Director: Mark Guigui
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Living in a small remote town, a bullied teen with a strange eating condition is unintentionally given the ability to not feel pain following a botched faith-healing session and decides to set out on a mission of vengeance against the townspeople who picked on him, forcing his friends to try to stop him.
Review:
Overall, this was a rather enjoyable if somewhat flawed genre effort. What works best with this one is the general setup and revenge-based storyline that comes into play here. With the early setup giving us a rather appropriate look at him and his condition making him the subject of the repeated bullying that goes on, there’s a pronounced sense of his lifestyle going on in the area that plays into how he goes about trying to use them for his own benefit. As the small-town middle-of-nowhere lifestyle is quite adequately captured here regarding his treatment by others and the bullying others inflict on him, this comes off quite nicely for the most part.
That, in turn, gives the later scenes involving the supernatural powers coming into play for his revenge a lot more to like. The early scenes of him discovering the powers and trying to subtly use that as motivation against the bullies who targeted him serve this one quite well, especially once there’s been a series of incidents between them. The first scenes of him getting revenge, from drowning the participant at the swimming hole, the encounter in the classroom in front of everyone where he shows off his powers, and finally leading to the final confrontation at the football field that’s quite brutal and intriguing. These manage to be the films’ better features.
There are some big issues with this one. The main factor holding this one back is the completely unexplained sense of his powers being gained and transferred to him in the first place. The whole idea of the Indian burial ground excuse that starts everything off seems to be utterly confusing as to why it transferred to him just from the touch of a person who was using it for years, and the finale that attempts to utilize the same trick is equally confusing. As well, the use of the burial ground to begin with is just highly cliche and doesn’t come off in the slightest bit original or creative as a means to introduce the powers in the first place.
As well, with the film being more a drama there’s a lot of the film’s running time running through a series of cliches and rather familiar plot points that leave this one predictable and easy to figure out. The idea of the bullied teen and the small-town jocks getting away with everything, having the whole town fooled into thinking they’re right for bullying a person with a medical condition, and the local legend stemming from a Native Indian bit of folklore that’s been running through the community. This renders a lot of the film to be quite familiar and expected, bringing this one down somewhat overall.
Overview: ***/5
Enjoyable enough for what it is although there are some rather prominent flaws on display, there’s enough to like here that it’s not a complete waste but overall does have some issues that bring it down. Those who appreciate this kind of supernaturally-themed empowerment story or are intrigued by this style might like it while those who don't appreciate any of those factors should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment