Here is one prediction I can make with one hundred per cent certainty. Hilary Swank will not be carrying any Oscar home for The Reaping.
Hilary plays scientific investigator Katharine Winter whose job it is to debunk religious myths with logical scientific explanations. Think of her as the person who will put that piece of toast with the Virgin Mary outlined on it under a microscope and find out that it is really caused by some old green mold that was on the bread before you toasted it. Yeah, I know you were hoping to make a killing on Ebay but that's the way it goes sometimes.
We find out that what she does because at the beginning of the film she is investigating some of these strange religious phenomenon, although we don't know for sure exactly why she is there until a few minutes later she is shown lecturing a college class about her findings and then bragging about how she is 48 for 48 in proving the natural causes for these so called spiritual events. Unbeknownst to Katherine at the time though is that a friend of hers, Father Costigan (Stephen Rea) has these old pictures of her and it seems that Katherine's photogenic Oscar winning face has an odd habit of bursting into flames and leaving a strange symbol on each of the pictures.. Shortly thereafter Katharine is asked by Doug (David Morrissey) to come on down to Haven, Louisiana with her assistant Ben (Idris Elba) because it seems that ever since some young boy has been murdered, the river has turned into blood.
The town people want to blame it on a little girl by the name of Loren McConnell (AnnaSophia Robb), so it is up to Katharine and Ben to find out if it really is blood in the river or if there's a Sherwin Williams factory nearby. And they have to do it before poor Loren gets strung up by her Buster Browns if you know what I mean.
It doesn't take long before things get worse. It soon becomes apparent that the town may be in the midst of the ten biblical plagues of Egypt, so a simple internet search will tell you what else the film might or might not have in store for you.
So is it really some religious phenomenon taking place or is there something else at work? Will Kat find the explanation in time to save poor Loren? Will all of these story lines and loose ends be tied up by the end of the movie? And better yet, will we really give a damn one way or another? I have to say that for a certain portion of the movie, I was intrigued and entertained. I actually thought that it was more like watching a good detective story unraveling at first, whereas Kat would find out that there was a logical explanation for everything that was taking place. The thing about films like The Reaping, if they keep the hocus pocus stuff creepy enough, and then let the suspense build naturally with a nice simple and understandable explanation to tie it all together then generally you're on pretty safe footing. Unfortunately, Director Stephen Hopkins and his writers Carey Hayes and Chad Hayes begin to crank it up about half way through and the whole film comes tumbling down like a house of cards. When we begin to get some idea as to what exactly is going on, we find the explanation so goofy and convoluted we wish we had never taken the journey in the first place It is close to being the same kind of thing that killed Silent Hill for me. By the time the credits were rolling in that film the ending had become such a convoluted mess that you regretted ever having sat down to watch it. At least in The Reaping you will somewhat understand the ending but by the time you leave Haven, Louisiana, you may be wishing you had exited by the time plague number seven had arrived.
Hilary does a good job though, and actually is probably the main reason you'll stay interested longer than you would otherwise. And I actually thought she looked kind of sexy traversing around in that swamp in those skin tight jeans. David Morrissey and Idris Elba aren't bad either, but neither role is anything that would require a great deal of skill. Odd man out though is Stephen Rea. His Father Costigan seems like he should be in another movie altogether. Like maybe in The Omen being speared by a falling cross in the church yard.
AnnaSophia Robb as Loren is creepy and chilling and I am always appreciative when they find a kid actor who doesn't try and play their role as if they are taking sugar injections.
Despite what you may have heard, the film is not as bad as all of that. In fact, you'll probably find just enough of it to be entertaining to make it worth a possible DVD rental if you have absolutely nothing else to do. But there is one more cardinal sin that the film committed at the end. There is a conversation between two of the characters in the film, that is there for one reason and one reason only. It was there for no other reason then to set up a possible sequel. Considering how this movie performed at the box office, we are certainly in no danger of that ever happening. Nonetheless, because they committed what I consider to be one of the ten grievous plagues of movie-making with that sequel set-up ending, I have no choice but to do as I always do in these cases which is to lower the grade. And in the case of The Reaping that would be turning a C+ into a D+. But I can't change water into wine so don't ask.
