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Nicolas Cage is likely the ideal selection for a bold scary movie about the biblical figure, but not for the motivations certain viewers could guess. In reality, the star doesn't even act as Jesus in the new film: his character is listed merely as The Carpenter. He is positioned as the Joseph in this story, attempting to keep his faith as The Boy (acted by Noah Jupe), their adolescent foster child, begins to display supernatural abilities. The reason it's challenging to imagine any other leading star taking this character is that while the figure becomes weighed down with various difficulties, Cage himself seems almost touchingly confident that the gloomy, grim feature is deserving of his effort.

Cage's Latest Film Selections

Nicolas Cage has allocating his time more selectively lately. He continues to does more movies than the majority of regular audiences will ever see — as an illustration, are you aware that he has completed several distinct cowboy movies in the past three years? — however he also mixes in prestige A24/Neon gigs like one recent hit, another notable movie, and Longlegs. This new film appears to be a similar project, in that it’s genre-adjacent, possibly controversial, and handles a over-the-top description quite seriously.

The Film's Premise and Execution

Sadly, filmmaker the director does not justify the audience's focus. The Carpenter’s Son starts from a engagingly rootless place, positioned as based on an unknown scripture concerning Christ’s childhood. The Carpenter, The Mother, and the boy travel from place to place, afraid of religious persecution or suspicion over their son's mysterious gifts. “Disaster trails us,” The Carpenter sadly observes. That continues when dark forces target the household at their new home, getting a jump-start on that well-known scriptural test for The Boy.

Sometimes, the film resembles an Exorcist-style supernatural thriller, but none of the main figures are explicitly taken over. On the contrary, they grow progressively isolated mutually, while these powers influence a nearby girl (Isla Johnston, credited as “The Stranger”) who The Boy bonds with, and provides each character troubling visions of a bleak destiny. The Carpenter notably fights with his position in the narrative, at times scolding his child he doesn't completely grasp.

Debate and Care

The subject matter is prone to court controversy, and Nathan treats it with plenty of sensitivity — too much, maybe. The notion of a teenage boy dealing with his eventual sacrifice and tempted by unknown powers is certainly frightening, but Nathan might be hesitant regarding seeming gratuitous and keen to indicate his aims, so he often retreats into darkly ominous filming. The roles brood incessantly — FKA Twigs, who showed real promise in the 2024 Crow remake, interestingly — yields her role to her religious attire, sometimes broken up by some gnarly horror imagery.

The Star's Performance and Film's Flaws

At the same time, Cage flirts with exactly the kind of overacting that his ironic fans may desire. There is a moment (shown) in promotional material where he flips out and yells “My belief is broken!” Should such of florid outburst is included in your biblical thriller, possibly a more openly absurd method would take better advantage of the actor's readiness to be extreme when necessary. Rather, The Carpenter’s Son is closer to the poorer low-budget films he starred in during that period — apart from the B-movies instead the dramas and paranormal movies that typically appear interesting, and often contain a few choice Cage moments, but finally come across like, well, cheap home video fare.

Frankly, a number of those, though not as grand, were easier to view as a whole. At this point I have to violate my personal rule, not spiritual but work-oriented: Years back, a beloved editor urged me to banish words like “boring” or “dull” from my analytical lexicon. Such terms communicate minimal except a subjective and generically described lack of patience, withdrawing from the task of clearly expressing the intellectual and feeling of seeing a particular movie. It’s difficult to express tedium without appearing dull yourself. It's just as unclear as labeling a movie “notable.” “Say more,” essentially.

But I must confess, I grew weary throughout the film. In its defense, it’s a religious style of dullness, not because The Carpenter’s Son is moralizing, but because it requires a sort of dutiful submission to sit through it. At some point in the beginning, the film locks into a cyclic tempo of ongoing suffering, and never really