is just a little bit poorer as a result. As some governments the world over are easing up on their COVID-19 restrictions, others are enforcing further stages of lockdowns because of a second wave in cases, remember the basic principles still being advocated - maintain a safe distance, hand hygiene and wear a mask if you are unable to maintain a safe distance especially - together we can all beat this thing. Stay safe and remain healthy.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
I saw 'THE NEW MUTANTS' at my local independent movie theatre earlier this week and here we have this long awaited M Rated horror film in the Superhero genre which is based on the Marvel Comics of the same name, and is intended to be the thirteenth and stand-alone last instalment in the 'X-Men' franchise. Written and Directed by Josh Boone whose previous film making credits are 'Stuck in Love' his debut in 2012 and 'The Fault in Our Stars' in 2014, this film was originally slated for an April 2018 release date. That date was then pushed back to late February 2019, then again to early August 2019, and then once more to April 2020. It was then pulled due to COVID-19 and finally saw the light of day with its release Stateside two weeks ago now, and in Australia last week. Costing somewhere in the region of US$70M to make, the film has so far taken US$21M and has gained largely mixed or average Reviews. Initially intended to be the first instalment in a trilogy, since Disney purchased Fox in March 2019 and the rights of the film reverted back to Marvel Studio's, any talk of subsequent films in this series appear to have been largely quashed.
Here the film opens up with Danielle 'Dani' Moonstar (Blu Hunt), a Native American Cheyenne teenager, seen running from the destruction of her reservation during a tornado. Dani's father William (Adam Beach) hides her in the burnt out trunk of a tree before an unseen entity kills him, leaving her the only survivor. After being chased by the entity and knocked unconscious during an unusual snowstorm, Dani comes around shackled to a bed in a hospital run by Dr. Cecilia Reyes (Alice Braga).
Reyes reassures Dani that she is now safe, and informs her that she is a mutant, although her abilities have not yet manifested themselves. She further advises her to remain in the hospital until she learns what her abilities are and is able to control them. She is released from her shackles and told that she has the freedom of the facility and to mix with the others. The hospital is twenty miles from the nearest town.
The next day Dani is introduced to four other young teenagers - Rahne Sinclair (Maisie Williams), Illyana Rasputin (Anya Taylor-Joy), Sam Guthrie (Charlie Heaton) and Roberto da Costa (Henry Zaga). Reyes has brought each of them to the hospital after they have all suffered tragedy for psychiatric monitoring. Rahne is a Scot who escaped her religiously strict village after being branded as a witch, Illyana, a Russian, was haunted by her past in child slavery, which manifests itself as otherworldly beings called the 'Smile Men', Sam, an American, brought down a whole mine on his father and coworkers, and Roberto, a Brazilian from a monied family, burned his girlfriend to death. All of them are displaying mutant abilities, but not all of them are yet able to control them. Rahne is a lycanthrope and able to turn herself into a wolf, Illyana has inter-dimensional sorcery powers, Sam can fly at jet speed from a standing start and Roberto can manipulate solar energy. Reyes is also a powerful mutant who keeps her patients from leaving the facility by engulfing it with unbreakable force fields. 
Subsequently the five of them start to believe that they are being trained to join the 'X-Men' which would account for the strict rules they must live under and the constant remote surveillance. Reyes also constantly reminds them that they are considered a danger to themselves, each other and the public at large and should not leave until they have learned to fully harness their abilities. Dani and Rahne forge a strong bond almost straight away, eventually forming a romantic relationship, while Illyana continues to taunt Dani as the outsider. When Dani fights back, she discovers that Illyana's only friend is a hand puppet of a purple dragon who she calls Lockheed, and who never leaves her side. Soon, the group all begin to have horrifying visions of their past tragedies, one of which results in Rahne getting branded in the neck with a 'W' sign - denoting 'Witch'. Illyana concludes that the visions result from Dani's powers finally manifesting itself and that she is able to create illusions based on a person's psyche. Reyes consults her employers, the Essex Corporation, who instruct her to collect Dani's DNA and to euthanise her.
The five regroup and deduce that to escape, they have to kill Reyes to deprive the force fields of their power source. They find her and Reyes traps them inside individual force field domes, revealing that she was training them to be killers for the Essex Corporation. Before she can crush Dani to death, the entity, the Demon Bear, who had been following Dani and was the real reason her reservation was destroyed, arrives and mauls Reyes throwing her body around like a rag doll, killing her.
Illyana summons her powers to jump between dimensions and is joined by a fire breathing real life version of Lockheed to take on Demon Bear. Sam and Roberto join the fight too, conquering their mutant fears in the process. Rahne tries to connect through to an unconscious Dani until she is forced to fight the Demon Bear alone as a wolf. Still unconscious, Dani is visited by her father's spirit, who encourages her to wake up and face her fear. Dani awakens, draws the attention of the Demon Bear and confronts it calming it into submission until it dissipates. As day breaks, the group emerge from the wreckage of the hospital and the main house. Sam hurls a lump of coal that was a keepsake from his coal mining father into the air from which they learn that the force field is down. They head out together to face an uncertain world.
For the thirteenth and allegedly final film in the 'X-Men' franchise, this instalment comes across as being truly unlucky for some! Whilst looking to combine the mythology of the 'X-Men' saga with the horror genre and coming-of-age nuances, this film barely scratches the surface of our protagonists back stories; makes a passing comment about the organisation behind all the testing, analysis and power it wields; and fails to dig deep into the troubled minds of the five teenagers in question. That said, the quintet here do appear to share a certain on screen chemistry together, albeit the standout performances are from Williams, Taylor-Joy and Heaton who have all honed their acting chops a lot more than Hunt and Zaga have, and it shows, in spades. As a horror film it fails to scare, as a Superhero offering is fails to launch and as a coming of age story featuring two teenage girls getting it on together this adds little to the plot. Perhaps if this had been released two and a half years ago as originally intended we might have viewed it differently; perhaps if the planned reshoots had been allowed to go go ahead; perhaps if the editing process had not been so disjointed; perhaps if the various studios involved along its route from production to release had shown a little more restraint and some more understanding of Boone's vision; and perhaps if this film hadn't been released in the worst year in cinema history then maybe, just maybe, there may be more positivity surrounding this film.
