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The Reaping. AKA The Weeping - Tony H - 04-13-2007
I love it when Academy Award winners take on roles in bad films. It makes them more human and less iconic. Not that I would consider Hillary Swank an Icon.
In Hillary's defense she is not the first to make a poor a decision while riding on an Oscar high.
Halle Berry made the abysmal Gothika. Angelina Jolie went from Girl Interrupted to Tomb Raider and Helen Mirren will go from Queen to Nic Cage's mother in National Treasure 2: The Quest for More Money. (Or whatever it will be called.)
Had the Reaping taken it's general premise of a former preacher turned debunker of miracles and followed it throughh to an "Everything has a logical explanation" ending the movie would have been quasi-enjoyable.
Instead, it takes the well-worn path of cliche and the film stumbles along trying to figure out if it wants to be a murder mystery, a supernatural thriller, or a faith-based drama about the loss of faith and one womans journey to discovering God's ultimate plan.
I am still not sure what I watched, to categorize it means to give substance to something where it doesn't exist. The Reaping is an empty and hollow film and an exercise in seeing how many jump-scares a writer can fit into one script.
At times the jump scares come in series of threes with the clash of loud music. But they aren't scary because any horror-schooled vet knows that when the God damn music stops suddenly something bad is going to happen.
And bad things happen in spades: from the river turning to blood, to the plague of locusts and a myriad of other manifestations of the end times.
Meanwhile a creepy girl (damn the Japanese for instilling fear of female children into the movie-goers psyche) shows up and everytime she does something goes horriby awry. Harbinger of doom? (maybe) Possible savior to humanity? (plausible) Shitty plot device used to fill in what could easily have been a 30-minute movie? (You got it.)
Undoubtedly some folks will disagree with this review and hail it as a thrilling experience, taut and gripping and the studio will grab the quotes and blurb them in upcoming commercials for the film.
I submit my blurb for such purpose; The Reaping: Avoid it like the plague.
The Reaping. AKA The Weeping - saynomore - 04-13-2007
I saw The Reaping with Grindhouse, so I had me a triple feature. Top talent wasted in all three movies, the popcorn had too much butter, and the root beer had too much ice.
Re: The Reaping. Could you please explain that ending to me? It does not even make sense, almost as if they spliced the alternate ending to the ending. But in its defense, it was better than the remake of The Omen--since it, too, was a remake of The Omen.
Rent it. Or sneak in. But check your brain at the entrance.
AC
The Reaping. AKA The Weeping - Susan - 04-14-2007
AsMoral Wrote:I submit my blurb for such purpose; The Reaping: Avoid it like the plague.
Tony,
It's great to hear from you again. Your review was brilliant and I'm sure much more entertaining than the movie. Who needs Ebert when we've got Harrington?
Love,
Susanita
The Reaping. AKA The Weeping - tenebroust - 04-14-2007
AsMoral Wrote:I love it when Academy Award winners take on roles in bad films. It makes them more human and less iconic. Not that I would consider Hillary Swank an Icon.
In Hillary's defense she is not the first to make a poor a decision while riding on an Oscar high.
Halle Berry made the abysmal Gothika. Angelina Jolie went from Girl Interrupted to Tomb Raider and Helen Mirren will go from Queen to Nic Cage's mother in National Treasure 2: The Quest for More Money. (Or whatever it will be called.)
Had the Reaping taken it's general premise of a former preacher turned debunker of miracles and followed it throughh to an "Everything has a logical explanation" ending the movie would have been quasi-enjoyable.
Instead, it takes the well-worn path of cliche and the film stumbles along trying to figure out if it wants to be a murder mystery, a supernatural thriller, or a faith-based drama about the loss of faith and one womans journey to discovering God's ultimate plan.
I am still not sure what I watched, to categorize it means to give substance to something where it doesn't exist. The Reaping is an empty and hollow film and an exercise in seeing how many jump-scares a writer can fit into one script.
At times the jump scares come in series of threes with the clash of loud music. But they aren't scary because any horror-schooled vet knows that when the God damn music stops suddenly something bad is going to happen.
And bad things happen in spades: from the river turning to blood, to the plague of locusts and a myriad of other manifestations of the end times.
Meanwhile a creepy girl (damn the Japanese for instilling fear of female children into the movie-goers psyche) shows up and everytime she does something goes horriby awry. Harbinger of doom? (maybe) Possible savior to humanity? (plausible) Shitty plot device used to fill in what could easily have been a 30-minute movie? (You got it.)
Undoubtedly some folks will disagree with this review and hail it as a thrilling experience, taut and gripping and the studio will grab the quotes and blurb them in upcoming commercials for the film.
I submit my blurb for such purpose; The Reaping: Avoid it like the plague.
I haven't seen this movie and based on the trailers I had formed an opinion of this movie that is almost the same opinion that you express in your review. This will serve to make sure I don't bother, thanks.
The Reaping. AKA The Weeping - Kenji - 05-19-2007
Today I saw The Reaping in a theatre. The theatre has 233 seats, but surprisingly, the audience was one only.....yeah, that's me!
Maybe.....(or surely) this opinion is me only. [SIZE="5"] I enjoyed it![/SIZE]
The Reaping. AKA The Weeping - Bluesman Mike Lindner - 05-20-2007
Kenji Wrote:Today I saw The Reaping in a theatre. The theatre has 233 seats, but surprisingly, the audience was one only.....yeah, that's me!
Maybe.....(or surely) this opinion is me only. [SIZE="5"] I enjoyed it![/SIZE]
Well, that's like big John Wayne, Kenji--a man who stands up!
