Director: Bill Paxton
Rating: 8 out of 10
Well, I'm back to the religous horror after a day's reprieve. This one presents us with the fear of religous fanaticism, which is a more real threat than a devil child or demons or unkillable mudering machines. The film itself doesn't have too many "scare moments", but rather plays up the fear of the mere possibilty of this scenario playing out. The story, presented in flashbacks, is told from the perspective of a young boy, "Fenton Meeks" (played by newcomer Matt O'Leary), who witnesses his father and younger brother in the grips of a murder spree at the behest of God and a warrior angel.
Bill Paxton makes his feature directorial debut with Frailty, as well as playing the lead role of the possibly looney dad. Paxton's performance really plays up the close-mindedness and insane determination commonly associated with religious fanatics, many times choosing his religous beliefs over the well-being of his own son. What's great about the Fenton's character is he serves as an outlet for the audience to project itself onto, many times uttering disbelief in the same manner as members of the audience are thinking at that exact moment. Dad's crazy and he murdering people, being dubbed the "God's Hand" killer. How do you deal with that? Turn him in? He's your dad, and this is a young boy who idolizes his father, especially considering he's been raised in a single-parent home. So when dad starts bringing home people to hack up with his trusty ax, "Otis", Fenton begs and pleads for his dad to stop and come to his senses much the same as any normal person would. Making the situation even worse for Fenton, Dad has Fenton's younger brother, Adam, believing the same lunacy and even willingly wanting to participate in the extermination of the "demons".
The other story going on happens in the present as Matthew McConaughey, playing the grown up Fenton, walks into FBI headquarters to confess to the lead investigator, Powers Boothe, that he knows who the "God's Hand" killer is. It looks like a simple set-up to tell a pretty gruesome story, but there's something a little off about the grown-up Fenton. As the movie continues, the back-and-forth between McConaughey and Boothe starts to become the focal point of the story, as there is more to this partnership than we are lead to believe at first.
That's all I'm going to say about that, so as not to spoil anything. I like the execution here. Any time you can put a child to the forefront as your hero always raises the stakes a little more than when you're trying to root for an able-bodied man or woman. And I like Bill Paxton, so there.
Next....
No comments:
Post a Comment