There’s no spoilers here I promise. Now…the “found footage” method of filming has begun its second life at the box office. The Last Exorcism marks another venture into this style of filmmaking, using probably the only genre it could thrive in, The Last Exorcism manages to establish that it has a lot going for it, but ultimately seems to give up on itself in the end.
Let me begin with what could be considered the pro’s for this movie. The exorcism plot is something that has been done, and done right. What sets this movie apart from its predecessors is the actually story that revolves around the act of the exorcism.
In this film, Reverend Cotton Marcus, who has been preaching since he was 10, begins to question his faith in his god, especially after reading an article about a botched exorcism that led to the death of an autistic child. Reminding Cotton of his own son, who is also autistic, leads Cotton to deciding he wants to prove that exorcisms, and in turn the church, are a sham. To do this, Cotton agrees to film an exorcism with a documentary crew in order to prove that exorcisms are fake. After choosing a random letter from his pile of what seems like exorcism requests, he takes off for the farm the people who wrote the letter live on.
The ultimate motivation for the character is the real difference in this movie. The movie constantly brings into question the validity of religion over science, which allows for the plot to not seem contrived or old.
However, while the movie has a strong opening act, it lacks follow through. The script, while good, was not always paced well. There were moments I found myself wondering if something interesting or scary was going to happen.
Scary was another thing the movie should not have marketed. The movie can best be described as tense. There were very few scares in fact, and they usually didn’t have any kind of buildup. This should have been a decided thriller, rather then considered a horror movie.
The pacing of the movie in general was also a bit slow. While all the scenes ultimately contribute to the story, the movie tries to explore other themes, which leave for large plot holes and ultimately cause the movie to slow down, as most of these plot holes aren’t resolved.
Probably the biggest complaint, and from what I’ve heard I’m not the only one, is the ending. It’s very “out-of-left-field” and that isn’t necessarily a good thing. Without giving anything away, I will just say the ending almost feels forced onto the audience. Like the writers couldn’t think of a coherent way to end the story so they pieced it together very quickly.
This movie really could have had something if it had tried to stay a little more self-contained and tried to use a better ending. However, in retrospect, I would definitely give the movie props for having a different approach to the story, and the acting was very good, considering the cast consists of mostly television actors. All in all worth a matinee price, maybe even dollar theatre.
My Opinion: 6.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment