Godawful (Godsend (DVD))

Member Name: Wolfzilla

Product:	Godsend (DVD)
Date:	26/11/08 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good cast & production values

Disadvantages: ...wasted on a terrible movie

It's hard to imagine these days, but once upon a time the name Robert De Niro atop a film's boxart was almost a Stamp of quality that would assure you that what you were about to watch, even if not perfect, would at least be of a certain quality, at least a watchable experience. However around the turn of the century something went wrong. I mean it's not like his acting ability vanished, but more like his decision making ability did. He has pulled out the odd good movie, for examples Meet The Parents and it's sequel, but sadly in latter years his CV has been dominated by utterly disposable dreck that would make those reared on movies made in the last decade wonder exactly what all the fuss surrounding him was about.

With this said, upon doing some reading on his 2004 movie Godsend, it becomes a bit easier to stomach his latest failure, and in fact feel sorry for the one time Travis Bickle. Apparently De Niro was under the impression his role in Godsend would be little more than an extended cameo, and was himself rather upset at the fact he was given such a high billing in a last-ditch attempt at giving the film some credibility.

Not that De Niro is the film's only quality player, I feel leading man Greg Kinnear is a more than capable performer, and is really quite underrated. His onscreen wife Rebecca Romijn (at this time still Romijn-Stamos) is a solid actress and even the film's child star Cameron Bright doesn't grate the nerves. So how does Godsend manage to get it so wrong?

The film follows the Duncan family, father Paul, mother Jesse and their 8 year old son Adam. The family currently live in the city, but are preparing to move to calmer pastures in the name of Adam's safety. However on his 8th birthday tragedy strikes as he is hit by a car and the couple are left grieving. It's after Adam's funeral that the Duncan's are approached by the enigmatic Dr. Richard Wells (De Niro) who claims to have been one of Jesse's teachers at college. He claims he can clone Adam, offering the couple a second chance at their son. The catch is that this procedure is illegal and experimental, and they will need to move to a secluded town to allow Dr. Wells to maintain a close eye over Adam.

Things seem to be going fine until Adam's 8th birthday, when he starts displaying violent tendencies, getting into trouble at school and having bizarre nightmares. Dr. Wells writes it off as a medical condition known as 'Night Terrors' and declares it nothing to worry about. Paul isn't convinced, initially believing the problem to be a side-effect of Adam going past his previous age threshold , however upon some personal research he discovers a secret more dark than he ever imagined...

One of the many problems Godsend encounters is that it isn't really sure what it wants to be. At its core the film is a science fiction picture. In fact if you want to look at it in black and white terms that's all it is. However the film marketed itself as, and really seems to want to be a horror film. Now its not as though Sci-Fi/Horror crossovers are impossible, on the contrary some of the finest films to have been called either have in fact been crossovers between the genres, Alien for one. The thing is Godsend sets things up as though there are clear supernatural elements to Adam's problems, but when things turn out to be pure mad science it leaves quite a bit of belief stretching.

This wouldn't be so bad if these suspensions of disbelief were actually for anything worthwhile, but that's another of the movie's problems; not a great deal actually happens in it. The majority of them relate to the movie's mad science. I don't want to give the film's plot away but it doesn't take much scrutiny for the film's science to burst under the weight of sheer stupidity. Worst thing is, at the end of the movie, things have pretty much reverted to how they started. There is the twist at the end, but its so shockingly out of place I'm not even sure it was meant for this film, and wasn't filmed by accident from an early draft of a script intended for the following year's similar misfire The Dark.

What makes the film's train-wreck nature all the more depressing is how good a set up it has. As I mentioned, it has a reliable cast, albeit Romijn's constant wailing of her terrible dialog does begin to get a bit irritating, and in general it's production values are good. The soundtrack is suitable, the camerawork good...it's a terrible film well made. How you take so many positives and still wind up with such a completely unfulfilling movie I'll seriously never understand. It's like a really awful modern re-imagining of Pet Cemetary, and even it wasn't perfect to begin with.

It's hard to really find much more to say about Godsend. It was a waste of time for everyone involved in making it, and it's not worth wasting your time with. Go dig out Pet Cemetary, or The Omen if you want scary kids. If the film never had the budget and the cast it did, it would easily be 1/5, its only these facts that elevate it to 2. Its still not worth watching.

Summary: Avoid it at all costs, a waste of time for all involved.