This movie's trailer intrigued me, with its interesting premise. To whit - there's a man, played by Bill Paxton. He has two sons - Fenton and Adam. One night, Dad gets a visit from an angel. The angel tells him to kill demons - demons that are in the guise of people. Now Fenton thinks his Dad is insane, but he seems helpless to stop him. Is Dad insane? And how does this relate to Fenton today, who's just starting to confess his story to an FBI officer?
The acting here is pretty spot on. Paxton is very focused and determined in his role as Dad. He's absolutely unwavering in his beliefs, to a frightening degree. Paxton looks the part, with his deep set eyes and accent. It's the kids who put in the great performances. Young Adam, played by Jeremy Sumpter, is excellent. He's an unwavering, unquestioned belief that his father is right. It's spooky seeing this conviction in a little child, but Sumpter pulls it off brilliant, balanced by an extreme innocence. Matthew O'Leary, as the young Fenton, is equally excellent. He's able to do emotions of pain, hurt, fear, anger, as well as many of his adult peers and shows a promising career here.
The directing is grand, if per functionary. The camera work is fairly flat, but Paxton at least attempts to work with the lighting - heavy use of shadows, having both visual and - obviously - metaphorical relevance. There's a lovely score to it, very haunting and atmospheric. Paxton uses this, and his shadows, to create a movie that's nearly unrelentingly bleak. It's a dark and sombre piece, and won't raise many a smile.
`Frailty' is good because it had my mind working - is it all in Dad's head? Is it real? There's a number of twists, which come pummelling in at the end, which are - in retrospect somewhat well sign-posted. Still I enjoyed the story, the acting by the kids, and the atmosphere of the movie, unconventional for Hollywood mainstream. Not a classic but worthy of a looking, for a different version of the tired killer genre. 7.4/10.
The acting here is pretty spot on. Paxton is very focused and determined in his role as Dad. He's absolutely unwavering in his beliefs, to a frightening degree. Paxton looks the part, with his deep set eyes and accent. It's the kids who put in the great performances. Young Adam, played by Jeremy Sumpter, is excellent. He's an unwavering, unquestioned belief that his father is right. It's spooky seeing this conviction in a little child, but Sumpter pulls it off brilliant, balanced by an extreme innocence. Matthew O'Leary, as the young Fenton, is equally excellent. He's able to do emotions of pain, hurt, fear, anger, as well as many of his adult peers and shows a promising career here.
The directing is grand, if per functionary. The camera work is fairly flat, but Paxton at least attempts to work with the lighting - heavy use of shadows, having both visual and - obviously - metaphorical relevance. There's a lovely score to it, very haunting and atmospheric. Paxton uses this, and his shadows, to create a movie that's nearly unrelentingly bleak. It's a dark and sombre piece, and won't raise many a smile.
`Frailty' is good because it had my mind working - is it all in Dad's head? Is it real? There's a number of twists, which come pummelling in at the end, which are - in retrospect somewhat well sign-posted. Still I enjoyed the story, the acting by the kids, and the atmosphere of the movie, unconventional for Hollywood mainstream. Not a classic but worthy of a looking, for a different version of the tired killer genre. 7.4/10.