Nicolas F. Costoglou
The Gift is one of the more serious films made by Sam Raimi,which is not a positive and not a negative thing, because this movie is as good as Evil Dead, or Spider-Man, only a different kind of Story.It's from 2000, around this time people seemed to make movies to tell interesting stories, not just to sell toys, and this movie is a great example. It's written by the well-known actor Billy Bob-Thornton who was inspired by his mother who apparently had some sort of psychic powers. If you believe something like that or not is completely subjective and has no impact on your enjoyment of this fictional tale, which is very dramatic and very well told.The camera-work isn't as outrages and wild as in over Raimi movies, which fits the story and underlines the tone of the movie perfectly. Because of this, the creative and intense scenes in which the protagonist has symbolic dreams, or psychic premonitions are all the more effective, and the visual effects are almost unnoticeable, even after all these years.The acting in this film is overall fantastic, one of the strongest reasons why this movie works for me is that i was completely engaged. I was afraid that Cate Blanchett's character, or her children could get hurt by Keanu Reeves, who's unbelievably threatening in this film and gives one of his best performances. Not to mention Giovanni Ribisi, J.K. Simmons, Katie Holmes or especially Greg Kinnear.The soundtrack by Christopher Young (who Raimi would later work with on Spider-Man 3) also fits well for the setting and atmosphere. All in all i was very surprised by the quality of this movie, which also has a very satisfying conclusion.It reminded me in some aspects of one of my favourite thrillers "What lies beneath" which came out the same year...
glennspillman
I absolutely loved this movie. The acting was on point and the story line was imaginative. The movie started out a bit slower than usual, but I was guessing that the filmmaker really wanted to give you a back story to each of the introduced characters. There are characters that you love, and then there is Reeves character that you hate almost from his introduction. But, if you think about this character, there is one in every town and city all across the world. The abusive type that bullies everyone in his path. You cheer when something bad happens to him, but then kinda rethink your decision about 10 minutes later. In the story line, you think one character is a certain way, then they reveal a whole new side of them that you were not expecting. The film has plenty of action and drama. I did really relate with the character that plays the mechanic. I have had similar things happen to me in my life that he did, and it was painful to watch, but it really resonated with me. This movie is a definite watch.
edwagreen
Cate Blanchett was just wonderful here as the psychic, who recently lost her husband in an explosion, left with 3 children who soon becomes involved in a murder mystery.It appears obvious that town-married-hot head Keanu Reeves is the murderer and he has just gone to bed with every lady in town. Giovanni Ribisi steals his scenes as a suicide prone man, deeply disturbed who tries to set his father ablaze.Greg Kinnear is the school principal whose fiancé is murdered and that sets off the events.Blanchett is just perfect here in her seer assignment but the film may have faltered at the very end when Cate's imagination may have let it all get away from her regarding the Ribisi character.This is still a taut thriller seeing the macabre and producing a surprising murderer.
SnoopyStyle
Jessica King (Katie Holmes), the fiancée of Wayne Collins (Greg Kinnear), has gone missing. Annabelle Wilson (Cate Blanchett) is the local psychic who has visions of Jessica King. Following her advise, Sheriff Pearl Johnson (J.K. Simmons) dredges the swamp and finds Jessica's body. Donnie Barksdale (Keanu Reeves) is jailed for the murder. However, Annabelle keeps getting visions. There's more to the murder.Director Sam Raimi has teamed up with Billy Bob Thornton once again and this time as a writer. Cate Blanchett is terrific. There is an overload of big time actors. I almost wish that some of the lesser roles get played by smaller unknown actors. When it's overloaded like this, the movie can feel very Hollywood. However Blanchett never once feels fake in any way. She becomes the character with ease.
AD
