Running time: 102 minutes
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Robert De Niro, Cameron Bright
Rating 3 out of 10
When is a thriller not a thriller? Answer: When it's called Godsend. This utterly drab and pedestrian affair never once approaches anything remotely akin to its billing. So much has gone awry that it's hard to know exactly where to apportion blame. Mark Bomback's script lumbers along with little urgency, its banal dialogue uttered by colourless characters. Things aren't helped by Nick Hamm's unimaginative and un-cohesive direction. Any potentially gripping moments are lost through clumsy editing and crass foreshadowing.
Under the circumstances it would be harsh to criticize the acting, but invariably when something is this bad everything associated with it becomes tarred with the same brush. The reality is that Greg Kinnear is simply too flimsy an actor to carry the weight of a lead role. He possesses a certain degree of well meaning earnestness, but little depth. Even De Niro is not immune to some tar strokes. He has rarely been less effective, turning in an uncommitted performance of boredom and lethargy.
Kinnear plays Paul Duncan, a biology teacher married to photographer Jessie (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos). The couple's world revolves around their eight year-old son Adam (Cameron Bright). When Adam is killed in a car accident, the grieving couple is approached by renowned scientist Richard Wells. Wells informs them he has the capability to clone their son using an untried and illegal procedure that would require the Duncan's to sever all ties from their past life. After little discussion they agree and Jessie is impregnated with Adam 2.
Things go well until Adam 2 passes the age at which his brother died. He then starts having visions and exhibiting strange behavior, causing his parents to turn to Wells for answers. Paul suspects Wells is withholding information, a distrust that is later substantiated when Wells' true motives for cloning the Duncan's son is revealed.
The whole issue of cloning, both from a biological and a moral standpoint is a fascinating one, but one that Godsend makes little attempt to address. The central characters exist in a vacuum, having only the most tenuous connections with the outside world. None of the Duncan's family or friends has any contact with them which seems unlikely and an opportunity missed. But it's symptomatic of a film that has little concern for reasoning.
The horror is supposed to stem from young Adam's visions and delusions, but everything is too vague. Too many threads remain unexplored and unexplained, resulting in an anti-climatic and unsatisfying denouement. Though by that time, the godsend was that it was over.
Under the circumstances it would be harsh to criticize the acting, but invariably when something is this bad everything associated with it becomes tarred with the same brush. The reality is that Greg Kinnear is simply too flimsy an actor to carry the weight of a lead role. He possesses a certain degree of well meaning earnestness, but little depth. Even De Niro is not immune to some tar strokes. He has rarely been less effective, turning in an uncommitted performance of boredom and lethargy.
Kinnear plays Paul Duncan, a biology teacher married to photographer Jessie (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos). The couple's world revolves around their eight year-old son Adam (Cameron Bright). When Adam is killed in a car accident, the grieving couple is approached by renowned scientist Richard Wells. Wells informs them he has the capability to clone their son using an untried and illegal procedure that would require the Duncan's to sever all ties from their past life. After little discussion they agree and Jessie is impregnated with Adam 2.
Things go well until Adam 2 passes the age at which his brother died. He then starts having visions and exhibiting strange behavior, causing his parents to turn to Wells for answers. Paul suspects Wells is withholding information, a distrust that is later substantiated when Wells' true motives for cloning the Duncan's son is revealed.
The whole issue of cloning, both from a biological and a moral standpoint is a fascinating one, but one that Godsend makes little attempt to address. The central characters exist in a vacuum, having only the most tenuous connections with the outside world. None of the Duncan's family or friends has any contact with them which seems unlikely and an opportunity missed. But it's symptomatic of a film that has little concern for reasoning.
The horror is supposed to stem from young Adam's visions and delusions, but everything is too vague. Too many threads remain unexplored and unexplained, resulting in an anti-climatic and unsatisfying denouement. Though by that time, the godsend was that it was over.
