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 railty" is a thriller made post-"The Usual
Suspects" and "Sixth
Sense", so by that criteria alone it must have a twist ending. The
problem with this is that most movies just don't take the time to think out
their twist so that all the pieces are in place before the twist itself is
revealed at film's end. Instead you get movies that have no buildup to the
twist, and when the twist is finally revealed it comes out of left field. The
filmmaker says, "Tada, here's the twist!" and we the audience screams
back, "Am I suppose to buy that? Give me a break!" (Actually, the
film's credit listing on IMDB.com ruins the film's twist, so I have taken the
liberty of changing/erasing all information that would spoil the surprise.)
"Frailty" has an excellent twist ending (even
though it comes out of left field), but
besides that it is such an understated film that I'm surprised it entertained me
so thoroughly from beginning to end. The movie is about a serial killer who goes
by the name of God's Hand (he considers himself the hand of God), whose identity
is about to be exposed as the film opens. When Fenton (Matthew McConaughey)
arrives in the office of FBI agent Doyle (Powers Boothe), the man in charge of
the God's Hand investigation, he brings with him an amazing story about his
father, the original God's Hand killer, and how his younger brother Adam has
since continued on dad's work.
The film then flashes back to reveal how Fenton and Adam's
father (played by director Bill Paxton) one day informs the boys that he's
received a vision from God. It seems Dad has been appointed the savior of
mankind and is given the task of exterminating "demons" that have
invaded the human world. Imbued with powers beyond mortal men (he can touch and
"see" the evils of his victims) and holy weapons (like an old ax, a
greasy pair of gloves, and a plain steel rod that he uses to bash his victims
over the head), Dad enlists the boys in his crusade. Before the bodies even
begin falling, the clear-headed Fenton is already starting to doubt Dad's mental
state, but when people start dying for real, Fenton must battle his father for
the heart and soul of his impressionable younger brother Adam.
The film opens in the present and flashes back to 1979,
with newcomer Matt O'Leary playing the young Fenton. We see the film through
Fenton's eyes as he narrates for Boothe's Doyle; through it all, director Bill
Paxton keeps a firm hand on the preceding, never allowing himself to go beyond
the means of his characters. There is nothing fancy about Dad's stalk and kill
scenes – he abducts them, brings them home, and smashes them with an ax as the
boys watch in horror. With the exception of one scene where Dad envisions an
angel with a fiery sword delivering a list of names of people to be killed, the
film for the most part keeps a steady footing in reality and remains mostly
plausible.
Brent Hanley's screenplay is clever and Bill Paxton's Dad
is such a normal, blue-collar worker that it makes him all the scarier. Dad is a
hard working mechanic that loves his two boys dearly and would do anything for
them. He never raises his voice to them, never punishes them without reason, and
even after God has supposedly given him this new mission, Dad remains loving and
patient with them. And you have to keep reminding yourself that this guy thinks he
can see demons.
If there is one misstep (and I'm not entirely sure that it
is a misstep) in the film it has to be the film's inability to decide if Dad's
mission from God was all in his mind, or if he was, in fact, given some special
powers by a divine force. The film's ending sequence (about 5 minutes or so)
really blurs this line, and although the film never makes itself clear, I didn't
particularly mind one bit (and in fact found it quite fascinating). In that
sense, the ambiguity at the end seems oddly appropriate for this strange, little
movie.
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