Godsend is a confused fusion of several superior thrillers (The Bad Seed, The Ring, The Omen, The Sixth Sense etc.) This is all too bad really, for somewhere buried deep inside this halfbaked tale of cloning is an interesting idea. Alas, a silly, convoluted screenplay and mediocre execution stop this picture dead in it's tracks.
In Godsend, Greg Kinnear and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos play Paul and Jessie Duncan, a happily married couple who, along with their eight year old Adam (played by Cameron Bright), seem to have the perfect life. When a horrible tragedy claims the life of their son, Paul and Jessie are presented with a unique opportunity that is both intriguing and unethical. Through the aid of a passionate doctor (played by Robert DeNiro) and the miracle of science, Adam is re-born by way of cloning. With this process comes severe consequences. Not only are the Duncans forced to keep the life of their re-born son secret from their loved ones, but the new Adam begins to have terrifying visions once he exceeds the point at which the original Adam died. Could these visions actually be memories of a past life? This is one of the many plot elements that Godsend clumsily tries to juggle.
The idea of cloning is hardly far-fetched these days, but the rushed, underdevolped and derivitive fashion in which Godsend unfolds make it far from compelling.
All things considered, the acting isn't too bad in Godsend. In fact, Greg Kinnear is quite good even if the proceedings do get incredbily silly (most notably a lame altercation in a church towards the end of the movie). And I must admit, it was kind of fun watching Kinnear get in DeNiro's grill. Stamos is also effective as a grieving mother. This is some of her best work and even though the swelling score tarnishes her effectiveness, she puts forth a valiant effort.
Try as he might, Robert DeNiro never really worked for me. He is one of my all time favorite actors, but the mad scientist routine wore thin quickly, and I knew inside the first act that this was a man with a hidden agenda. In his defense, it is a horribly written character. He does better with it than anyone else probably could have. Young Cameron Bright plays up the creepy factor as Adam and while he has his moments, he never achieves the dramatic depth of say, Haley Joel Osment. But then again, the processed screenplay is very restrictive. It doesn't really afford him the opportunity.
Rather than putting an emphasis on the whole "don't play God" scenario, Godsend treads into familiar waters. We get all these nightmarish sequences in which Adam has freaky visions. This allows the film makers to startle the audience with cheap scares. It didn't scare me in the slightest. In fact, if anything, it just gave me a big headache. And the entire dull experience is punctuated by an ambiguous ending that just felt tacked on.
Godsend is a very messy movie. There's far too much going on, and I really found myself laughing at stuff that was supposed to be profound. Perhaps if the film would have been more focused. The backstory giving insight into DeNiro's motivation is just ridiculous. In fact, it is his character's past that really brought to mind shades of The Ring.
It also doesn't help that Godsend asks more questions than it's willing to answer. There are plenty of movies that I've enjoyed that thrive on a lack of explanation (The Ring and Mothman Prophecies just to name two), but what they lack in sensibility, they more than make up for in style. Those movies sucked me in. Godsend just sort of spit me out.
Godsend isn't smart enough to be considered good science fiction and it's not scary enough to be considered a good thriller. It's just one cliche after another, and by about midway through, not only was I not engrossed, but I really didn't care where the picture was headed. And a little subtlety would have been nice. I mean the kid's name is Adam. Give me a break! And how about the big "Pandora's Box" line? Whatever!
Simply put, this is a dumb movie about intelligent subject matter. Somewhere out there, there's a great film about cloning waiting to be made. This wasn't it. Godsend; Cool title, interesting premise, bad movie.
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