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GODSEND
2/10
USA
2004 : Nick HAMM : 103 mins
Paul Duncan
(Kinnear) and wife Jessie (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) are devastated when
their son Adam (Cameron Bright) is killed in a freak accident the day
after his eighth birthday. Brilliant-but-maverick geneticist Prof. Richard
Wells (De Niro) then interrupts their grieving with a startling proposition:
he claims to have perfected a technique for cloning humans. Initially
hostile, the Duncans eventually accept Wells' offer: and some months later
'Adam' is 'born' again. All goes well until the child's eighth birthday
- when he starts to experience terrifying visions which lead to alarming,
perhaps even homicidal behaviour...
RSC-alumnus
Hamm's 2001 feature The Hole
was an effective little Brit-chiller which - as well as introducing audiences
to a certain Keira Knightley - proved to be the director's ticket to Hollywood.
Perhaps predictably, this has turned out to be a very mixed blessing indeed:
Godsend reportedly suffered a very troubled gestation, requiring
extensive reshoots and the filming of a reported half-dozen alternative
endings. These problems are all too evident in the finished product. Cloning
is seldom far from headlines nowadays - and there's no reason why the
subject shouldn't inspire an intelligent thriller addressing the moral,
ethical and practical aspects. Which is precisely what we don't get with
Godsend, a typically crass Hollywood treatment of a serious, complex
issue.
Mark Bomback's
plodding, mumbojumbo-heavy script is itself constructed from some familiar
DNA: mainly Pet Sematary and Audrey Rose, plus 'creepy little
kid' shockers like The Sixth Sense, The Shining and The
Omen. It's a lineage that stretches back via The Bad Seed to
The Turn of the Screw and beyond.
And Canadian
youngster Bright is very good, auguring well for his similar-sounding
role in Jonathan Glazer's much-anticipated Birth. Hamm creates
an unsettling atmosphere, and delivers some decent jolting shocks - but,
just like 'Adam', the film only functions well up to a certain point.
When push comes to shove, however, and explanations need to be forthcoming,
the wheels come flying off the wagon with spectacularly messy and confusing
results. After the baffling climax, viewers may even wonder if some reels
have been mixed up or omitted altogether. Tears of a clone, indeed.
16th June,
2004
(seen 4th June : Vue, Leicester : press show - Cinema
Days event)
For other
films rated 1/10 and 2/10 check out our Diorama
of Dishonour
by Neil
Young
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