🔗 Share this article

Nicolas Cage is likely the ideal selection for a bold scary movie centered on Jesus Christ, but not for the motivations some viewers may think. In reality, the star doesn't actually portray the central religious figure in the new film: his role is listed simply as The Carpenter. Cage is framed as a father figure of this story, striving to uphold his faith while The Boy (played by the young actor), their now-teenage adopted son, starts to show divine powers. The reason it's hard to imagine a different major actor playing this part is that even as the role becomes weighed down with multiple trials, Nicolas Cage seems almost moving confident that this gloomy, grim little movie is worth his time.

The Actor's Latest Career Choices

Nicolas Cage was using that time more selectively in recent years. He yet does additional projects than the majority of casual fans may ever watch — as an illustration, did you know that he has completed several different cowboy movies recently? — however he also includes prestige A24/Neon gigs for example Dream Scenario, Pig, and Longlegs. The Carpenter’s Son appears to be one of those, in that it’s genre-adjacent, potentially provocative, and handles a exaggerated description quite seriously.

Movie's Plot and Direction

Sadly, filmmaker Lotfy Nathan does not justify the audience's focus. The film begins with a compellingly nomadic place, positioned as based on an apocryphal lost gospel about the early years of Jesus. The Carpenter, the maternal figure, and their child move frequently, anxious of faith-based hostility or suspicion about The Boy’s unusual abilities. “Calamity follows us,” Cage sadly observes. This persists as dark forces focus on the family at their new home, getting a jump-start with that traditional religious challenge for the son.

Occasionally, the film mirrors an Exorcist-style supernatural thriller, though none of the main figures are clearly inhabited. Rather, they become progressively isolated from each other, while these powers influence a nearby girl (Isla Johnston, named an outsider) that The Boy forms a relationship with, and presents everyone unsettling premonitions of a dark tomorrow. The Carpenter especially grapples with his place in this story, occasionally berating his child who mystifies him.

Controversy and Care

The subject matter is likely to invite debate, and Nathan approaches it with much sensitivity — overly, perhaps. The concept of a young man dealing with his destined offering and lured by unknown powers is truly frightening, but Nathan might be wary of looking exploitative and anxious to indicate his aims, therefore he regularly withdraws to dimly foreboding filming. The roles brood incessantly — FKA Twigs, who demonstrated real promise in the 2024 Crow remake, interestingly — yields her performance to her religious attire, sometimes broken up by some gruesome scary visuals.

The Star's Acting and Film's Weaknesses

Meanwhile, the actor flirts with just the sort of melodramatic acting that those who enjoy his campier roles might be looking for. There is a moment (shown) in promotional material in which Cage flips out and shouts “My faith has been shattered!” If that kind of dramatic explosion is a component of a religious scary film, possibly a more brazenly silly method would take better advantage of his eagerness to exaggerate when necessary. Instead, The Carpenter’s Son is closer to the weaker straight-to-DVD films Cage made over the 2010s — not the cheesy thrillers but rather the narrative films and ghost stories that often seem intriguing, and usually have several notable memorable scenes, but ultimately feel like, well, low-budget DTV material.

Truthfully, a number of those, though not as grand, were easier to view overall. Here is where I must break my personal rule, not faith-based but professional: Years back, a beloved editor persuaded me to remove words like “monotonous” or “lifeless” from my reviewing language. These phrases convey little but a personal and generically described restlessness, avoiding the duty of vibrantly communicating the thoughtful and feeling of seeing a specific film. It’s difficult to communicate monotony without appearing dull yourself. It's just as unclear as labeling a movie “engaging.” “Say more,” essentially.

But I must confess, I was bored throughout the film. On the positive side, it is a devotional type of stultification, not because The Carpenter’s Son is preachy, but since it takes a sort of dutiful submission to watch it. After a while early on, the movie enters a cyclic tempo of simmering distress, and fails to