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Godsend
(2004)
Starring:
Greg Kinnear, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Robert De Niro, Cameron
Bright
Director:
Nick Hamm
Rating:
PG-13
Studio:
Lions Gate Films
Release Date:
04.30.04
Review
Posted: 04.30.04
Spoilers:
None
By
Gregory L. Amato
Return to
Sender
Some films (good
films) are able to utilize interesting subjects (e.g., cloning) to the
benefit of the plot, making for a compelling and often times
meaningful story. Some films take one idea, add a ridiculous twist,
and slap some heavy marketing on it to make it look deep. Godsend
is of the latter variety.
As I try to
characterize Godsend as a member of a particular genre, I
immediately think "thriller." As far as I can tell, thrillers are
movies that have little substance but will try to distract you with
sudden audio/visual jolts, much like my ex-girlfriend. In other words,
they try to cover up that they stink by being annoying. Though
Godsend definitely fits into this category, I consulted the
Internet Movie Database for accuracy. It lists Godsend as
Drama, Fantasy, Horror, and Thriller. Not credible enough to be drama,
not creative enough to be fantasy, and not scary enough to be horror,
so I’ll stick with "thriller."
Never
underestimate a current hot topic (in this case, cloning) to spawn a
shallow, gimmicky story. Greg Kinnear (Stuck
on You, As Good as it Gets) does
the best he can as grieving father Paul Duncan, but Robert De Niro’s (Ronin,
Analyze That) one-dimensional
mad-scientist character is just too bad to salvage anything
from. Paul’s wife Jessie (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos,
The Punisher,
X-Men) seems like she’s just along for
the ride, similarly being given little depth of character to work
with.
When the Duncans’ eight-year-old son Adam
(Cameron Bright,
The Butterfly Effect) dies, Dr. Richard
Wells (De Niro) approaches the grieving couple with an offer of help.
A fertility specialist and leader in his field, Dr. Wells says he can
engineer another pregnancy that would be a clone of their dead
son. After the predictable looking at old home movies, Paul consents.
Fast forward to the new Adam’s eighth birthday,
and things aren’t going as smoothly as they were. Adam experiences
flashbacks not from his former life and doesn’t always appear to be
himself. There are elements of The Bad Seed with a scientific
twist, a Frankenstein for modern science, and an insidious evil
not unlike
The Ring. But none of those stories were
built around one-trick ponies, and they had clear ideas of what the
story actually was (five different endings were shot, according
to an interview on
scifi.com/scifiwire).
Paul becomes increasingly suspicious and finally
puts on his gumshoe hat in order to get to the truth. Eventually he
finds Godsend’s equivalent of the Oracle, who not only can tell
him everything he needs to know, but almost acts as if she were
expecting him. The ensuing confrontation between Paul and the doctor
serves only to produce more plot holes, more ambiguous science, and a
little token commentary on "moral trespass." In case the symbolism
wasn’t already enough for you, the church they were in burns as the
Mad Doctor strolls out.
My
editor wrote to me about this assignment, "Cloning
is an interesting
subject and I guess we'll see what the film does with it." The
answer: Not much. The idea of cloning in Godsend is little more
than a gimmick to build a story around, one that is nonspecific and
convenient anytime something complicated might come up.
Film Rating:
êê
(out of
5)
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