shieldfire
The title should be a giveway. Litteraly.
This is not so much as a supernatural thriller as a propaganda flick for the western church. As could've been done in the early 1900s. It starts off decent enough, thriller wise with the troubles surrounding little child Cody, who, it turns out, has the ability to do good - serious good, as in bringing dead birds and mums back to life. As apart from the sinister group of satanists that want her to be a powerfull proponent for the other side. What she couldn't do, poor Cody, was to save the film from being propaganda for the church.
The whole thing is permeated by righteous praying, and believing in Him. If you belive in Him (the good guy) then everything will turn out fine, like all film clichés being on your side, not the opponent. I am deducting 2 points from this only because the pro-christianity side of things is too much - unless you are already a beliver - then I guess it could be standable.
As I am not a believer I think I might soon forget the whole thing and find something else to watch.
BA_Harrison
What the hell happened to Chuck Russell? He made the most entertaining of the Elm Street sequels, did a cracking job on the '88 remake of The Blob, and gave us the excellent The Mask (which in turn gave us Cameron Diaz)—films that were pure unadulterated fun. But after churning out silly but entertaining Arnie actioner Eraser, his promising career seems to have slowly disappeared down the pan, a situation helped in no small part by this dire, end-of-the-millennium biblical horror. With Bless the Child, it seemed as though Chuck had forgotten everything important he had ever learnt about film-making.Unlike his previous movies, Russell fails to inject any originality or charm into proceedings, and the result is a lifeless and heavy-handed horror with woeful CGI, a movie designed for undemanding mainstream audiences; in short, it is the epitome of bland 90s popcorn horror. The plot is a weak rip-off of The Omen and the central performances are terrible: Rufus Sewell hams it up as an occult leader who tries to turn a supernatural little girl into a tool for Satan; Kim Basinger is unconvincing as the child's concerned guardian; and Angela Bettis proves thoroughly annoying as the girl's junkie mother. Christina Ricci, who is also fairly high up the cast list, is wasted in a completely pointless minor role.3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to four for Ricci losing her head and some dude getting knitting needles in his eyes.
culmo80
Let's be honest, Kim Basinger isn't the greatest actress out there and this film is just further proof.I liked the premise of this film and here are spoilers:There's a young girl born to Kim Basinger's sister who was born under the same star as Jesus. Kim's sister is a drug addict and promptly leaves the baby with Basinger. As time goes by, it becomes clear the girl is not quite normal. At first, its unclear whether she is evil or good, but that suspense is quickly dispelled as we see the girl bring a dead bird back to life and other acts. Well, it turns out there is a cult that worships Satan but poses as a self-help group. The leader of this group knows that anyone born under the aforementioned star is blessed with special gifts from God. He seeks to either turn the child or kill them, which he does to several children. At some point, Basinger's sister turns back up under the influence of the cult and they kidnap the girl, but Basinger gets the help of FBI Agent Jimmy Smits to help. There are some chase scenes and a few fight scenes and a final confrontation at an old church.The general plot line is decent, but some of the acting is terrible. Some of the dialogue is just dumb:Like when Basinger pulls a gun on the cult leader and says "I've never shot a gun before!" Why would she say that?Or when she goes to the police and says her (adopted) daughter has been kidnapped and the stereotypical uncaring police officer blandly says "calm down..." Really??Iam Holm is in this film, but don't blink because you'll miss him. He plays a wheelchair bound former priest who battles evil cults and tells Basinger about the cult. That's really the extent of his role.If they had made this movie without Basinger and really worked through the plot and took more time with it, this would have been a good film, but as it is...eh, you can find better.
Robert J. Maxwell
Unbearable schlock. Kim Basinger adopts her sister's child, a little girl who turns out to be the Second Coming or something. Jimmy Smits is the FBI investigator called in on the case when the girl is kidnapped by Rufus Sewell and his gang of thugs. They run an outfit called The New Dawn. It poses as a self-help program but is really a Satanist church.It's all mechanically slapped together with multiple borrowings from "The Exorcist" and "Omen" and their devolved descendants.Everything is predictable except that which is completely arbitrary. Hordes of skinless rats come and go without explanation. Angels appear as fuzzy balls of white light. Gargoyles sometimes fill the sky. Sometimes not.The performances by some of the talent are okay. Basinger doesn't do badly, for instance. But nothing could save this piece of unspeakable crap. Rufus Sewell, as the Satanist-in-Chief, has these goggle eyes. He's so exopthalmic that the whites completely surround the irises. And if he blinks even once during the entire film, I must have missed it because I was blinking at the same time.It's not worth going on about. How do the kids put it? Oh, yes. "It sux."
AD
