*** (out of ****)
Starring Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Powers Boothe, Matthew O'Leary, Jeremy Sumpter, and Luke Askew
Directed by Bill Paxton & written by Brent Hanley
2001 R
“Frailty” has the misfortune of being released after a string of other movies with surprise endings: “Unbreakable” and “The Sixth Sense,” both written and directed by M. Night Shyamalamalan (spelling approximate), “Memento,” and “The Usual Suspects.” Our eyes are peeled for the twists and turns, and, in “Frailty,” I spotted most of them, sometimes right before they happened, but usually miles away. That doesn’t make “Frailty” a bad movie; quite the contrary, it is an effective thriller, working in elements of family drama, and a genuine concern for religion. Mainstream films typically portray religion with a distant, fleeting respect, or as the cause for hijacking and ranting, and while “Frailty” may begin this way, this is only a red herring.
“Frailty” begins with a raggedy man (Matthew McConnaghey) walking into the office of an FBI agent (Powers Boothe) and claiming to know the identity of a serial killer. Naturally the agent is skeptical, launching McConnaghey onto a series of flashbacks that comprise most of the film. One night, when he was ten, his widower father (Bill Paxton) comes into the room shared by him and his brother (Jeremy Sumpter and Matt O’Leary) and announces that an angel has come to him in a vision, ordering him to seek out murderous demons disguised as humans, and kill them with an ax. One brother is eager and pleased they have been chosen by God for such a task, but the young McConnaghey is skeptical. A battle of wills between father and son ensue when dad starts bringing home people to chop to pieces, or when they start roaming the Texas countryside in search of those on their list from God. What’s special about “Frailty” is that Paxton is not portrayed as a hypocritical, Bible-quoting ranting tyrant, but as a good man who is sick. He loves his two boys and they love him, and he is a good father to them, and he wants to do the Lord’s will. He never questions his vision and, indeed, why would he? I’ve always assumed that if God wanted me to believe Hey It’s Me God He could just reach into my brain and make me believe beyond a shadow of a doubt—just like insanity.
The movie is more frightening than gory and relies on performances and good direction more than special effects. The acting is uniformly good, especially between the two child actors who play Paxton’s sons, and Boothe makes a nice, wearily-skeptical agent who behaves as if he’s seen everything at least once. Refreshingly, the God-fearing souls of “Frailty” are not arrogant, prideful, and boasting that they have been chosen, but are humble folk, bashful to have been chosen, even when they have the ax, and in that way are more tolerable than some of the self-righteously religious who don’t have axes. The father’s dread and horror in the face of the demons is completely congruent with what he believes they have done. Dependable character actor Paxton (who will, God bless him, probably always be remembered as freaked out Private Hudson from “Aliens”) makes a strong directorial debut. “Frailty” is not as compulsively watchable as the films of M. Night Shyamalan and, with its sometimes-clunky narration during the flashbacks, it is not as polished, stylish, and professional either. But “Frailty” does have more food for thought that Shyamalan’s comic books and seers of dead people, and instead of using religion as a shorthand for why someone is nuts, it seriously asks the question, would the world be a better place if God had someone down here killing off murderers?
Finished April 14, 2002
Copyright 2002 Friday & Saturday Night