User Reviews

Watching two Hilary Swank movies back to back, I thought it presented a good opportunity to see how the same actress tackles different roles, one a dramatic piece about life's lessons, and the other this, The Reaping, taking on some supernatural forces, although she almost started this movie in a lecture hall premise.

I don't exactly label The Reaping as horror, because it doesn't have a single scene that can truly scare anyone, unless of course your heart's weaker than a chicken's. The structure is akin to Silent Hill, only that The Reaping is not adapted from a video game. But unlike Hill, this movie is pretty compact in its pacing, and doesn't drag scenes for too long to create atmospheric mood like its peer. Instead, if compared to Silent Hill, this is one Noisy Swamp.

Hilary Swank plays a researcher who specializes in debunking biblical sightings and miracles by using science to demystify such phenomena. Listening to her rip the miracles and happenings apart however, was fun, nevermind if it sounded logical or not, since it's Swank, who managed to make the unbelievable, believable in the movie. But that's not to say that she did a fantastic job here, in a role that's largely wasted. If you want to see her act, check out Freedom Writers instead.

But I digress. The Reaping's Dana Scully and Fox Mulder equivalents go into investigating a series of bizarre biblical occurrence, the Ten Biblical Plagues, ranging from the blood waters, attacking locusts right down to the last one - the death of every first born. Some may not like the hokey plot taking advantage of God's wrath on man, but as the movie turned out, it's nothing more than a special effects extravaganza, with the religious fervour added to the background and contributing some semblance for a plot to work.

It's hip these days to have demonic children as part of the ensemble, and The Reaping has this mysterious girl who seemingly is the cause of God's Wrath. Or is it? There's a little mystery to solve, with a couple of twists at the end, in a tale about the devil and avenging angels. And while the end does wrap things up, it leaves room for a possible sequel, should the movie do well at the box office.

The only redeeming grace from the uninspiring, unscary story, is the special effects. Nothing more, nothing less, and nothing to scare your socks off, despite what the trailer and posters suggest.

Are you in the mood for an entertaining, intense supernatural thriller with religious themes featuring an Oscar winner who faces a crisis of faith? Well, good news - Signs is currently on DVD. However, if you're looking for that in The Reaping then you might want to go ahead and lower those expectations and prepare to not be blown away.

Responding in a post-screening interview to the movie's tagline ("What hath God wrought?"), God emphatically declared, "Oh, I wrought the 10 plagues in the Old Testament, all right, but you ain't laying this on me!"

I've decided that "it somewhat kept my interest" is no longer excuse enough for me to give a thriller of this nature a passing grade. Slow-paced, non-scary, and convolutedly confusing to a fault (due to Swank's inexplicable "visions"), The Reaping takes the potential of applying a Biblical story in modern times and wastes it with a pedestrian effort that offers nothing new or original to the genre.

Admittedly, some of the special effects showcasing the plagues are visually interesting, and the atmosphere is appropriately dark, but unfortunately, there is no effort to combine emotional impact with the CGI. Rather than disturb audiences with a little eye-covering, skin-crawling aftermath of the plagues, the movie is content to just check 'em off the list. "Drop some frogs into the bloody river!" "Done." "Good, what's next?" "Flies?" "Bring it! We've got eight to go and only 60 minutes left to do it in!"

Consequently, this inability to dig beneath the surface of its visuals is what detached my interest. In other words, the film just didn't grab me. Some strange dude in the seat behind me did, but that's a whole other level of disturbing. I was never scared, I only felt brief moments of tension, and I felt not a single iota of interest in any of the characters. Come on, guys, give me an incentive to care!

You can't even bother to provide a handful of pandering-yet-effective jump scenes? Where's the excitement? Where's the intrigue? Where's the foreboding fear? I just sat there waiting for something ... ANYTHING ... to happen, and a climax filled with a transparent plot twist and Shyamalan-esquire "hey, here's what was really happening!" flashbacks doesn't count.

Close out the festivities with a groan-inducing "oh great, there's gonna be a sequel" final scene, and I'm totally left without a single compelling reason to recommend this even to the most hardcore fans of the genre. Thanks for flippin' us the bird, filmmakers, we really appreciate it.

The Reaping is very lucky to make it to theaters. It's a Mary Stuart Masterson-for-Hilary Swank substitution away from premiering on Lifetime. If I were you then that's where I'd wait to see it.

THE GIST

The Reaping is a simple story about a woman with lost faith who is forced to confront an age-old cult and all the plot conveniences and contrivances that come along with that. It fails to capitalize on its potential, thus failing to make this anything more worthy than a rainy day rental.

There are remnants of a good movie in 'The Reaping', but those are lost in a muddled sea of clichés and plagiarism. Hilary Swank is completely blameless, and a dominant first half is entertaining and mysterious. But with every increasing step it takes, 'The Reaping' descends further into self-parody and ridiculous gimmicks. Yet all these mistakes pale in comparison to the ultimate blasphemy this religious thriller makes, when it rips off one of the greatest psychological thrillers of all time.