Hilary plays scientific investigator Katharine Winter whose job it is to debunk religious myths with logical scientific explanations. Think of her as the person who will put that piece of toast with the Virgin Mary outlined on it under a microscope and find out that it is really caused by some old green mold that was on the bread before you toasted it. Yeah, I know you were hoping to make a killing on Ebay but that's the way it goes sometimes.
We find out that what she does because at the beginning of the film she is investigating some of these strange religious phenomenon, although we don't know for sure exactly why she is there until a few minutes later she is shown lecturing a college class about her findings and then bragging about how she is 48 for 48 in proving the natural causes for these so called spiritual events. Unbeknownst to Katherine at the time though is that a friend of hers, Father Costigan (Stephen Rea) has these old pictures of her and it seems that Katherine's photogenic Oscar winning face has an odd habit of bursting into flames and leaving a strange symbol on each of the pictures.. Shortly thereafter Katharine is asked by Doug (David Morrissey) to come on down to Haven, Louisiana with her assistant Ben (Idris Elba) because it seems that ever since some young boy has been murdered, the river has turned into blood.
The town people want to blame it on a little girl by the name of Loren McConnell (AnnaSophia Robb), so it is up to Katharine and Ben to find out if it really is blood in the river or if there's a Sherwin Williams factory nearby. And they have to do it before poor Loren gets strung up by her Buster Browns if you know what I mean.
It doesn't take long before things get worse. It soon becomes apparent that the town may be in the midst of the ten biblical plagues of Egypt, so a simple internet search will tell you what else the film might or might not have in store for you.
So is it really some religious phenomenon taking place or is there something else at work? Will Kat find the explanation in time to save poor Loren? Will all of these story lines and loose ends be tied up by the end of the movie? And better yet, will we really give a damn one way or another? I have to say that for a certain portion of the movie, I was intrigued and entertained. I actually thought that it was more like watching a good detective story unraveling at first, whereas Kat would find out that there was a logical explanation for everything that was taking place. The thing about films like The Reaping, if they keep the hocus pocus stuff creepy enough, and then let the suspense build naturally with a nice simple and understandable explanation to tie it all together then generally you're on pretty safe footing. Unfortunately, Director Stephen Hopkins and his writers Carey Hayes and Chad Hayes begin to crank it up about half way through and the whole film comes tumbling down like a house of cards. When we begin to get some idea as to what exactly is going on, we find the explanation so goofy and convoluted we wish we had never taken the journey in the first place It is close to being the same kind of thing that killed Silent Hill for me. By the time the credits were rolling in that film the ending had become such a convoluted mess that you regretted ever having sat down to watch it. At least in The Reaping you will somewhat understand the ending but by the time you leave Haven, Louisiana, you may be wishing you had exited by the time plague number seven had arrived.
Hilary does a good job though, and actually is probably the main reason you'll stay interested longer than you would otherwise. And I actually thought she looked kind of sexy traversing around in that swamp in those skin tight jeans. David Morrissey and Idris Elba aren't bad either, but neither role is anything that would require a great deal of skill. Odd man out though is Stephen Rea. His Father Costigan seems like he should be in another movie altogether. Like maybe in The Omen being speared by a falling cross in the church yard.
AnnaSophia Robb as Loren is creepy and chilling and I am always appreciative when they find a kid actor who doesn't try and play their role as if they are taking sugar injections.
Despite what you may have heard, the film is not as bad as all of that. In fact, you'll probably find just enough of it to be entertaining to make it worth a possible DVD rental if you have absolutely nothing else to do. But there is one more cardinal sin that the film committed at the end. There is a conversation between two of the characters in the film, that is there for one reason and one reason only. It was there for no other reason then to set up a possible sequel. Considering how this movie performed at the box office, we are certainly in no danger of that ever happening. Nonetheless, because they committed what I consider to be one of the ten grievous plagues of movie-making with that sequel set-up ending, I have no choice but to do as I always do in these cases which is to lower the grade. And in the case of The Reaping that would be turning a C+ into a D+. But I can't change water into wine so don't ask.