Hi, all. I don't remember if I've posted this review before, but in re-reading it I thought it was good enough to share.
The original can be found at The Average Joes website.
FRAILTY - A Review
I'm hard pressed to think of many films I find disturbing.
I can think of a couple that have scared me. A few that made me queasy. But very few movies ever truly get under my skin. "Frailty" does, though. It's disturbing in a way that few thrillers are these days. What's more, it's disturbing on multiple levels.
That doesn't sound like much fun, now that I've typed it out, but "Frailty" is a terrific movie. Even better, it's a film that demands re-watching.
What if God spoke to you? What if he came to you in a dream and told you that demons walked the earth—and that your purpose in life was to destroy them? The demons look like regular, everyday people; they have no horns or glowing eyes or forked tongues. They bleed and scream and beg for their lives and make you look like a crazed serial killer when you "destroy" them.
Would you believe the voice of God? Would you take on your appointed mission? Would you follow God's command and teach your children to kill alongside you? Of course you wouldn't.
But Bill Paxton would.
Matthew McConaughey (in a performance topped only by his insane, cigar-chomping, bald-headed superfreak turn in "Reign of Fire") arrives at the Texas headquarters of the FBI on a dark and stormy night. He has a confession to make: the God's Hand killer, a serial murderer that the agency has been tracking, is his brother.
As the agent in charge of the investigation listens on, McConaughey tells him how their father (Bill Paxton, in a performance that redefines him in my eyes) believed he'd been visited by God in a dream and given a holy mission—to destroy "demons" that walk the earth. The names of these "demons" were given to their father by fiery angels only he could see.
Without hesitation their father begins killing, and his seeming madness is undercut with a startling, born-again clarity of conviction that assures the young McConaughey that their father has lost his mind. His younger brother, Adam, believes their father implicitly. When he asks his father if they're superheroes, his response is both darkly comic and utterly chilling: "That's right, son. We're a family of superheroes who're gonna help save the world."
First-time director Paxton is best known for his ludicrously entertaining acting stints in films ranging from "Aliens" to "Near Dark;" from "Weird Science" to "Club Dread," but from the opening moments of "Frailty" it's obvious that Paxton's more than just a goofball character actor. "Frailty" is confident, assured work on a directorial level; shot through with a gothic atmosphere made all the more uncomfortable for the fact that so much of it plays out in broad daylight. Paxton has had the good fortune and good sense to work with some seriously accomplished directors including James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, Sam Raimi, and Ron Howard and it's obvious he's been paying attention.
He also pulls off the impressive feat of playing "Dad" (the character is never given a first name) in the film, a move I was incredibly skeptical about. Paxton's played a remarkable range of characters throughout his career, but 99.9% of them are marked by a patent outlandishness or hicksterism that pretty much chucks sincerity right out the window. He dials it down about ten notches for his performance as the widowed, obviously loving "Dad," and it's his utter sincerity that sells him in the role. His calm, almost beatific conviction is terrifying because it is genuine. Paxton's single father has been born-again to a bloody God seeking vengeance on the wicked and he manages to make his character by turns overwhelmed by his mission, and positively awed by the holy responsibility he thinks he's been given.
"Frailty" is frightening because so much of it seems horribly, figuratively, plausible. There is a rapidly-boiling conservative Christian element in America that seems more interested than ever in making our country a theocracy. These people believe that the dinosaurs walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, that abortion is so wrong that you should kill people for performing/having them, that homosexuality is a mortal sin in the eyes of God, and that science is the enemy of faith. This zealotry is very real, and the numbers of the faithful are swelling. This might not be so scary to me, were the God these people seem to believe in the sort of Alpha-and-Omega I ascribe to.
It's that zealotry that permeates "Frailty," and "Dad"'s belief in his mission gives the movie an air of true horror. The most frightening thing about zealots and murderous men is that they believe they're doing the right thing. In most movies, killers are portrayed as wild-eyed sadists, flaunting their damnation like those kids on MTV's "My Super Sweet Sixteen." In a way, this dehumanizes them. It renders them more animal than man.
But in "Frailty," as in "Se7en," the moral righteousness of these men throw our own conceptions of right and wrong slightly awry. Men like "John Doe" and "Dad" (interesting how, in both films, the central killer is unnamed) are frightening because they believe, utterly, in the work they do.
In fact, if you enjoyed "Se7en," "Frailty" is definitely the film for you. Both films leave you with a sense of disquiet that, in my case, lasted long after the credits rolled. It's a damn fine film; well-crafted, well-acted, and well-written.
My review should really end there, but I can't praise "Frailty" properly without discussing the film's ending. If you haven't seen the film, I'd suggest you stop reading now, go down to your video store and grab a copy, and then come back to read this last part. That sounds like a lot of work, but its really worth it. Go watch it and let it settle. Then, mosey on back here.
