Nicolas Cage's Jesus-Themed Horror Movie Isn't as Wild Than Expected

Nicolas Cage could be the optimal choice for a bold scary movie about Jesus Christ, though not for the causes some viewers could guess. In reality, the star doesn't actually act as the central religious figure in the new film: his character is credited simply as a craftsman. Cage is framed as a father figure in this tale, striving to maintain his faith while the teenage character (acted by the young actor), their now-teenage adopted son, starts to exhibit divine powers. The reason it's challenging to picture any other major actor taking this character is that although the role grows weighed down with numerous trials, the actor looks nearly touchingly certain that the gloomy, bleak feature is a valuable project.

Cage's Recent Career Choices

Cage was allocating those years more judiciously lately. He yet makes more films than most casual fans will ever see — as an illustration, did you know that he has filmed three distinct cowboy movies over the last few years? — yet he also adds high-profile A24/Neon gigs like one recent hit, Pig, and a further title. This new film sounds like in that category, as it’s borderline horror, likely to stir debate, and handles a campy-sounding description quite seriously.

Movie's Storyline and Direction

Unfortunately, filmmaker Lotfy Nathan does not reward that serious attention. The film begins with a interestingly wandering context, marketed as based on an unknown scripture concerning Christ’s childhood. Cage's character, the maternal figure, and their son relocate frequently, afraid of faith-based hostility or doubt regarding The Boy’s unusual abilities. “Disaster trails us,” Cage gloomily remarks. It goes on when dark forces target the family where they currently live, getting a jump-start with that traditional religious challenge for the son.

Occasionally, the film echoes an Exorcist-style possession movie, except that none of the main figures are clearly inhabited. Instead, they become increasingly alienated from one another, when these entities infect a local young woman (the actress, named “The Stranger”) that the son bonds with, and presents all troubling visions of a bleak destiny. The Carpenter especially grapples with his role within the plot, occasionally chastising the boy he can’t fully understand.

Debate and Care

The content is prone to stir disagreement, and Nathan treats it with plenty of sensitivity — excessive, perhaps. The notion of a adolescent dealing with his eventual sacrifice and lured by unknown powers is truly frightening, but Nathan may be hesitant regarding looking exploitative and keen to indicate his goals, thus he frequently falls back on dimly foreboding visuals. Characters brood incessantly — FKA Twigs, who showed genuine potential in another movie, interestingly — cedes her role to her religious attire, occasionally interrupted by some disturbing frightening scenes.

Cage's Performance and Movie's Shortcomings

At the same time, the actor flirts with just the sort of exaggerated performance that his ironic fans might be looking for. There is a moment (also included) in promotional material where he flips out and shouts “My faith has been shattered!” If that kind of theatrical release is included in your biblical thriller, maybe a more openly absurd method would be more effective of Cage’s willingness to exaggerate if needed. Rather, The Carpenter’s Son echoes the less successful direct-to-video movies Cage made through much of that period — apart from the B-movies so much as the serious stories and supernatural thrillers that often seem intriguing, and usually have a few choice Cage moments, but finally come across like, indeed, low-budget DTV material.

Frankly, a number of those, though not as grand, were easier to view in general. At this point I must break my usual practice, not spiritual but professional: Previously, a respected mentor urged me to remove descriptive terms like “monotonous” or “lifeless” from my film-criticism vocabulary. These phrases convey little other than a personal and vaguely expressed impatience, withdrawing from the task of vibrantly communicating the mental and emotional experience of seeing a specific film. It's hard to communicate monotony without sounding boring personally. It’s no more expressive as terming a movie “notable.” “Elaborate,” that is.

Yet, I acknowledge, I grew weary for a large part of The Carpenter’s Son. On the positive side, it’s a churchy kind of dullness, not due to this movie is lecturing, but since it takes a kind of patient acceptance to sit through it. At some point soon after starting, this feature settles into a repetitive rhythm of ongoing suffering, and never really