Nicolas Cage's Religious Horror Movie Isn't as Wild as It Sounds
Nicolas Cage is likely the perfect selection for a audacious scary movie about Jesus Christ, though not for the causes some viewers could guess. Actually, the star does not actually act as Jesus in the new film: his character is listed simply as The Carpenter. Cage is cast as a father figure of this narrative, working to uphold his religious convictions while the teenage character (acted by the young actor), their teenage foster child, commences to display divine powers. The reason it's challenging to envision any other leading star playing this part is that while the role becomes burdened with various challenges, Nicolas Cage seems nearly touchingly certain that this dark, bleak little movie is a valuable project.
The Actor's Current Career Choices
Nicolas Cage has using his time more selectively in recent years. He continues to makes more movies than most casual fans will ever see — as an illustration, did you know that he has filmed three different cowboy movies recently? — but he also adds high-profile critically acclaimed roles such as one recent hit, another notable movie, and Longlegs. This new film sounds like a similar project, because it’s borderline horror, potentially provocative, and handles a campy-sounding description quite seriously.
Movie's Plot and Execution
Sadly, writer-director the director fails to repay that serious attention. The Carpenter’s Son begins with a interestingly wandering setting, marketed as drawing from an obscure religious text concerning Christ’s childhood. The Carpenter, the maternal figure, and their child travel frequently, fearful of religious persecution or doubt about their son's mysterious gifts. “Disaster trails us,” The Carpenter mournfully notes. It goes on when dark forces target them at their new home, getting a jump-start on the well-known scriptural test for the youth.
At times, the movie resembles an Exorcist-style possession movie, except that no one of the lead characters are directly possessed. Instead, they become progressively isolated from one another, when these powers infect a local young woman (the actress, credited as an outsider) that the son forms a relationship with, and provides all troubling visions of a grim future. The Carpenter notably fights with his position in the narrative, sometimes berating the son who mystifies him.
Discussion and Caution
The subject matter is prone to stir disagreement, and Nathan treats it with much sensitivity — overly, maybe. The concept of a young man confronted with his future martyrdom and seduced by mysterious forces is certainly terrifying, but the filmmaker could be wary of looking exploitative and keen to signal his intentions, so he often withdraws to dimly foreboding filming. The figures constantly ponder — FKA Twigs, who demonstrated genuine potential in a recent film update, surprisingly — surrenders her role to her religious attire, sometimes broken up by some gnarly horror imagery.
The Star's Performance and Movie's Flaws
At the same time, Cage flirts with just the sort of melodramatic acting that those who enjoy his campier roles could be expecting. There is a moment (shown) in the trailer where he loses control and screams “My faith has been shattered!” If that kind of theatrical release is included in a Jesus-themed horror movie, perhaps a more boldly ridiculous style would be more effective of Cage’s willingness to exaggerate as required. Instead, the film is closer to the less successful straight-to-DVD films Cage made during the 2010s — apart from the B-movies instead the dramas and supernatural thrillers that often seem intriguing, and usually have a few choice memorable scenes, but finally come across like, frankly, cheap home video fare.
Honestly, several of these, though not as grand, were easier to view as a whole. At this point I need to disregard my personal rule, not religious but career-related: Years back, a beloved editor convinced me to eliminate adjectives like “tedious” or “uninteresting” from my film-criticism vocabulary. These words convey little except a individual and generically described lack of patience, avoiding the task of vibrantly communicating the mental and emotional experience of viewing a specific film. It’s difficult to communicate boredom without appearing dull personally. It's equally vague as calling a movie “notable.” “Elaborate,” that is.
However, I admit, I grew weary during much of the film. To the movie’s non-exploitative credit, it is a churchy kind of boredom, not for this movie is lecturing, but because it demands a kind of dutiful submission to sit through it. At some point soon after starting, the movie enters a cyclic tempo of simmering anguish, and fails to
