Frailty
Cast
Bill Paxton as Dad Meiks
Matthew McConaughey as Adam Meiks
Powers Boothe as Agent Wesley Doyle
Matthew O'Leary as Young Fenton (as Matt O'Leary)
Jeremy Sumpter as Young Adam
Directed by Bill Paxton
Rater #2 has description and review
Rater #1
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #2
7/10. Frailty begins on a rainy night around 10 PM. A mysterious stranger
(Matthew McConaughey) walks into a police department and talks to
Agent Wesley Doyle (Powers Boothe), saying he knows who the "God's
Hand" killer is, a murderer who has been plaguing the land. To
understand, however, you have to go back into the past.
The stranger is Fenton Meiks. He's 12 or 13 and now played by Matthew
O'Leary. He's in a motherless household in a small town in Texas. He
lives with his nine year old brother Adam (Jeremy Sumpter) and father
(Bill Paxton). His father doesn't get to spend much time with them,
but it soon changes when an angel supposedly visits the father. The
angel told him to "destroy demons" that haunt the land. Destroy, as
in kill, and demons, as in demons who look exactly like humans. Adam,
being young and susceptible to this, goes along, but Fenton has his
reservations. Intensity ensues.
Leave it to Bill Paxton to create a creepy yet subdued and spiritual
movie with a theme that nobody could ever think of. Paxton, who also
directs, played a disshelved father who loses it. From the creepy
opening credits to the twist ending that I still haven't understood,
I found myself enthralled and yet somewhat unsatisfied. Granted, with
a shocker ending like this, it can't give you all the answers, but it
ended too abruptly, yet it seemed to go over its 100 minute runtime.
McConaughey did narration, since it is told in flashback, but it
seemed to slim down more as we reached into the second act.
To me, the greatest actor in this movie isn't McConaughey, Boothe, or
even Paxton. O'Leary packed a powerhouse performance with credible
emotions and a powerful display of grasping what is needed to be an
actor. That's not to say that the others weren't good, in fact, they
were quite good.
The subject matter is quite disturbing and hauntful, so don't go in
looking for a sobering experience, unless you are needing some
spiritual guidance. I was shocked at times by the length they made
this family go through. I won't spoil it.
To lighten the mood, there should have been some more humor in it.
Sure, the story and the entire movie is dark, but to put a couple one-
liners or something in would have helped. It is always good to have
some comic relief. The ending, as mentioned earlier, was
unsatisfying. Most of the ending was predictable (such as the
flashback about Doyle), leaving no surprise. The final twist, though,
was just a shocker.
One last point, I was surprised on how little blood there was; if
some of the language was taken out it could have been a PG-13.
Rater #3
Has Not Seen Movie.
Rater #4
Has Not Seen Movie
Rater #5
Has Not Seen Movie
Rated R for violence and some language.
Running time: 100 minutes
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