A former ordained minister who lost her faith during a mission trip to the Sudan, Louisiana State University professor Katherine Winter now dedicates herself to investigating and disproving religious phenomena. But when a small parish comes to her for help in studying strange occurrences in their little community, it will take Winters on her most challenging and disturbing investigation yet. Water turned into blood, death of cattle, locusts, etc. What began as a mission to debunk what appears to be the ten Biblical plagues will become something much more dangerous when whispers of a secret Satanic society and demon girl arise.

I'd be remiss if I said I wasn't thoroughly entertained throughout the screening of 'The Reaping'. It may not have always been for the right reasons, but it no doubt kept my eyes and mind alert. The film's first half is vastly superior to what follows, and is actually fairly decent. The mood is set, the landscape is creepily effective, and the mysterious occurrences are still fresh and interesting. But I realized that the film suffers when things actually begin to happen, when the plot actually begins to take form. If the film's first 40 minutes is to establishing setting and suspense, the latter half is to ridiculous rubbish. It becomes more and more comical, often during very inappropriate moments. The highly advertised locust attack is cartoonish and laughable at best, and it isn't long until 'The Reaping' begins to borrow rather liberally from older, and much better, religious thrillers. A little from 'The Exorcist', 'Rosemary's Baby', 'The Omen', and probably even more. We shouldn't be too surprised, and all can be forgiven until 'Reaping' commits a much more criminal offense, a plot twist which is frighteningly identical to a horror classic. That seals the deal for this film's fate, something that I cannot forgive.

It might surprise many that two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank would allow herself to be seen in such a movie, but in actuality, Swank is the best thing 'The Reaping' has to offer. Granted, she doesn't have a great deal to work with, but she does fine with what she's given. It's far from her best work, and I could tell that her heart wasn't completely in this project, but who could blame her? It was probably too late when she realized exactly what she'd gotten herself into. She tries to appear interested and as if she's actually enjoying herself, and it shows. Unfortunately, it's not enough to save the rest of the picture. Idris Elba is fine but stiff as Swank's counterpart throughout the ordeal, and David Morrissey just seems awkward as the character who initiates Swank's involvement in the case. Young AnnaSophia Robb is showcased as the film's 'demon child', and is sorely underused. Her only lines come at the end of the film, and it only makes you wish she had a much more vocal role throughout.

In the end, 'The Reaping' amounts to little more than a hokey and gimmicky religious thriller. Those familiar to the genre will find the scares predictable and obvious, and the recycled plot twists are derivative and tiresome. As I said, 'The Reaping' is entertaining and at times even a good movie, but it's sacrificed for another by-the-numbers addition to an already exhausted genre. Skip this nonsense and see the classics, which 'The Reaping' borrows from shamelessly. That's the only true plague this misbegotten film is afflicted with.

Professor Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank) is some sort of professional miracle-debunker (ah, the things they provide government grant-money for these days) who is called to a small town in the Louisiana Bayou to investigate the claim that the water in the local river has mysteriously turned to blood. Once an ordained minister but now an atheistic skeptic - a condition brought on by the death of her young daughter - Winter sets out to find a rational, scientific explanation for the phenomenon, only to discover, when she arrives there, that the town is indeed suffering from what appears to be a Biblical Ten Plagues redux. Soon, frogs are falling from the sky, cattle are dying in the fields, food is becoming infested with maggots, boils are popping up on the citizenry, swarms of locusts are plaguing the town etc., etc., etc.

"The Reaping" is another in a long line of Bible-inspired thrillers that are long on silliness and short on thrills. With its largely incoherent, cobbled-together tale of prophecy fulfillment and ritualized child sacrifice, the movie manages to insult scientists, atheists, religious folk and rural Southerners - not to mention the intelligence of its audience - with just about equal fervor. Not to worry, though, the unbeliever - as is always the case in such films - has her religious faith miraculously restored to her in the end, although it comes with a mighty steep price as revealed in the story's tiresomely "ironic" coda.

All involved in this overwrought and undernourished production seem to be phoning in their work, from the performers to the writers to the director to the special effects technicians. As for Ms. Swank's appearance in this swill, all we can say is rarely has a two-time Oscar winner fallen this far.

The atheistic Katherine Winter (Hilary Swank) is a former Catholic missionary that lost her faith on God after losing her daughter and her husband in Sudan, sacrificed by the locals that blamed them for the long drought. Presently she investigates religious phenomena with the intent of debunking them, finding a scientific cause for the event. She is invited to go to the small town of Haven, in Louisiana, where the river turned into blood after the death of a boy. After her arrival, each of one of the ten biblical plagues happens in the location dazing Katherine, who discloses the evil secret of the dwellers.

"The Reaping" has an intriguing story of faith very well supported by Hilary Swank. There is a surprising final twist, and I am not sure if the screenplay is flawed and confused or I lost something but I have not clearly understood three points: why Father Costigan is attacked? Why the cult needs Katherine to kill the girl? And if Loren and Katherine are God's angel and her protector, why the baby would be the Antichrist in the very last scene? My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Colheita do Mal" ("The Harvest of Evil")

Ten Biblical Plagues, a former Christian missionary who lost faith in God and science vs religion. These do make a good idea for a movie and what better than to have Hilary Swank in it. To make things more interesting, the Ten Biblical Plagues actually led to the parting of the Red Sea and the Ten Commandments according to religion. Incidentally The Reaping makes its opening day on the 5th of April which coincided with what is know as the last of the Ten Biblical Plague, "Death of the First Born", which occurred on April 2nd and is celebrated every year to commemorate the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.

