Not that I mind Christian propaganda except that it's so poorly done in 'Bless the Child.' 'Stigmata' tried to be profound, and partially succeeded because its plot remained fairly vague. However 'Bless the Child' unfortunately tries to weave a detailed and ultimately cluttered plot.
The movie clings to most cliche themes regarding religious cults as well as a number of generic conservative views on sin and evil. The cult members are a bunch of skateboarding druggies who wear dark clothing. In the end, it becomes another 'forces of light versus the forces of darkness' in a climatic battle that's not very interesting.
Towards the beginning, Basinger's character is seen reading about the cult's crimes in a tabloid. Was this meant to bolster the credibility of tabloids or lower the credibility of the movie? The cult-leader(Sewell)'s brilliant psychological manipulation of Cody ultimately went like: join us or die. Sewell's role was one of those blatantly BAD BAD BAD characters who just becomes annoying, constantly performing outrageously evil acts of great evility to show his evil badness. He should have just held up a sign throughout the movie proclaiming 'I am evil.'
The movie's drama frequently degenerates into a soap-opera feel. To make matters worse, the movie-makers felt it was necessary to insert a bunch of low-budget cgi effects that don't fit and don't contribute much to the movie at all. All in all, the movie was overdone and superficial. I give it a generous imdb 4.
The movie clings to most cliche themes regarding religious cults as well as a number of generic conservative views on sin and evil. The cult members are a bunch of skateboarding druggies who wear dark clothing. In the end, it becomes another 'forces of light versus the forces of darkness' in a climatic battle that's not very interesting.
Towards the beginning, Basinger's character is seen reading about the cult's crimes in a tabloid. Was this meant to bolster the credibility of tabloids or lower the credibility of the movie? The cult-leader(Sewell)'s brilliant psychological manipulation of Cody ultimately went like: join us or die. Sewell's role was one of those blatantly BAD BAD BAD characters who just becomes annoying, constantly performing outrageously evil acts of great evility to show his evil badness. He should have just held up a sign throughout the movie proclaiming 'I am evil.'
The movie's drama frequently degenerates into a soap-opera feel. To make matters worse, the movie-makers felt it was necessary to insert a bunch of low-budget cgi effects that don't fit and don't contribute much to the movie at all. All in all, the movie was overdone and superficial. I give it a generous imdb 4.