| Overall Grade: |
B- |
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| Story: |
A- |
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| Acting: |
B- |
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| Direction: |
B- |
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| Visuals: |
B |
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Almost Great
by CJ (movies profile)
Sep 7, 2008
Finally released to much of the world in 2006, The Gathering has received an unfortunate smattering of publicity that has left it relegated to the unpicked-child-in-gym-class status.
Admittedly, there are problems with this film, mostly focused around character motivations and editing. As is the case with most films, we may never know what took place behind the scenes, but it seems this one was hastily put together, for what reason I won't speculate, and what could have been a fantastic film has been downgraded to a good film, most likely because not enough time or resources were devoted to its creation and honing (Okay, I'm speculating).
For a quasi-religious thriller, there are surprisingly few special effects, but what is here serves its purpose well. Rosemary's Baby after all, did more with less. Good films too, can be made with relatively no discernable plot and strong characters. It is much more difficult however, to make a good film with weak characters and a strong plot. This is where The Gathering succeeds against the odds.
As I already mentioned, some of the character motivations are difficult to follow in this film. Ricci's character Cassie, is involved in a car accident in which she is relatively unhurt but jolted enough to lose much of her memory. She is taken in by a kind family and takes what seems like an immediate protective role in their troubled son's life. Menacing people in town are stalking her, she has violent visions and feels oddly determined to do her own dangerous investigation. There may or may not be a would-be murderer in town out to get the boy. And how does the mysterious church buried for thousands of years come into play? Why is the recreation of the Crucifixion of Christ facing with its back towards the congregation?
The Gathering perhaps tries to be too many things at once. Serial killers with haunting backgrounds, religious prosecution and cover-up, life after death, fate versus free will, it all kind of gets convoluted into a big soup and perhaps doesn't play out as strong as it should but at its essence, the very core story behind this film is one that is strong, stronger perhaps than the idea behind The Da Vinci Code, but without the fanfare of a true religious debate we're left with a film that is entirely fictional, less sensational for it but no less interesting.
The actors all do well with what they have to work with, which is little characterization. It is difficult to connect with these people and that hurts the overall feel of the film.
But its still a good rental with an original idea, and better than much of the regurgitated remakes and updates and sequels we're seeing these days. |
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