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The acclaimed actor may be the perfect selection for a bold horror film about Jesus Christ, but not for the motivations certain fans could guess. Actually, the star doesn't even play the central religious figure in The Carpenter’s Son: the part he plays is listed only as a craftsman. He is framed as a father figure of this tale, striving to maintain his beliefs while the teenage character (portrayed by the young actor), their teenage adopted son, begins to show supernatural abilities. The explanation it’s difficult to imagine a different leading star playing this part is that while his character is weighed down with numerous difficulties, Cage himself looks almost moving convinced that this murky, grim feature is worth his time.

The Actor's Latest Career Choices

Cage has using those years more selectively in recent years. He still does more movies than most casual fans could possibly view — for example, are you aware that he has completed a trio of different Westerns recently? — yet he also mixes in high-profile A24/Neon gigs such as one recent hit, Pig, and a further title. This new film seems like in that category, as it’s borderline horror, possibly controversial, and takes a over-the-top description in a earnest manner.

The Film's Premise and Execution

Sadly, writer-director Lotfy Nathan does not justify viewer engagement. The Carpenter’s Son begins with a interestingly wandering setting, marketed as inspired by an apocryphal lost gospel concerning the youthful days of the messiah. The Carpenter, The Mother, and their son travel frequently, fearful of faith-based hostility or distrust regarding their son's strange powers. “Disaster trails us,” The Carpenter mournfully notes. That continues when sinister entities focus on them in their latest settlement, getting a jump-start on the familiar Biblical temptation for the youth.

Occasionally, the movie echoes an Exorcist-style horror film, though not one of the central roles are directly possessed. Instead, they grow more and more distant from one another, as these forces influence a local young woman (Isla Johnston, listed as an outsider) that The Boy bonds with, and gives each character troubling visions of a bleak destiny. The Carpenter especially fights with his role within the plot, occasionally scolding the boy who mystifies him.

Discussion and Caution

The content is likely to court controversy, and Nathan treats it with plenty of delicacy — excessive, maybe. The notion of a adolescent facing his destined offering and seduced by mysterious forces is truly frightening, but Nathan could be wary of seeming gratuitous and eager to signal his goals, thus he frequently retreats into gloomily threatening visuals. The figures continually reflect — FKA Twigs, who displayed real promise in another movie, interestingly — surrenders her acting to her religious attire, sometimes broken up by several disturbing frightening scenes.

Cage's Performance and Movie's Shortcomings

Simultaneously, the actor flirts with precisely the type of overacting that his ironic fans could be expecting. There is a moment (featured) in promotional material in which he loses control and shouts “My belief is broken!” If that kind of theatrical release is a component of your biblical thriller, possibly a more boldly ridiculous approach would be more effective of Cage’s willingness to exaggerate when necessary. Rather, the film is closer to the weaker straight-to-DVD films the actor filmed during the last decade — excluding the campy action films but rather the narrative films and supernatural thrillers that typically appear interesting, and often contain several notable actor's highlights, but in the end seem like, frankly, inexpensive direct-to-consumer content.

Truthfully, several of these, though not as grand, were easier to view as a whole. This is when I have to violate my own dogma, not religious but work-oriented: Years back, an admired senior urged me to remove adjectives like “boring” or “dull” from my film-criticism vocabulary. Such terms communicate minimal other than a subjective and generically described lack of patience, withdrawing from the job of vividly conveying the mental and sensation of viewing an individual production. It's hard to convey boredom without sounding boring yourself. It’s no more expressive as calling a movie “interesting.” “Explain further,” that is.

But I must confess, I was bored for a large part of The Carpenter’s Son. To the movie’s non-exploitative credit, it’s a religious style of boredom, not because The Carpenter’s Son is preachy, but because it demands a kind of patient acceptance to sit through it. At some point soon after starting, the film locks into a monotonous pattern of simmering anguish, and does not