Nicolas Cage's Religious Horror Movie Is Less Extreme as It Sounds

Nicolas Cage could be the optimal choice for a audacious scary movie about Jesus Christ, but not for the reasons certain viewers could guess. In reality, Cage doesn't actually portray the central religious figure in The Carpenter’s Son: his role is credited merely as a craftsman. The actor is positioned as the Joseph of this story, attempting to uphold his beliefs while his son (played by Noah Jupe), their now-teenage foster child, starts to exhibit supernatural abilities. Why it's hard to imagine another major actor taking this character is that even as the role is burdened with various trials, Nicolas Cage looks almost emotionally convinced that this murky, bleak small film is worth his time.

The Actor's Latest Career Choices

Cage has been using those years more carefully recently. He still makes more movies than most casual fans may ever watch — for example, are you aware that he has filmed a trio of separate cowboy movies in the past three years? — but he also adds esteemed independent films like one recent hit, another notable movie, and a further title. This new film sounds like a similar project, because it’s genre-adjacent, possibly controversial, and handles a over-the-top description in a earnest manner.

Movie's Plot and Execution

Regrettably, filmmaker the director fails to repay viewer engagement. The Carpenter’s Son opens in a engagingly rootless context, marketed as drawing from an apocryphal lost gospel regarding Christ’s childhood. The Carpenter, the maternal figure, and their child travel frequently, anxious of religious persecution or doubt over their son's mysterious gifts. “Calamity follows us,” The Carpenter mournfully notes. That continues as dark forces focus on them at their new home, beginning on that traditional religious challenge for the youth.

At times, this production resembles an demonic possession-type supernatural thriller, except that not one of the lead characters are explicitly taken over. On the contrary, they become progressively isolated mutually, while these forces influence a resident female (the actress, named an outsider) who the son forms a relationship with, and provides everyone troubling visions of a dark tomorrow. The Carpenter notably struggles with his role in the narrative, occasionally berating his child who mystifies him.

Debate and Care

The content is likely to court controversy, and the director handles it with plenty of delicacy — excessive, possibly. The concept of a teenage boy confronted with his eventual sacrifice and lured by unknown powers is truly frightening, but the filmmaker could be hesitant regarding looking exploitative and keen to telegraph his intentions, so he often falls back on dimly foreboding filming. The roles continually reflect — FKA Twigs, who displayed genuine potential in a recent film update, interestingly — surrenders her performance to her Mother Mary cloak, at times punctuated by a few gruesome scary visuals.

The Star's Performance and Movie's Weaknesses

At the same time, Cage flirts with just the sort of melodramatic acting that those who enjoy his campier roles could be expecting. There is a moment (also included) in previews in which he loses control and yells “I’ve lost my faith!” When this sort of dramatic explosion is included in your biblical thriller, possibly a more brazenly silly approach would be more effective of Cage’s willingness to be extreme when necessary. Instead, The Carpenter’s Son is closer to the less successful direct-to-video films Cage made through much of the 2010s — not the cheesy thrillers but rather the serious stories and supernatural thrillers that always sound promising, and often contain several notable actor's highlights, but in the end seem like, indeed, cheap home video fare.

Frankly, a number of those, although simpler, were easier to view as a whole. At this point I have to disregard my own dogma, not religious but professional: Years back, a beloved editor convinced me to banish words like “tedious” or “uninteresting” from my analytical lexicon. These phrases communicate minimal other than a subjective and generically described lack of patience, avoiding the duty of vibrantly communicating the mental and sensation of viewing an individual production. It's challenging to convey tedium without appearing dull oneself. It's equally vague as terming a movie “interesting.” “Elaborate,” that is.

Yet, I acknowledge, I grew weary during much of The Carpenter’s Son. On the positive side, it’s a devotional type of stultification, not due to The Carpenter’s Son is preachy, but since it requires a type of dutiful submission to watch it. Eventually soon after starting, this feature locks into a monotonous pattern of simmering distress, and fails to