The Reaping

**
http://thereapingmovie.warnerbros.com/

Directed by Stephen Hopkins
Written by Carey Hayes & Chad Hayes (screenplay)

Cast: Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, Idris Elba, Anna Sophia Robb, Stephen Rea, William Ragsdale, John McConnell

The Reaping is an occasionally intense story dealing a woman with lost faith who is forced to confront an age-old evil along with all the situations and mind shaking ideas that come along with that.
First, let it be known that I am not a Hilary Swank fan. I think that she looks too masculine to be a sexy woman and too feminine to be a tough looking man. And in some ways, that was the problem with The Reaping as well; it falls short on too many points while making use of too many 'cinema excuses' to make a lot of sense.
See, here is the biggest thing. I came out of the film with a completely different idea of what happened then the rest of the audience that I talked with. In addition, yes, while that is sometimes a good thing at least when you are dealing with a film designed to be that way; it is not a good thing when a film is supposed to actually -have- an ending.
Swank plays a professor who spends a good deal of her time debunking 'miracles' around the world, then teaching her class about them. She lives to demonstrate the religion of science, without allowing any sort of 'religious rubbish' to affect her.
See, several years before, as a brand new minister who had traveled to the Sudan with her husband and young daughter, she experienced a profound and life shaking event that destroyed her faith. Since then she has done all she can to destroy the faith of others. Did that sound like an angry Christian? Get over it. Sometimes I am one.
So, traveling to this small town in Louisiana which has suddenly had a portion of the river turn into what looks like human blood after the death of a young boy, Katherine Winter (Swank), and her teaching assistant travel down there to prove to these poor country folk that there is no God and that everything has a rational explanation.
Great, that is until the rain of frogs' starts, and then the flies and the lice kick in. Moreover, the test results on the water come back and it actually IS a river of blood. Then the excitement runs out of the film. Almost like that, it is suddenly at a dead end. The only thing else that happened that had any sort of 'oomph' to it dealt with a Bull and a Ford Pick-up truck. This begs another question I will ask at the end of this review.
I won't say the movie sucked like a Hoover. The problem was, most of it was 'seen that' sort of stuff. There was nothing new here. From what had to be the worst flashbacks to visions that did little to further the story and more to confuse. I mean, it was easy to deduce what happened in Winters past. Why not just tell us and get it over with? Sure, make her experience it later if that moves the story, but otherwise how about sticking to what is important now?
Next, this was the funniest and stupidest sex I have seen in a film since Underworld:Evolution. Give me a break, if you can't write decent sex scenes, find someone who can or leave them out of the film otherwise all you are going to have is a bad comedy routine. Which can help comedy, but in a so called serious suspense film it is just a bad idea.
Finally, it was not a miracle that told us just what was going on in the town. It was so many other movies of this type we have seen over the years. No, there is nothing new under the sun. Or in Hollywood for that matter. But can't you come up with something a little more creative?
The CGI was not great. I have seen a lot better, mostly during films where meteors are bombarding the planet in the 1980's and '90's just before Bruce Willis and Tommy Lee Jones blow them all up with Nukes. Sure, there are one or two 'jump moments' but not enough to actually make you scared.
The film breaks down to your basic cult thriller with the added bonus of cheesy dialogue and mediocre special effects. I guess the biggest problem in the film was the script. Director Stephen Hopkins had a couple of truly decent people to work with, Swank and Robb, and some fairly classy second stringers to work with. So what happened?
The dialogue is terrible is what happened. Yes, most of the characters are not well developed and almost any emotional lines are lost due to the awkwardness of the way they are delivered.

SPOILERS FOLLOW. SEE THAT? SPOILERS!!!! SPOILERS!!!! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!! SPOILERS.

By the end of the film most of the audience is certain that old Nick, Satan himself is behind the slew of attacks on the little town simply because he tends to try to counterfeit the work of G-d when he can.
I on the other hand came out believing G-d was trying to give the people involved one more chance, much like He did with Pharaoh five thousand years ago. It made sense to me at least.
However, what didn't make sense is the truck. See, I promised I would get back to this.
At one point, an angry bull attacks the pick-up truck Swank is riding in. It rips a whole in the door before tearing the entire door off its hinges and lying in the dirt with the door still stuck to its horn.
But just hours later, we see the truck being driven around town with no damage to the door. No insurance company works that fast. THAT had to be a miracle.