Very Minor Mel Gibson

Rating: Null/10 (19 August 2002)

The whole crop-circle phenomenon, likely a nice tourist gimmick thought up in rural England, is a pretty thin handle on which to hang a major movie. But, then, since this movie has almost nothing to do with crop circles except - surprise! - as a marketing gimmick of its own, the powers that be behind this minor Mel Gibson outing must have something else in mind. What is it? Well, a mildly interesting tale of a preacher's recovery from tragedy that robbed him of his faith. That wouldn't sell nearly as well as "spooky stuff," though.
This film follows the formula Stephen King worked out so well in his classic "The Stand." That is, dream up some cataclysmic event that puts the entire human race in peril but - and here's the hook - make that not the focus of the movie, but instead simply a fairly thin background against which the actors get a chance to seem heroic while not actually doing much. It is a way of elevating the prosaic to sublime by association.
The difference here is that the background "event" is neither original nor particularly well handled. We learn about the possible destruction of humanity by watching reaction shots of characters watching tv shows. Not too exciting. Otherwise, it is just a case of things that go bump in the night and the characters' reactions to same until the climax.
Speaking of the climax, there is no real "twist" in this movie. It all plays out exactly as you would expect, given a predisposition to believe in these sorts of modern myths. Occasionally we see glimpse of the tv programs are watching and they have all the drama of out-takes from some "Wildest and Wackiest home videos" show or something. Sometimes the thing behind the curtain should just be left there, as a fertile imagination will conjure up a far more believable demon than Hollywood can assemble.
The acting standout is Joaquin Phoenix, who injects some needed comedy into his scenes. His use of a baseball bat is amusing and he works well with Gibson. Why, though, do alien attackers always come in essentially unclothed and unarmed? They flew here in spaceships, then rely solely on their bad breath or something to defend themselves. Seems a bit silly even for those who believe in crop circles. They turn out to be no more deadly than some bear that walks in off the local National Forest. Perhaps if the film had avoided cliches like that, this might have been better.