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Before I get into the review, let me say that I went into this
film as somewhat of an expert on The Mothman and the town of
Point Pleasant. One of my hobbies is paranormal
investigation, and I have done extensive reading on the
creature known as The Mothman. So, if anyone was going
to catch mistakes and falsities, it was me. Did I, you
ask? Yes. Did that make "The Mothman
Prophecies" a bad movie? No.
Richard Gere stars as John Klein, a Washington Post journalist
who is drawn to the small West Virginia town of Point
Pleasant, after the death of his wife (Debra Messing), who
developed a brain tumor shortly after a run-in with The
Mothman. After his arrival, he is shocked to learn that
the entire town is overcome with fear with several of the
citizens claiming to have had encounters with the creature;
and one, Gordon (Will Patton), claiming to have spoken with
and met the creature. Laura Linney plays Sgt. Connie
Parker, Gere's helper and eventual love interest.
The
plotline weaves interestingly together and--remember--this is
based on a true story. Well, not entirely. Yes,
Point Pleasant was terrorized by The Mothman, but I have not
heard anything about the characters portrayed in the story,
and all of the background information on The Mothman is news
to me. But, mixing the fact and the fiction together
made this quite the interesting film, especially with Richard
Gere giving another unusual, but perfectly atuned performance.
The
main beef I had with this film was that it didn't give the
audience enough. We rarely even see glimpses of the
mysterious Mothman and we are expected to be satisfied with
camera trickery and spooky voices. Those work for a
while, but eventually we really want to see The Mothman and at
least know what we're dealing with. Now, I know, it is
more realistic this way because they never actually saw it
either, but I guess I just wanted to defy logic and purposes
of 'true story' and just get a look at the damned thing.
Call me crazy.
This film tries to portray The Mothman as some kind of super
intelligent extraterrestrial, while most articles I have read
and websites I have visited view The Mothman as more of a
demon or unexplained creature, like Bigfoot or Nessie.
This film makes us lean towards the UFO belief but, then
again, there were some falsities in this picture. The
best scene in this film involves a spooky sequence when gere
rolls over in his bed, followed by a suspenseful trip to the
bathroom sink. Anyway, there are some frightening and
adrenaline pumping scenes in this film, the performances are
great, and--at the very least--this film should turn people to
the Mothman myth and give Point Pleasant, West Virginia one
hell of a tourist surge.
-- Billy
Ray ( 3 out of 4 pops )
Talk
about this film with other Popkorn Junkies |
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Other Junkie's
opinions.....
James ( 3 out of 4
pops )
Having known nothing about this-- the movie or the true story, I enjoyed
it. Sometimes not knowing
anything is better than knowing everything. This
isn't an excellent movie, but it's not just a good movie either.
The acting is superb and
the story is entertaining. What more could you ask
for without knowing everything?
Patsy ( 2 out of 4 pops )
"The Mothman Prophecies" was just about as scary as a decent
episode of the "X-Files". Sure, it's creepy because it's
based on true events, but just because a movie is based on something
true doesn't necessarily mean I have to be frightened. I mean,
"Titanic" was based on a true story-- tons of people died when
that ship went down-- it was a scary event, but that doesn't mean it's a
scary movie. If you are expecting an intense and creepy movie
you'll be disappointed by Mothman-- the trailer was more thrilling than
the actual movie.
Mike ( 2 out of 4 pops )
"The Mothman Prophecies" to me is like so many X-Files
episodes where it's creepy and mysterious but nothing gets resolved.
This movie is ok but I got quickly tired and annoyed of so many scenes
on the phone and with so many camera tricks showing quick glimpses of
things that didn't mean anything. I didn't think it was that scary
or suspenseful but it did have a creepy feeling to it throughout the
film. It was also too long and dragged in places. Maybe this
film would have been better if it was done documentary style.
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