Bless the Child

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source: Bless the Child

I'm trying. Trying really hard. Still trying. Yet no matter what, I can't think of a single positive thing to say about this movie. I know it hasn't been a particularly good time for movies as of late (as opposed to 1999, which was sheer bliss for a movie lover), but Bless the Child is lacking and scraping the barrel even more modern blockbusters. Rehashing the same tired clichés that popped up in the likes of STIGMATA and END OF DAYS to exploit the pre-millenial tension, BLESS THE CHILD is yet another film that offers nothing new to the genre with a weak plot that is predictable at every twist and turn, pointless scenes of action which add nothing to the story, and a dragging pace that makes the hour-and-a-half seem boring even when the film is pretty short for a modern cinema flick. It's hard to even call this a horror film as there are about three scenes of real horror and a couple of dodgy moments of special effects, otherwise it's more of a thriller story onto which the supernatural elements have been clumsily grafted. Sure, there are a few unexpected moments, but 99% of this film is run-of-the-mill fare. One such moment comes when the ever-weird Christina Ricci gets decapitated on a subway station by a gang of crazed Satanic thugs. There's something you don't see every day, which may be worth the value of seeing the movie alone. The film also seems bizarrely obsessed with showing people getting hit by cars and thrown into the air - not once does this happen, but twice, both done in exactly the same way. The first time was shocking, the second time just a pathetic repeat and expected. It's hard to believe that Kim Basinger was receiving an Oscar only a few years before this movie. What happened? Here she's wooden, unconvincing as the would-be mother, an inactive and frankly dumb heroine who causes more trouble than she's worth. I hate the recent influx of films centred around child characters and this is no exception. Holliston Coleman is irritating and far from cute as the central autistic kid, her sole acting talent being to scrunch up her face to display some emotion or other. Rufus Sewell (with his exceptionally creepy eyes) is well-cast as the smooth-talking villain, but he seems nonthreatening and his character underdeveloped. He doesn't get much chance to shine or show anger or hatred. Aside from Christina Ricci's cameo, Ian Holm pops up as a wheelchair-bound purveyor of good in one of his numerous instant "take the paycheque and run" cameo appearances, and Jimmy Smits - by far the most convincing and likable character in the movie - is wasted in support as an investigating cop whose character bears more than a nod to Fox Mulder. All of the clichéd supernatural effects are present and correct, from candles mysteriously lighting themselves to a swarm of rats and weird demon bats circling in the skies, to black-clad Satanists running around on a mission of destruction. A shot of an undeveloped character getting knitting needles shoved into his eye sockets just seems gratuitous and unnecessary. The CGI effects are cheap-looking and very poor, whether it be the rubbishy demon bats (already used up in BLADE) or the swarm of rats (STUART LITTLE this ain't!), or the horned demons which briefly make their unwelcome appearances. The movie just plods on to an expected fiery climax. Boring, clichéd trash, not worthwhile even for the genre fan; and there's not even much to make fun of here.

Bless the Child (2000): Dir: Chuck Russell / Cast: Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, Rufuss Sewell, Christina Ricci, Angela Bettis: Stupid film that seems like a terrible ripoff of The Omen. The title suggests ability with Kim Basinger giving her second bad performance of the year. She raises her sister's abandon daughter not realizing that the tyke has special powers that consist of sitting on the floor in a trance spinning dishes on the floor. Jimmy Smits enters as a cop investigating child murders. What he should be doing is investigating parents who allow their children to look this foolish on film. A cult leader has married Basinger's sister because that is the only way that Basinger's life could get any worse. They attempt custody for which Basinger retaliates resulting in a climax that wouldn't be any more laughable than if it came straight from Saturday Night Live. Absurd plot with special effects that are about as dazzling as a second grade art class. Religious elements are blasphemous with horrible directing by Chuck Russell who previously made The Mask. Rufus Sewell is laughable as the cult leader as is Christina Ricci as some moron cult Gothic princess. Angela Bettis plays another of the film's imbeciles in Basinger's whiny sister. In one scene a homeless man is forced to dose himself in gasoline and set himself on fire. That is exactly what should happen with this film. Score: 1 / 10

I have no idea why Hollywood gives the green light to movies like this one. Bless The Child is a ripoff of The Omen, but in this one, the kid isn't evil. Oooh, that's original. Plagiarism is rampant in movies today. Only a handful of filmmakers are creative. This should have been a direct to video release.

