"The Reaping"

My next offering for DVD reviews, is Hilary Swanks latest leading role in the religious / Horror movie entitled, “The Reaping.” While I had made the mistake of not going to see this movie in the theater because of mixed and or bad reviews by the movie critics (that are almost ALWAYS wrong. Once again, I should listen to my own conscious, and gone to see it on the big screen. So here we are again at the basis of my web site. Movie critics about 80% of the time don’t have the first idea of what is good in the eyes of the average movie watcher, and it still drives me crazy. While this is not an “A” movie by any means, it is certainly worth a rental, or even adding to your collection if you like this kind of film.

Katherine Winter (played by Hilary Swank) suffered the horrible loss of her husband and daughter both in Sudan, just shortly after being ordained, and sent out into the mission field. This tragedy turned her against God, and she abandoned her faith completely. After this tragic event, Katherine is then called upon to investigate supposed religious miracles, or events, and then by scientific means she debunks the events proving that God had no hand in the said event.

A particular event taking place in Haven Louisiana has caused the locals to call upon Katherine to come investigate these strange biblical type plagues that are running rampant in the town. The events seem to be taking place around or because of this little girl. At first some of the so called plagues that are happening she has no trouble as usual finding a scientific reason for them, but other things centered on this little girl are also taking place that can not so readily be dismissed as a hoax or natural occurrence. As the evil forces that seem to be at work in the town close in around Katherine, she must once again find her faith in order to try and solve this mystery.

Director Stephen Hopkins (better known for his directing the TV series “24,” and “Californication,”) definitely find a nice over all look to this movie. The mix between the beautiful country look of Louisiana and the horrible plagues is breath taking at times, and down right eerie.

As far as the acting goes, there are no real serious notes of Oscar performances by any stretch, but everybody seems to keep a good cohesiveness throughout the entire story as each person’s role plays out, and when all is said and done the cast of characters did a good job of telling the story. The story itself, while not an original concept, was done differently enough to be entertaining, and keeps you involved from beginning to end.

My rating for this movie is 7.50 out of 10.00