Frailty Review
by Jerry Saravia (faust668 AT aol DOT com)April 27th, 2002
FRAILTY (2001)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
April 26th, 2002
RATING: Three stars
Serial killers have come and gone in the last few years, in everything from "The Silence of the Lambs" to "American Psycho." "Frailty" has a different spin - it places an ambiguous supernatural twist that may sound absurd but proves as chilling as any film on the same subject matter.
Bill Paxton is the hard-working, Texan father of two young boys, Fenton and Adam Meiks (both played by Matthew O' Leary and Jeremy Sumpter), living in a house near a rose garden. All is well with them until one night, the elder Meiks is confronted by an angel. The angel tells Meiks that demons are running around on Earth, preparing to fight for the end of the world which is coming their way sooner than expected. Meiks has been assigned to destroy these demons who are all in human form. He is told to acquire magical weapons to destroy these demons, namely a good old-fashioned ax. The boys are perplexed to hear about their dad's visions, and Fenton gets nervous when his father gets a list of names of demons they must destroy. The demons are normal neighbors, people who do not seem to be demonic in any shape or form. Nevertheless, a mission must be adhered to. But is the elder Meiks only think he is seeing these visions, or are they a call from God to do His bidding? Fenton refuses to believe it, calling his father a murderer, and trying to convince a police sheriff at one point to check out his dad's grisly business.
"Frailty" is told in flashback by an elder Fenton (played by a quietly morose Matthew McConaughey), who explains to an FBI agent (Powers Boothe) that he knows who the perpretator is of the latest string of murders in town, known as the "God's Hand" killer. The surprised agent is led by Fenton to the rose garden, and gradually we discover the truth of what happened in the Meiks family unit and how they dispatched their intended victims. We also see how the elder Meiks felt a sensation by touching the victims that told him how evil these supposed demons were (an indirect nod to "The Dead Zone," as well as a plot device in "Unbreakable.")
"Frailty" is eerie, scary stuff, and remarkably disturbing when showing the killings which occur offscreen. There is no sense of irony in the film (except for the final twist at the end) . As directed by first-time director Bill Paxton, he refuses to pander to audiences by turning it into a joke or playing it for laughs and cheap scares. The movies takes itself seriously and treats the subject matter with an air of ambiguity that is refreshing in a day and age in which everything is spelled out for the viewer.
Bill Paxton brings sympathy and humanity to Meiks, making it difficult to brand him as a killer who could be going insane. We almost start to believe that what he sees in these victims (and which Fenton is blind to) could be real. It is a frightening performance that ranks with his best work in "A Simple Plan" and "One False Move" - all portraits of men who push themselves to the edge without acknowleding their weaknesses.
Matthew O'Leary and Jeremy Sumpter are also powerful as the kids, one who senses that his dad is insane, and the other who does his bidding without question. Seeing their reactions to their father's actions is stunning to watch, and makes the ambiguity even more disturbing in retrospect.
I only wish the film tried to tell its story without the McConaughey as the older Fenton - it only serves to distract the audience too much, particularly the FBI agent character. The flashbacks do not need such baggage - thw story itself is compelling enough. The final twist at the end is a shock, but it also falls under the postmodernist movement of "The Usual Suspects" where a big secret can be enough to render the whole film as a lie or as a series of lies masking the truth. It does neither but also feels somewhat cheap, reducing the horror that preceded it.
Flaws aside, "Frailty" is chilling to the bone. It has elements of Stephen King crossed with the ominous tone of "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" (though not as realistic). Never overplaying anything for effect, Bill Paxton makes a startling debut as director, and continues to show how talented an actor he is.
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