- Spoilers Ahead -
…
…
…
…
"Frailty" throws the viewer a last minute sucker-punch that—in the tradition of films like "The Usual Suspects," "Memento," and "The Sixth Sense"—changes everything you thought you understood about the film.
It's revealed that McConaughey is actually the God's Hand killer, and that he's murdered his brother for being a demon. What's more, God has told him that the FBI agent in charge of the investigation is the next demon to be destroyed.
And just when you think you've got this film figured out it twists again, smacks you over the head, and calls you Shirley. McConaughey touches the agent, and we as the audience see his deepest secret sin. In the film's earlier flashbacks, "Dad"'s visions of his victim's evil deeds are presented as probable psychosis. But the way McConaughey's vision is shot, and the way the agent reacts, makes it clear that it is not psychosis. It is psychic.
McConaughey and his father are "God's Hands." They aren't insane. They really are "superheroes;" defeating the devil's minions in a secular world that refuses to believe. God is very real in "Frailty," and verily, he is most wrathful.
The God of "Frailty" is the God of the Old Testament; the Righteous, vengeful God who rained fire on Sodom and flooded the earth over for its sins. He goes walking through Eden in the cool of the evening and mankind hides, because it fears God's gaze.
I'm the sort of man who spends a fair amount of time contemplating my place and fate in the universe and the possibility of God as presented in "Frailty" is terrifying to me. In this film, God is not Love. God is purifying fire, and death to those who would trespass on his commandments.
The God of "Frailty" is the God of what we "enlightened" folk like to call religious extremism. But what do we really know? Isn't it arrogant and extremist of us to label them extremists?
It's really the people who argue for a God that's benevolent and invested in human affairs who are the historical minority. Throughout the majority of world religion, no matter the era or the geographical location, God (or, more prevalently, Gods) tend(s) to be aloof, sometimes childish, often bewildering, and usually violent. Whether with Odin, Zeus, the Old Testament Jehovah, or Kali, our encounters with the "divine" have often been marked in blood, madness, and confusion.
Who is to say that God is not vengeful and unsparing? That's a question that literally cannot be answered, and in a moment of pure honesty, I'll admit that it's a question that keeps me up at night.
God judges. That is the haunting message of "Frailty," and it's a message that disturbs me more than any amount of gore ever could. God judges us all and, like the mammoth crocodile of Egyptian myth, will rise up from the darkness to consume us when—not if—he finds us wanting.
************************************************
If you liked the review, stop on by the new Average Joes site (still under contruction), where I'll be writing up new ones about once a week. The idea is to give a spotlight to smaller films; ones you may not have seen, initially dismissed, or never considered watching.
The original can be found at The Average Joes website.
FRAILTY - A Review
I'm hard pressed to think of many films I find disturbing.
I can think of a couple that have scared me. A few that made me queasy. But very few movies ever truly get under my skin. "Frailty" does, though. It's disturbing in a way that few thrillers are these days. What's more, it's disturbing on multiple levels.
That doesn't sound like much fun, now that I've typed it out, but "Frailty" is a terrific movie. Even better, it's a film that demands re-watching.
What if God spoke to you? What if he came to you in a dream and told you that demons walked the earth—and that your purpose in life was to destroy them? The demons look like regular, everyday people; they have no horns or glowing eyes or forked tongues. They bleed and scream and beg for their lives and make you look like a crazed serial killer when you "destroy" them.
Would you believe the voice of God? Would you take on your appointed mission? Would you follow God's command and teach your children to kill alongside you? Of course you wouldn't.
But Bill Paxton would.
Matthew McConaughey (in a performance topped only by his insane, cigar-chomping, bald-headed superfreak turn in "Reign of Fire") arrives at the Texas headquarters of the FBI on a dark and stormy night. He has a confession to make: the God's Hand killer, a serial murderer that the agency has been tracking, is his brother.
As the agent in charge of the investigation listens on, McConaughey tells him how their father (Bill Paxton, in a performance that redefines him in my eyes) believed he'd been visited by God in a dream and given a holy mission—to destroy "demons" that walk the earth. The names of these "demons" were given to their father by fiery angels only he could see.
Without hesitation their father begins killing, and his seeming madness is undercut with a startling, born-again clarity of conviction that assures the young McConaughey that their father has lost his mind. His younger brother, Adam, believes their father implicitly. When he asks his father if they're superheroes, his response is both darkly comic and utterly chilling: "That's right, son. We're a family of superheroes who're gonna help save the world."
First-time director Paxton is best known for his ludicrously entertaining acting stints in films ranging from "Aliens" to "Near Dark;" from "Weird Science" to "Club Dread," but from the opening moments of "Frailty" it's obvious that Paxton's more than just a goofball character actor. "Frailty" is confident, assured work on a directorial level; shot through with a gothic atmosphere made all the more uncomfortable for the fact that so much of it plays out in broad daylight. Paxton has had the good fortune and good sense to work with some seriously accomplished directors including James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, Sam Raimi, and Ron Howard and it's obvious he's been paying attention.
