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The acclaimed actor is likely the ideal choice for a audacious horror film about the biblical figure, however not for the reasons many viewers could guess. In reality, the star doesn't even play the central religious figure in the new film: the part he plays is referred to only as The Carpenter. The actor is positioned as the Joseph within this tale, attempting to maintain his beliefs while the teenage character (portrayed by Noah Jupe), his adolescent foster child, starts to display miraculous gifts. The explanation it's challenging to picture a different leading star taking this character is that although his character grows stricken with various challenges, Nicolas Cage appears practically touchingly convinced that this dark, somber feature is a valuable project.

Cage's Current Projects

Cage has been allocating his time more judiciously in recent years. He continues to stars in more films than most casual fans will ever see — for instance, did you know that the actor has made several distinct cowboy movies recently? — but he also adds high-profile independent films such as Dream Scenario, another notable movie, and a further title. The Carpenter’s Son seems like one of those, because it’s borderline horror, potentially provocative, and handles a exaggerated concept quite seriously.

The Film's Premise and Execution

Sadly, filmmaker Lotfy Nathan does not justify viewer engagement. The film opens in a engagingly rootless place, marketed as inspired by an unknown scripture concerning the youthful days of the messiah. Cage's character, the maternal figure, and their son travel frequently, anxious of doctrinal intolerance or distrust regarding their son's mysterious gifts. “Trouble pursues us,” The Carpenter mournfully notes. This persists when sinister entities attack the household in their latest settlement, getting a jump-start on the well-known scriptural test for the youth.

At times, this production echoes an Exorcist-style supernatural thriller, though none of the lead characters are clearly inhabited. Rather, they become progressively isolated from one another, when these forces infect a resident female (the actress, listed as an outsider) who the son forms a relationship with, and presents each character unsettling premonitions of a bleak destiny. Cage's role notably grapples with his role in the narrative, occasionally chastising the son who mystifies him.

Controversy and Care

This material is prone to invite debate, and the director handles it with much delicacy — excessive, perhaps. The concept of a teenage boy facing his eventual sacrifice and lured by unknown powers is indeed terrifying, but Nathan might be wary of looking exploitative and keen to signal his goals, therefore he regularly retreats into gloomily threatening filming. The roles constantly ponder — FKA Twigs, who showed real promise in another movie, interestingly — surrenders her role to her Mother Mary cloak, at times punctuated by a few gruesome scary visuals.

Cage's Acting and Film's Shortcomings

Meanwhile, Cage toy with exactly the kind of exaggerated performance that his ironic fans may desire. There is a moment (also included) in the trailer where Cage loses control and screams “My faith has been shattered!” If that kind of dramatic explosion is included in a biblical thriller, perhaps a more brazenly silly approach would make better use of his eagerness to go over the top as required. Instead, the film is closer to the less successful straight-to-DVD productions Cage made through much of that period — not the cheesy thrillers but rather the dramas and ghost stories that typically appear interesting, and frequently include some select actor's highlights, but finally come across like, well, inexpensive direct-to-consumer content.

Honestly, a number of those, while less ambitious, were more entertaining in general. Here is where I need to disregard my usual practice, not faith-based but work-oriented: Previously, an admired senior urged me to remove descriptive terms like “boring” or “dull” from my reviewing language. Such terms convey little except a subjective and generically described impatience, disengaging from the task of clearly expressing the intellectual and emotional experience of watching an individual production. It's challenging to communicate boredom without seeming uninteresting oneself. It’s no more expressive as labeling a movie “engaging.” “Say more,” essentially.

However, I admit, I grew weary throughout The Carpenter’s Son. To the movie’s non-exploitative credit, it is a devotional type of dullness, not because this movie is lecturing, but as it demands a type of dutiful submission to view it. Eventually soon after starting, this feature enters a repetitive rhythm of ongoing suffering, and fails to