The struggle between "good and evil," from the simplistic and superstitious point of view, is a popular theme for shockers aimed at the Christian audience in general, and the Catholic in particular. Those of us who find fantasies about gods and devils rather comical, along with analogous tooth fairy and the boogeyman under the bed business, will view such a plot as unintentionally amusing, but for others, evidently, such silliness must be truly frightening. This variation on the fool's plot is different from others of the type in that the salvation character is given as a little girl, rather than a boy, but otherwise it is standard hokum. The "devil" is out to take over the world, but Jesus has come back...as a girl? Wow! That much would be astonishing enough except that the writers failed to take advantage of the point. Instead, it's just another example of adults acting like fools, doing the wrong things, going in the wrong directions, and so forth, thus complicating the plot.

Predictable and slightly obnoxious "good versus evil" supernatural thriller that still has a few bits to make you jump out of your seat. Unfortunately over laden with religion, this type of thing is most scary to someone who believes in Jesus and the Devil etc etc. And here we see the appeal to bigotry as well. In the old days, the black characters in movies were often the bad guys, women never had top jobs and any Germans or Japanese in wartime epics were all innately evil to the core we've moved beyond such objectionable prejudice in these areas but still religion gets the full quota of American Righteousness. In other words, Christians (especially Roman Catholics and Jesuits) are always "good guys" whereas the personification of evil will tend to be linked with new age philosophy and the devil will speak with a sort of Moroccan or middle-eastern accent that is displays a prejudice towards Islam. On the prejudice scale, we see Buddhists (as long as they are not new age) get a fairly easy ride, whereas Hindus (probably because of the visual similarity between some of their gods and the depiction of gargoyles) are linked with evil. Hopefully in another twenty years or so this sort of prejudice will be a thing of the past - that is, if America outgrows its fundamentalist roots (that are a bit laughable, even to Europeans).

A true anomaly in the contemporary cinema,"Bless the child" seems to belong to an era which brilliantly began with "Rosemary's baby" (1968) and continued throughout the seventies ("the exorcist""the omen" 1,2 and 3,"the changeling" )and petered out with dismal works such as " prince of darkness" in the doomed eighties. It begins pretty well,as some kind of melodrama ,when Basinger takes in her niece her junkie sister cannot take care of.But it falls apart in the second half,giving way beneath the weigh of its religiosity.hints at the gospels are ponderous :the writers proudly quote the prodigal son parable,the massacre of the innocents,the temptation of JC in the desert,and other episodes I forgot.God Himself intervenes,probably thanks to the nuns' prayers. The new stepfather gives the girl a sinister nanny ,Damia ,(a tribute to Damien,who knows?),in the grand tradition of Billie Whitelaw's part in "the omen". Kim Basinger tries her best ,but it's not much of a comeback

Before I saw this film, I'd never heard of it. When I got to the cinema, I thought I'd try my luck with the unknown and hopefully be pleasantly surprised. On seeing the names 'Kim Bassinger' and 'Jimmy Smits' in the opening credits - I almost made a bolt for the door. Unfortunately, I stayed. It turned out to be the worst movie that I have ever been to at a cinema. Perhaps in 50 years time, people will be talking about it in the same vein as 'Plan 9 from Outer Space.' As far as woefulness goes - this film had everything: A terrible, terrible script with more clichés than you can poke a stick at (sorry) Boring, shallow characters: made worse by embarrassingly inept acting (to be expected from Bassinger but surely Christina Ricci can do better!) Pathetic visual effects Pointless, brainless, talentless, lifeless script (just to emphasise the point!). My advice to anyone thinking of seeing this film is to go with a group of friends. You will then have a great time outwitting each other with wisecracks. Otherwise - save your money and stay home.

This film could have been a lot better. The audience deserves more, and we DO see when Hollywood repeats a trend, and repeats and repeats. For example "Stir of Echoes", "Stigmata"", "The Blair Witch Project". Each of these films came out around the same time. Similar themes(too similar) some better than others because of decent performances. The problem is, these films become redundant and audiences gradually lose interest. Kim Basinger delivers a decent performance, as does Angela Bettis as drug-addicted, cult member sister. The story however, becomes too familiar, and we lose interest. The ending was too formulaic. Overall this is not something you would be happy about if you paid to see it in the theater. Okay as rental though. 5/10.