jsteiger
Having found some of Schrader's previous work interesting, and recognizing the potential in the movie's cast, I went in with high hopes.The hopes were not justified. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY. You'll leave the theater shocked and angry, unless your admiration for Schrader's previous work overrides your critical faculties.SPOILERS FOLLOW.The movie begins in promising fashion. Superb, yet subtle set design, marked by excellent, muted use of color and dim lighting to create a somber, depressed atmosphere. The leads are well cast.Unfortunately, the writing is extremely weak, and the entirely unnecessary, completely unbalanced and unsubtle, smack-you-over-the-head "environmentalist" message quickly carries us into cartoon territory.Nothing stands up to close examination. The priest learns that one of his parish members has "a problem." His wife is pregnant, he is obsessed with environmental pollution and nihilism, and doesn't want her to have the baby. After an awkward first meeting, during which we discover that the priest encouraged his son to go to Iraq where he died, and that his wife left him he agrees to meet with the young man a second time. In between, he discovers that the young man has constructed a suicide vest. At this point the narrative goes completely off the rails.It is clear that the young man is violently suicidal. Anyone with any sense of morality would immediately demand that the young man be taken into protective custody. Instead the priest, who has no known expertise in high explosives, carries the vest out to his car! Did anyone watching this film not notice that there was no "instructions manual" with the suicide vest? Nobody with an IQ above 70 would grab a packet of high explosives under these circumstances.The young man finds out that his suicide vest is missing, and shotguns himself to death. The priest, who consumes high quality whiskey like coffee, is extremely ill, and over the next few days finds the time to become an environmental extremist AND have a bizarre levitation-tryst with the comely wife of the suicide victim. The wife, played by Amanda Seyfried, reads some of the dumbest lines I've ever heard with earnest seriousness. One can only imagine the dozens of giggling outtakes generated during the filming of this scene. Totally unbelievable on any level.There is a "reconsecration" ceremony in the works. The priest plans to protest the destruction of the environment (I think---his motivation is a complete mystery) by blowing himself up (along with a bunch of parishioners, one would presume) with the suicide vest. Exactly how he has divined the correct operation of the vest is a complete mystery. Why he would want to kill numerous parishioners (or at least ruin their Sunday best clothing with a rain of his body parts) is an even bigger mystery.At the last minute, he changes his mind and wraps himself in barbed wire, at which point Amanda Seyfried enters his office and they start passionately kissing. Bam, the screen goes black, and the credits roll to an ominous, rumbling musical piece.Crazed environmentalists might somehow find an encouraging and/or meaningful message in all this. Personally, I found it to be incredibly arrogant and insultingly incoherent. The sensational violence in Taxi Driver and Raging Bull at least had some rational connection to a messages of alienation, and the character development in both movies was superb. In First Reformed, the character development is extremely weak and simply doesn't support the characters' behavior. What, precisely, motivates Amanda Seyfried to feel passion for this physically wrecked, horrendously depressed, nasty man? We saw him, in a previous scene, crush the feelings of his former lover Esther (played beautifully by Victoria Hill) as if she were some kind of insect.What about the heavy-handed use of environmentalist concern as the main motivation for the young man's suicidal depression? Schrader trots out the the "97% of climate scientists agree" canard. The study that yielded the 97% figure has been debunked so thoroughly that nobody with a shred of intellectual honesty uses it. Our rivers and streams are actually far less polluted now than they were 30 years ago. Yet, in short order, one man has blown his own head off and another is preparing to blow himself up over the issue. This movie had the potential to be great. A superb cast, some intriguing issues, a fine cinematographer. Schrader simply blew it with a lazy writing effort. His fans will find a way to praise this by simply ignoring his failure.
Don't be fooled.
Gordon-11
This film tells the story of a clergyman who is shaken by the death of a man in his parish.It is interesting to see a film merging religion and environmental issues in one. It is a good way to raise awareness to the issues discussed in the film. In addition, acting is good, the technical aspects are good as well. Though I don't quite think the ending should be the way it is, it is still an interesting watch.
god5262
I went to see this movie because it was the highest rated movie playing in the nearby theater. The movie itself was extremely hard to sit through. The plot was weak, incredibly slow, and the characters were unrealistic in the worst way.