In The Reaping, former Christian missionary, Katherine (Hilary Swank) began the movie by dismissing 48 miracles or religious signs to logical scientific explanations. Why would someone who formerly believed in God do that?

Just as it appears that miracles are nothing but unexplained and misunderstood happenings preying on the minds of men, a sign or a message appeared. Was it for real or hoax?

Then a man from a religious small town came looking for Katherine seeking help. A boy died and their river turned red. Could it be the beginning of another Ten Biblical Plagues? And who is the mysterious little girl involved in all these?

Supernatural, horror, suspense and thriller make up The Reaping. In typical genre fashion, we follow Katherine (Hilary Swank) to uncover what is really going on. Could science overcome religion this time? As the story unfolds with religious references, scientific assumptions and the plagues happening one by one, it became a situational mental tug-of-war. Katherine's beliefs are challenged.

Fans of the genre will either like or dislike movie like this. It's hard to come to an in between conclusion, although it is usually what this sort of film wants, personal discretion. It is best to have an open mind to expect the unexpected and not to be too smart by focusing your attention to your assumptions instead. Waiting for that one gruesome scene? Waiting for a really scary moment? Or waiting for one breakthrough surprising moment?

Be careful of where those intentions lie, for you may just miss the plot too early too soon. The Reaping actually scores low on the scare factor although it has elements of horror through some louder scenes and clever camera tricks. What it does instead is to challenge your beliefs since it is religiously themed. The story follows Katherine so be Katherine. You have a choice of either debunking what you see with critical analysis or let the story takes you where it wants you to go with what it wants you to see. That is how a supernatural, horror, suspense, thriller works.

This movie probably won't blow your mind away but it is enjoyable. The cast is good with Hilary Swank as the lead, AnnaSophia Robb is the mysterious girl, David Morrissey's role is convincing, and Idris Elba and Stephen Rea did sufficiently well in support. Director Stephen Hopkins could have made this film more spectacular and lengthen the 90 minutes though. Catch the film late at night for it adds to the experience.

Overall, The Reaping is interesting but where your own interest lies otherwise is totally up to your beliefs, as what to this movie speaks.

After all, you reap what you sow. Be warned.

The Reaping Staring Hilary Swank is not the worst film I have seen in 2007. Many of the comments on the IMDb boards suggest that this film is terrible, however, it is actually not all that bad. I will agree that the twist at the end of the film is similar to Signs in some aspects, but still, it works for the film. Swank's acting is fairly well done considering most of the characters in the film are slightly 2 dimensonal, if you are looking for extreme depth then you will have to look elsewhere. also if you are looking for an interesting bibilical movie, once again you must look elsewhere. This really is a good "sit down, not really have to think, just enjoy what happens" sort of flick. It's not boring, but it does not require intense concentration. The ending is slightly far-fetched, but in a film about the 10 plagues, it is understandable. all and all, it's worth seeing if you do not have extremely high expectations, and also The Reaping is a movie that might be worth waiting and renting on video, as opposed to seeing in theatres.

I can imagine the pitch for this, knowing that it was manufactured to that specification:

• Inherit a ready cosmology from the Bible. It has quite few, contradictory ones. Pick the one most amenable to special effects.

• Use the supportable stereotype of paranoid, fundamentalist Southern nitwits.

• Adopt the evil girlchild persona from so, so many horror movies.

• Pay a decent, known actress.

• Introduce a possible interracial romance.

• Layer past memories, prophetic and hallucinogenic visions.

• Engineer the twist that modern audiences demand but make it sixth-sense-severe.

All that is too much engineering to work in a Hollywood production. I'll only comment on the last two.

The film overall failed for me. I just cannot get excited about the strings they tried to pull, from the child to the hicks to the supposedly spooky bible. But the narrative twist sure as heck worked. We spend 96% of the movie following some sort of nonsensical prophecy about a satanic cult producing a child that brings Satan to the Earth, triggering the end times. Our intrepid, on screen detective may be the designated angel to save the world, based on a price she has paid.

This child brings the plagues, in prescribed order. Townspeople know what is up, take their bibles and guns to kill the girl and are thwarted. Now it is up to Hilary's character. Magical storms swirl as they confront each other and the child seems doomed at the "angel's" hand. But then Hilary's angel character has a revelation. The child is God's angel. Most of the town are satanists. Like "Wicker Man," Hilary had been selected to be tricked into murdering the girl. Seems that all the satanists are first-borns and for some complex reason they cannot kill the child; only someone who has lost all faith can.

But Hilary's character sees the truth, lets the girl go and the last plague is visited: death to the firstborn. It is actually a pretty good reversal on paper. The effects and the stereotypical, unimaginative settings ruin it all. But the idea is cool.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.