He also pulls off the impressive feat of playing "Dad" (the character is never given a first name) in the film, a move I was incredibly skeptical about. Paxton's played a remarkable range of characters throughout his career, but 99.9% of them are marked by a patent outlandishness or hicksterism that pretty much chucks sincerity right out the window. He dials it down about ten notches for his performance as the widowed, obviously loving "Dad," and it's his utter sincerity that sells him in the role. His calm, almost beatific conviction is terrifying because it is genuine. Paxton's single father has been born-again to a bloody God seeking vengeance on the wicked and he manages to make his character by turns overwhelmed by his mission, and positively awed by the holy responsibility he thinks he's been given.
"Frailty" is frightening because so much of it seems horribly, figuratively, plausible. There is a rapidly-boiling conservative Christian element in America that seems more interested than ever in making our country a theocracy. These people believe that the dinosaurs walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, that abortion is so wrong that you should kill people for performing/having them, that homosexuality is a mortal sin in the eyes of God, and that science is the enemy of faith. This zealotry is very real, and the numbers of the faithful are swelling. This might not be so scary to me, were the God these people seem to believe in the sort of Alpha-and-Omega I ascribe to.
It's that zealotry that permeates "Frailty," and "Dad"'s belief in his mission gives the movie an air of true horror. The most frightening thing about zealots and murderous men is that they believe they're doing the right thing. In most movies, killers are portrayed as wild-eyed sadists, flaunting their damnation like those kids on MTV's "My Super Sweet Sixteen." In a way, this dehumanizes them. It renders them more animal than man.
But in "Frailty," as in "Se7en," the moral righteousness of these men throw our own conceptions of right and wrong slightly awry. Men like "John Doe" and "Dad" (interesting how, in both films, the central killer is unnamed) are frightening because they believe, utterly, in the work they do.
In fact, if you enjoyed "Se7en," "Frailty" is definitely the film for you. Both films leave you with a sense of disquiet that, in my case, lasted long after the credits rolled. It's a damn fine film; well-crafted, well-acted, and well-written.
My review should really end there, but I can't praise "Frailty" properly without discussing the film's ending. If you haven't seen the film, I'd suggest you stop reading now, go down to your video store and grab a copy, and then come back to read this last part. That sounds like a lot of work, but its really worth it. Go watch it and let it settle. Then, mosey on back here.
- Spoilers Ahead -
…
…
…
…
"Frailty" throws the viewer a last minute sucker-punch that—in the tradition of films like "The Usual Suspects," "Memento," and "The Sixth Sense"—changes everything you thought you understood about the film.
It's revealed that McConaughey is actually the God's Hand killer, and that he's murdered his brother for being a demon. What's more, God has told him that the FBI agent in charge of the investigation is the next demon to be destroyed.
And just when you think you've got this film figured out it twists again, smacks you over the head, and calls you Shirley. McConaughey touches the agent, and we as the audience see his deepest secret sin. In the film's earlier flashbacks, "Dad"'s visions of his victim's evil deeds are presented as probable psychosis. But the way McConaughey's vision is shot, and the way the agent reacts, makes it clear that it is not psychosis. It is psychic.
McConaughey and his father are "God's Hands." They aren't insane. They really are "superheroes;" defeating the devil's minions in a secular world that refuses to believe. God is very real in "Frailty," and verily, he is most wrathful.
The God of "Frailty" is the God of the Old Testament; the Righteous, vengeful God who rained fire on Sodom and flooded the earth over for its sins. He goes walking through Eden in the cool of the evening and mankind hides, because it fears God's gaze.
I'm the sort of man who spends a fair amount of time contemplating my place and fate in the universe and the possibility of God as presented in "Frailty" is terrifying to me. In this film, God is not Love. God is purifying fire, and death to those who would trespass on his commandments.
The God of "Frailty" is the God of what we "enlightened" folk like to call religious extremism. But what do we really know? Isn't it arrogant and extremist of us to label them extremists?
It's really the people who argue for a God that's benevolent and invested in human affairs who are the historical minority. Throughout the majority of world religion, no matter the era or the geographical location, God (or, more prevalently, Gods) tend(s) to be aloof, sometimes childish, often bewildering, and usually violent. Whether with Odin, Zeus, the Old Testament Jehovah, or Kali, our encounters with the "divine" have often been marked in blood, madness, and confusion.
Who is to say that God is not vengeful and unsparing? That's a question that literally cannot be answered, and in a moment of pure honesty, I'll admit that it's a question that keeps me up at night.
God judges. That is the haunting message of "Frailty," and it's a message that disturbs me more than any amount of gore ever could. God judges us all and, like the mammoth crocodile of Egyptian myth, will rise up from the darkness to consume us when—not if—he finds us wanting.
************************************************
If you liked the review, stop on by the new Average Joes site (still under contruction), where I'll be writing up new ones about once a week. The idea is to give a spotlight to smaller films; ones you may not have seen, initially dismissed, or never considered watching.
