The Actor's Jesus-Themed Thriller Film Isn't as Wild as It Sounds

The acclaimed actor is likely the optimal pick for a daring horror film focused on the biblical figure, but not for the causes many fans could guess. Actually, the star doesn't even act as the central religious figure in The Carpenter’s Son: his role is listed simply as The Carpenter. He is positioned as the Joseph within this tale, attempting to maintain his beliefs while his son (acted by the young actor), his teenage foster child, starts to exhibit divine powers. The reason it’s difficult to picture any other major actor playing this part is that even as the role is stricken with various difficulties, Cage himself seems almost touchingly convinced that the murky, bleak feature is worth his time.

The Actor's Current Career Choices

Cage has using his time more carefully lately. He still does additional projects than the majority of casual fans could possibly view — for example, were you informed that the man has filmed a trio of separate frontier films over the last few years? — yet he also adds prestige A24/Neon gigs such as one recent hit, Pig, and Longlegs. This new film appears to be in that category, because it’s genre-adjacent, likely to stir debate, and handles a campy-sounding concept with gravity.

Movie's Plot and Execution

Regrettably, writer-director the director does not justify that serious attention. The film opens in a interestingly wandering place, presented as drawing from an obscure religious text about the early years of Jesus. Cage's character, the maternal figure, and their child travel constantly, anxious of religious persecution or suspicion about their son's strange powers. “Trouble pursues us,” The Carpenter sadly observes. That continues as sinister entities attack them at their new home, beginning on that familiar Biblical temptation for The Boy.

Sometimes, the film resembles an Exorcist-style supernatural thriller, though no one of the lead characters are explicitly taken over. Instead, they become increasingly alienated from one another, as these forces affect a nearby girl (Isla Johnston, named an outsider) that the son bonds with, and presents each character troubling visions of a bleak destiny. The Carpenter in particular fights with his position within the plot, occasionally scolding the son who mystifies him.

Debate and Caution

The content is apt to court controversy, and the director approaches it with much care — overly, perhaps. The idea of a adolescent confronted with his eventual sacrifice and tempted by dark influences is truly frightening, but the filmmaker may be hesitant regarding appearing sensational and anxious to telegraph his goals, so he often withdraws to darkly ominous cinematography. The roles continually reflect — FKA Twigs, who showed real promise in a recent film update, interestingly — surrenders her acting to her character's costume, at times punctuated by several gnarly horror imagery.

Cage's Acting and Film's Shortcomings

Simultaneously, Cage dabbles in just the sort of exaggerated performance that his ironic fans might be looking for. One scene (shown) in the trailer in which he flips out and screams “I’ve lost my faith!” When this sort of theatrical release is a component of your biblical thriller, possibly a more boldly ridiculous approach would take better advantage of the actor's readiness to exaggerate as required. On the other hand, the film is closer to the weaker low-budget movies Cage made during the last decade — excluding the campy action films instead the serious stories and supernatural thrillers that typically appear interesting, and often contain a few choice memorable scenes, but in the end seem like, frankly, cheap home video fare.

Frankly, some of those, though not as grand, were more entertaining as a whole. This is when I must disregard my own dogma, not spiritual but professional: Years back, a respected mentor convinced me to eliminate adjectives like “tedious” or “uninteresting” from my analytical lexicon. Such terms convey little except a personal and vaguely expressed restlessness, avoiding the task of vibrantly communicating the mental and emotional experience of viewing a specific film. It's challenging to communicate boredom without seeming uninteresting personally. It’s no more expressive as terming a movie “notable.” “Elaborate,” in other words.

However, I admit, I was bored for a large part of the film. On the positive side, it is a devotional type of boredom, not due to The Carpenter’s Son is moralizing, but since it takes a sort of dutiful submission to view it. At some point early on, this feature enters a monotonous pattern of simmering distress, and fails to