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Film Review
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| Director |
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| Cast |
Hilary Swank
David Morrissey
Idris Elba
Anna Sophia Robb
Stephen Rea
William Ragsdale
John McConnell
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| Distributor |
Warner Bros.
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| Running Time |
96 Minutes
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| Certification (UK / US) |
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15 / R
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Reviewed By
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Howard Paul Burgess
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THE REAPING (2007)
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I had to keep reminding myself that this is a brand new American film: it looked and felt like an derivative Italian supernatural thriller from the 1980's, probably directed by Lucio Fulci (who was very fond of doing location work in the United States). It's a major studio film with a big budget and state of the art CGI effects and, even more incredibly, stars two time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank as Katherine Winter, a former missionary who lost her faith after tragic events in Africa. Katherine teaches something or other at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and has debunked forty-eight reported 'miracles'.
Katherine is summoned to a small town where a river has supposedly turned to blood. Accompanied by her Black sidekick Ben (you can guess his life expectancy) she's off to the bayou, where she discovers an enigmatic blonde child named Loren who may be the key to the mystery unfolding in the town of Haven. It seems that the town is being visited by the plagues from the Old Testament book of Exodus: blood, locusts, darkness, death of the firstborn, etc.
Screenwriters Cary and Chad Hayes borrow from sources that have been tapped too many times before: The Exorcist; the awesomely giddy Exorcist 2: The Heritic; Rosemary's Baby; The Omen; and The Birds. There are powerful themes in play here: faith and doubt, loss, grief, isolation and community, identity, and sacrifice are touched on but never brought to fruition. There are few clichés left untouched. Instead of the usual spring-loaded cat we have a spring-loaded child who jumps toward the camera. The small town mayor is overweight, wears a silly hat, and smokes big cigars. The line between dreams and waking is blurred. Lightning and thunder shake the night. That said, The Reaping is never dull. Location shooting in Louisiana provides terrific atmosphere. The special effects are effective and the film always seems to be wandering toward something better but never gets there.
Hilary Swank is incapable of giving a bad performance. She really works to bring depth to Katherine, and even in a train wreck like The Black Dahlia is always a welcome sight. Anna Sophia Robb was just eleven when this film was made, and is a huge talent: half the time I was convinced that Loren was 100% angel, the other half I was sure the child was 100% demon. She's got a great range and a promising future. The other actors were solid, shouting confused exposition over explosions and catastrophes.
The Omen derived power from its ambiguity. Until the very end we didn't know if we were watching truly unexplainable events or simply the final days of about a dozen of the unluckiest people ever to live. The Reaping tips its hand too early. If it weren't heavy mojo, we couldn't expect the special effects bonanza in the third act. The Reaping is rated R in the States for violence, a hallucinatory sex scene and- as best I remember- one curse word. My granddaughter who starts kindergarten next year might have been scared by parts of it, especially those explosions in Digital Theatre Stereo. The one who's in second grade probably wouldn't have been scared at all.
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Film Score
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5 / 10
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