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 have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And I'm all out of bubblegum.”
Certified 100% Serious