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April 5, 2007

Movie Review

Reaping the Benefits

Unique plot makes this thriller worth watching

Story by: Ray Edward Buffington IV

Contributor to The Shorthorn

It’s Bible versus science in The Reaping, a movie that questions the legitimacy of miracles and makes the audience think twice about what it truly believes.

A combination of excellent graphics, an original idea and a decent cast makes this movie a go-see, but it’s not strong enough to be a must-see.

Hilary Swank plays Katherine Winter, an ordained-minister-turned-skeptical-scientist after her husband and daughter are murdered.

As the years go by, she challenges 48 “miracles” around the world by finding a scientific explanation for each.

With her credentials, she is asked to go to a town to discover why a river has turned red.

Rumors finger a 13-year-old girl named Loren McConnell, whose family is believed to be involved in a cult.

Winter disregards the rumors until she discovers the river is now human blood and nine other biblical plagues begin to rack the town.

The strongest trait this movie has going for it is the original plot. Regardless of the cast, director and graphics offered, the what-if idea pulls enough interest to keep this movie afloat.

Swank’s performance is above average but definitely not Oscar-worthy. However, she’s not to blame. It seemed she was doing the best she could with what she had to work with. While a very interesting plot and idea, the script had some cheesy scenes and lines that tripped the flow, even making some viewers laugh at inappropriate times. It made Swank look like she was still reading from the script.

Swank did show some passion and really brought out Winter’s character in a scene where she rants out 10 scientific explanations for the 10 plagues that occurred during the Moses’ conflict with the Egyptian Pharaoh. Hearing the possible mundane reasons for the plagues is enough instigation to go see the film.

The special effects were surprisingly good, considering the plot didn’t seem like it was going to be graphics-heavy but more script-heavy. Maybe the producers should have cut back a little on the special effects and hired another writer or two to fix the wording kinks.

With Hillary Swank, a creepy-but-interesting plot and a one-of-a-kind idea, the movie also gets 8 out of 10 plagues.