A stale offering (Bless The Child (DVD))

Name: fooyoo

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Bless The Child (DVD)
Date:	26/10/03 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It was ok to fill in time

Disadvantages: Too much unexplained

If I had to choose a genre of film which was my out and out favourite, it would be without question horror, especially the horror films that challenge your mind rather than an out and out gore fest. Ages ago, my wife bought me 'Bless The Child', but for some reason I have not got around to watching it until last night. It seems to one of the films in a long line of God versus Satan played out through a special person who is 'The Chosen One', such as 'Stigmata' and even Arnold Schwarznegger had a go when he took on Gabriel Byrne in 'End Of Days'. This time, the person who is the chosen one is a child, which is a slightly new approach to what is becoming a little bit of a tired subject to bring to film time and time again, and it does not borrow from 'The Sixth Sense' which was a relief. This film is based on a book, which I am sure is an excellent read by Cathy Cash Spellman, and has been produced by one of the people behind the magnificent 'Omen', which still remains one of my all time favourite films. It is directed by Chuck Russell, who takes a total change of direction when we consider his other notable films have been the terrible 'Eraser' and comedy 'The Mask' starring Jim Carrey.

I was surprised that I had not heard more of the film when I saw the names of the cast on the screen when the film first started, as there were certainly more than a few familiar names there. Kim Basinger is the star of the film, and she is Maggie O Connor, a nurse who has turned her back on her Catholic upbringing. One night, during the Christmas holidays, Maggie is told by a lady on a bus that The Star Of Bethlehem would be bringing something precious. Maggie smiles, and thinks nothing more of what the lady has told her, but that night, her wayward sister Jenna (Angela Bettis) turns up with her new daughter, Cody who is just 9 days old. The sisters get into a heated argument as Jenna is taking drugs, and Jenna
storms out leaving Maggie to look after Cody, which she relishes as she was never able to have children of her own.

The next six years pass, and Maggie notices that there is something different about Cody, and after seeing many doctors, she is diagnoses as autistic, although Maggie challenges this diagnosis, but nobody is really aware of the powers that Cody has, even when she brings a bird back to life after it breaks it's neck flying into a window. This scene puzzled me a little, as it really should have been the lightbulb moment for everyone around Cody, but instead it is quickly brushed aside. Maggie also starts to have very disturbing visions, but again just accepts them, gets a little frightened and then moves on, and even when Christina Ricci turns up as one of the cult members in what is no more than a cameo role, and quickly meets a nasty end after trying to help Maggie out, Maggie does not seem all that bothered, and she summons up the kind of courage you would never believe.

Out of the blue, Jenna turns up with her new husband, cult leader Eric Stark, who is played by English actor Rufus Sewell. They kidnap Cody, and it is at this point that the film really gathers pace, and starts to make you want to watch it. We soon find out that playing happy families could not be further from Eric's mind. He is aware of Cody's powers, but how is knows that is beyond me and it is never explained. Her mother could not have known when the child was nine days old that she would be a child with such powers, and the whole matter becomes too trivial for the director to deal with in my opinion.

Jimmy Smits plays an FBI detective, John Travis, who looks into crimes related to cults, and when Maggie calls to say Cody has been snatched, he immediately decides that Stark is behind the 5 child murders that he is investigating. How he comes to this (albeit correct) conclusion is glossed over a little too neatly for me. As Cody grows into a
little girl, the part is played by seven year old Holliston Coleman, who is mature beyond her years, and Coleman is excellent, and it is a shame she was not put on the same pedestal as Haley Joel Osmet. Basinger is watchable, but she did not seem to have decided whether her character was prim and proper, or up for a good battle, and it was all just too confusing. Sewell is excellent as the menacing, slightly insane Stark, and it is the kind of role which suits Sewell down to the ground, as he has very menacing eyes, which I think would always prevent him from being a standard leading man in a romantic comedy for example. Smits, again is ok, he does nothing wrong, but he does not shine either.

The special effects, were well.....they were nothing special, and they were something that I had seen done many times before, but better.The soundtrack by Christopher Young is a bog standard eerie feeling instrumental, but instantly forgettable.

The film was ok, it filled in some time, but it was all too neat, and not thought out enough for me. Conflicting events were not questioned as they would have interrupted the flow of the film, but instead I was left scratching my head, and wondering if I had nodded off and missed something vital, which would explain how everyone made the conclusions that they did, or why we were taken in one direction only for it to change without the slightest of explanations, and to me, these decisions robbed the film of it's credibility. I can see now why it has not been that popular, and I certainly would not want to see it again, as it was just a little too far fetched, and 100% predictable for me to summon up a lot of enthusiasm about it.

Summary: