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The acclaimed actor is likely the optimal choice for a audacious scary movie about the biblical figure, however not for the motivations many audiences could guess. Actually, the star does not actually play Jesus in the new film: his role is listed only as The Carpenter. The actor is framed as a father figure in this story, working to maintain his faith as The Boy (played by Noah Jupe), his teenage foster child, starts to show divine powers. The explanation it’s difficult to imagine another leading star in this role is that even as his character grows weighed down with numerous difficulties, Cage himself seems nearly touchingly convinced that the dark, bleak small film is worth his time.

The Actor's Recent Career Choices

Nicolas Cage has spending his time more carefully lately. He continues to stars in additional projects than the majority of average viewers will ever see — for instance, were you informed that the man has filmed three separate cowboy movies recently? — however he also adds prestige critically acclaimed roles such as one recent hit, another notable movie, and Longlegs. The Carpenter’s Son sounds like a similar project, as it’s genre-adjacent, possibly controversial, and handles a exaggerated premise with gravity.

The Film's Premise and Handling

Sadly, writer-director Lotfy Nathan does not justify the audience's focus. The film opens in a compellingly nomadic place, presented as drawing from an unknown scripture about Christ’s childhood. Cage's character, The Mother, and their son relocate from place to place, fearful of doctrinal intolerance or doubt about The Boy’s strange powers. “Calamity follows us,” Cage mournfully notes. That continues when evil influences target the household at their new home, getting a jump-start on the traditional religious challenge for The Boy.

Sometimes, the movie mirrors an Exorcist-style horror film, except that not one of the central roles are explicitly taken over. Instead, they become progressively isolated from each other, while these entities affect a nearby girl (Isla Johnston, listed as “The Stranger”) that The Boy connects to, and presents each character troubling visions of a dark tomorrow. The Carpenter in particular grapples with his place in the narrative, sometimes scolding his child he can’t fully understand.

Discussion and Care

This material is apt to stir disagreement, and the director treats it with a lot of sensitivity — too much, perhaps. The concept of a young man dealing with his eventual sacrifice and seduced by dark influences is indeed frightening, but Nathan could be cautious about looking exploitative and keen to indicate his intentions, so he often withdraws to dimly foreboding filming. The roles constantly ponder — FKA Twigs, who showed genuine potential in a recent film update, interestingly — surrenders her performance to her character's costume, occasionally interrupted by several gruesome scary visuals.

Cage's Performance and Film's Shortcomings

Simultaneously, Cage dabbles in precisely the type of exaggerated performance that his ironic fans may desire. There is a moment (also included) in the trailer in which he erupts and shouts “My faith has been shattered!” When this sort of theatrical release is part of your Jesus-themed horror movie, maybe a more boldly ridiculous approach would make better use of Cage’s willingness to be extreme as required. Rather, The Carpenter’s Son more closely resembles the poorer low-budget productions the actor filmed during the 2010s — apart from the B-movies instead the narrative films and ghost stories that often seem intriguing, and often contain some select actor's highlights, but in the end seem like, frankly, low-budget DTV material.

Frankly, several of these, although simpler, were more entertaining as a whole. This is when I must violate my personal rule, not faith-based but career-related: Years back, a beloved editor urged me to eliminate descriptive terms like “tedious” or “uninteresting” from my film-criticism vocabulary. Such terms express scant other than a subjective and broadly stated restlessness, disengaging from the job of vividly conveying the intellectual and sensation of seeing a particular movie. It’s difficult to convey monotony without sounding boring oneself. It's equally vague as calling a movie “notable.” “Elaborate,” essentially.

However, I admit, I grew weary during much of the film. To the movie’s non-exploitative credit, it’s a churchy kind of dullness, not due to The Carpenter’s Son is lecturing, but as it takes a kind of obedient endurance to sit through it. After a while soon after starting, the movie enters a repetitive rhythm of ongoing suffering, and does not