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Nicolas Cage could be the ideal pick for a bold scary movie about Jesus Christ, but not for the reasons certain audiences might assume. Actually, Cage does not actually portray Jesus in the new film: his character is credited merely as The Carpenter. He is positioned as the Joseph of this story, striving to maintain his faith while his son (played by Noah Jupe), their adolescent adopted son, starts to show divine powers. The explanation it's challenging to imagine a different prominent performer taking this character is that while the figure grows weighed down with numerous trials, the actor appears practically moving convinced that this dark, somber little movie is deserving of his effort.

Cage's Recent Film Selections

Cage has using those years more carefully recently. He yet does more movies than the majority of regular audiences may ever watch — for instance, did you know that the actor has filmed three separate Westerns over the last few years? — yet he also mixes in esteemed A24/Neon gigs such as Dream Scenario, Pig, and a further title. The Carpenter’s Son sounds like in that category, in that it’s borderline horror, possibly controversial, and takes a over-the-top premise with gravity.

The Film's Premise and Execution

Unfortunately, filmmaker Lotfy Nathan does not reward that serious attention. The Carpenter’s Son starts from a interestingly wandering context, marketed as based on an obscure religious text about Christ’s childhood. The Carpenter, the maternal figure, and the boy travel constantly, fearful of doctrinal intolerance or doubt about their son's unusual abilities. “Calamity follows us,” The Carpenter mournfully notes. This persists when dark forces attack the family in their latest settlement, beginning on that well-known scriptural test for The Boy.

At times, this production echoes an demonic possession-type possession movie, but no one of the central roles are clearly inhabited. Instead, they are increasingly alienated from each other, as these entities infect a nearby girl (Isla Johnston, credited as an outsider) that The Boy bonds with, and gives everyone disturbing images of a bleak destiny. The Carpenter in particular struggles with his role within the plot, occasionally scolding the boy he can’t fully understand.

Debate and Sensitivity

The subject matter is apt to stir disagreement, and the director approaches it with a lot of sensitivity — overly, perhaps. The notion of a young man facing his destined offering and tempted by unknown powers is certainly frightening, but the filmmaker might be cautious about looking exploitative and keen to signal his aims, thus he frequently falls back on gloomily threatening filming. The figures continually reflect — the singer-actress, who showed genuine potential in a recent film update, of all things — yields her role to her character's costume, occasionally interrupted by several gruesome scary visuals.

The Star's Portrayal and Film's Shortcomings

At the same time, Cage toy with exactly the kind of exaggerated performance that his ironic fans could be expecting. One scene (shown) in previews where he erupts and yells “My belief is broken!” If that kind of dramatic explosion is included in a religious scary film, maybe a more openly absurd approach would take better advantage of Cage’s willingness to exaggerate if needed. Instead, The Carpenter’s Son more closely resembles the less successful direct-to-video films he starred in over the last decade — apart from the B-movies but rather the dramas and supernatural thrillers that typically appear interesting, and often contain several notable memorable scenes, but ultimately feel like, well, inexpensive direct-to-consumer content.

Honestly, a number of those, though not as grand, were more entertaining in general. Here is where I must disregard my personal rule, not religious but career-related: Previously, a respected mentor persuaded me to remove words like “monotonous” or “lifeless” from my film-criticism vocabulary. These phrases convey little except a subjective and broadly stated restlessness, withdrawing from the duty of vibrantly communicating the mental and sensation of watching a specific film. It's hard to express tedium without seeming uninteresting yourself. It's equally vague as calling a movie “interesting.” “Elaborate,” essentially.

But I must confess, I was bored throughout The Carpenter’s Son. To the movie’s non-exploitative credit, it’s a churchy kind of boredom, not for The Carpenter’s Son is preachy, but since it demands a sort of dutiful submission to view it. After a while soon after starting, this feature locks into a repetitive rhythm of simmering distress, and does not