Robert DeNiro. Greg Kinear. An interesting premise. A kickass website. What could go wrong? Everything.

      This was a film that intrigued me when I first saw the trailer -- however, I saw the trailer attached to another Lions Gate release over a year ago. This film has been pushed back and pushed back, which usually means there is something missing. And there is certainly a lot missing from "Godsend", an interesting little film which does a good job of setting up the story, but never really gives us anything else than the initial setup. It also contains a ridiculous twist ending that treats the audience as if they were morons. M. Night Shyamalan can get away with crap like that -- Nick Hamm needs a bit more credibility first.

      As I stated earlier, the premise is interesting and somewhat untested in this capacity. Greg Kinear and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos star as Paul and Jessie Duncan. Paul is a science teacher, Jessie is a semi-famous photographer, and they both live in a hip loft apartment with their 8-year-old son Adam (Cameron Bright). Everything is kosher until Adam is killed in a freak accident and the couple find themselves saddled with grief. Soon, however, the couple are approached by Dr. Richard Wells (Robert DeNiro), who tells the couple he can use Adam's DNA to create an exact duplicate of the fetus, thus cloning their son. Paul is horrified at the idea, but Jessie seems keenly interested in having her son back. After a few days of debate and watching old home videos of Adam, the couple agree to have the procedure, meaning also that they must sever all ties with anyone who knew Adam and move out to the town where the Godsend Institute is located.

      The birth goes almost perfectly and the film cuts to when Adam 2 turns 8, which is when things start getting a little bizarre. Adam 2 starts having nightmares about a school, a fire, and a little boy named Zachary. Dr. Wells believes it to merely be night terrors, while Paul starts to believe Adam 2 is remembering events that took place in Adam 1's life. Eventually, we learn the reason for the nightmares and are given several sequences and plot twists that do not work on several levels. While the first part of the film keeps us interested and intrigued, the second half slaps us in the face with ridiculous scenario after ridiculous scenario. It was almost as if director Nick Hamm was trying too hard for that special twist ending that Shyamalan has made famous.

There are numerous problems with "Godsend", and here are some of them:

      (01) Paul and Jessie are able to come to the decision to have the procedure much too easily. They seem knowledgeable of the consequences and the wrongs associated with the procedure, at first, but then suddenly throw their morals aside and just jump on board. I didn't see enough of a reason for them to accept the procedure.

      (02) SPOILER ALERT: Halfway through the film, Adam 2 murders another student from his class. We see later on that his parents realize this fact. However, once they realize it, nothing else is mentioned of the murder. At the end of the film, when we see the couple together with Adam 2, it is as if they have forgotten all about the fact that their son murdered another little boy. How does an event like this become forgotten? Did the director expect the audience to just forget about it? I hope not.

      (03) SPOILER ALERT: Though Robert DeNiro gives a terrific performance in this film, his transformation from motivated scientist to evil, obsessive monster is just not plain enough. It happens to suddenly and we don't get to see how this transformation occurs. Of course, by the ending, it could be said he was evil all along and just playing nice, but that certainly does not add up while watching the film. More attention should have been paid to this.

      All in all, "Godsend" fails because it is too ridiculous to believe and not comprehensive enough on the details. Kinear, DeNiro, and especially Stamos deliver fabulous performances here, and it did makes me jump from fright on a couple of occasions, but that is not enough to make a film good, just mediocre. "Godsend" has a very smart premise and director Nick Hamm makes it work for a while, but eventually it just gets tired, silly, and uninteresting.