Nicolas Cage is likely the perfect choice for a bold horror film centered on Jesus Christ, however not for the causes many viewers might assume. Actually, Cage does not even act as Jesus in The Carpenter’s Son: his role is credited only as The Carpenter. He is framed as a father figure in this narrative, attempting to uphold his religious convictions while his son (portrayed by Noah Jupe), their now-teenage foster child, commences to display divine powers. The reason it's hard to picture any other prominent performer in this role is that even as the role becomes stricken with various trials, the actor appears almost moving convinced that this murky, grim feature is worth his time.
The Actor's Recent Projects
Cage has allocating his time more selectively recently. He yet does additional projects than most regular audiences may ever watch — for example, did you know that he has filmed three distinct cowboy movies recently? — yet he also includes high-profile A24/Neon gigs such as Dream Scenario, another notable movie, and Longlegs. The Carpenter’s Son seems like one of those, because it’s not strictly scary, possibly controversial, and approaches a over-the-top concept quite seriously.
The Film's Plot and Execution
Unfortunately, filmmaker the director does not justify the audience's focus. The Carpenter’s Son begins with a interestingly wandering context, marketed as based on an unknown scripture concerning Christ’s childhood. Cage's character, the maternal figure, and the boy travel from place to place, fearful of faith-based hostility or suspicion over The Boy’s strange powers. “Disaster trails us,” Cage sadly observes. That continues when dark forces target the household at their new home, initiating on the familiar Biblical temptation for the youth.
Sometimes, this production mirrors an demonic possession-type possession movie, except that no one of the lead characters are explicitly taken over. Rather, they grow increasingly alienated from each other, when these forces infect a nearby girl (Isla Johnston, credited as an outsider) that The Boy forms a relationship with, and gives everyone unsettling premonitions of a bleak destiny. The Carpenter especially fights with his position in the narrative, occasionally berating his child who mystifies him.
Debate and Caution
The subject matter is likely to invite debate, and the director approaches it with a lot of sensitivity — overly, possibly. The idea of a teenage boy dealing with his eventual sacrifice and lured by mysterious forces is truly frightening, but the filmmaker may be cautious about seeming gratuitous and anxious to telegraph his intentions, thus he frequently retreats into darkly ominous cinematography. The roles constantly ponder — FKA Twigs, who showed genuine potential in the 2024 Crow remake, of all things — surrenders her performance to her Mother Mary cloak, at times punctuated by a few gnarly horror imagery.
The Star's Acting and Film's Flaws
Simultaneously, Cage dabbles in just the sort of melodramatic acting that those who enjoy his campier roles may desire. An instance (featured) in previews where Cage loses control and shouts “My belief is broken!” If that kind of florid outburst is a component of a biblical thriller, maybe a more brazenly silly method would take better advantage of the actor's readiness to be extreme as required. Instead, the film echoes the less successful straight-to-DVD productions the actor filmed over that period — excluding the campy action films but rather the narrative films and paranormal movies that always sound promising, and frequently include some select Cage moments, but finally come across like, well, cheap home video fare.
Honestly, a number of those, although simpler, were easier to view overall. This is when I need to disregard my personal rule, not spiritual but work-oriented: Years back, a beloved editor convinced me to eliminate adjectives like “boring” or “dull” from my film-criticism vocabulary. Such terms express scant but a individual and vaguely expressed restlessness, withdrawing from the duty of vibrantly communicating the intellectual and sensation of seeing a particular movie. It's hard to convey tedium without seeming uninteresting yourself. It's equally vague as terming a movie “interesting.” “Explain further,” essentially.
Yet, I acknowledge, I felt uninterested throughout the film. To the movie’s non-exploitative credit, it’s a devotional type of stultification, not because The Carpenter’s Son is moralizing, but as it takes a type of dutiful submission to sit through it. Eventually in the beginning, this feature locks into a cyclic tempo of simmering anguish, and fails to
