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Paxton's 'Frailty' sticks with audience
After seeing the trailer for "Frailty", I couldn't wait to rush out to see it opening weekend. All it took for me was the foreboding look on Matthew McConaughey's face and the womp of Bill Paxton's ax slicing down towards the audience.
"Frailty" is the story of a man who believes that his family's divine mission is to hunt "demons" � evil spirits disguised as human beings and revealed for their sins only by his touch. To the outside world, this man is known as the "God's Hand" serial killer, but according to him in one reoccurring line "I've never killed anything in my life. I destroy demons."
Father, played by Bill Paxton, tells his two boys about their quest. Adam, the younger, believes his father wholeheartedly. Teenage Fenton, however, does not and becomes convinced that his dad is insane.
This struggle between belief/disbelief fuels the whole movie as the audience attempts to discern whether or not Father is insane. He seems to be a nice enough guy, aided by his unfaltering faith and a series of strange occurrences that help him accomplish his mission without creating suspicion.
"Frailty" is deeply placed within a seamless atmosphere of shadows, eerie music and rain. The foreboding feeling of armageddon and the greater implications of this film hangs in the air from the opening credits to the last line of the movie.
"Frailty" is an example of the importance of perspective, how filmmakers turn the camera into not an objective eye, but into a perceptive mind, a window that distorts the world based on the preconceptions of the filmmakers. If the plot was left and the camera work and atmosphere altered, this would be a much different movie.
Led by Paxton (who also directed the film), the acting in "Frailty" is subtle, emotional and disturbing. Fenton Meiks, the central character and protagonist, is acted (by Matt O'Leary as a child and McConaughey as an adult) with depth and emotion and drives the film's main questions.
What would you do if you were given unmistakable evidence of God's will? What would you do if God's will was to do something that you had always thought of as wrong?
These questions give "Frailty" life outside of its function as a suspense thriller. It's definitely a movie that you will be talking about later and thinking about at night. I still can't get the womp of Father's ax out of my head.
Harold John Behling can be reached at: [email protected]
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