The Gift Rating: Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Cate Blanchett Keanu Reeves Katie Holmes Hilary Swank Complete Cast (12 total)

The Gift Reviews

---

Raimi can do better. But we still love ya Sam.
Sam Raimi takes a detour from his blood and guts horror fare (that's Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness to you Mundanes) to create this spooky picture about a woman with the, well...the gift to perform tarot readings for the local townsfolk. The movie is most specifically about the deep south and its inhabitants. This movie taught me that apparently everyone living in the south is some kind of freakish, backward, ill-educated slob. Such a sadsack cast of characters provides plenty for Kate Blanchett's character to do as a result. Mostly, she acts as a psychiatrist.

More irritating is the use of completely non-Tarot-like reading. In a movie where Kate's character is perpetually harassed for her "Satanic" rituals of Tarot-reading, it's bizarre that an actual Tarot isn't used. Instead, we get the dumbed down version: symbols that represent the four elements, a star, a square, etc. The symbols are used to good effect -- when she reads the future of a murder victim, she draws four "water" cards. But really, couldn't they have used real Tarot cards? I expect a wee bit more daring from a guy who filmed an eyeball popping into a woman's mouth.

But I digress. The two outstanding actors in this film are Keanu Reeves and Giovanni Ribisi. That's right, you saw me type that correctly -- Keanu Reeves. Keanu has a typically vapid look about him that makes him a canvas for more complex stories. I call it the Kevin Costner effect. This is why he works so well in the Matrix -- he's bland enough to allow the ridiculously complex backstory of the Matrix to swirl around him. But what's most startling is to see that vacuous stare used to startling effect in The Gift. Add a few pounds, give Keanu a shaggy beard, and his soft brown eyes become the cold glaze of a killer. Or at least, a wife beater. He pulls it off with terrifying menace. It made me want to rent The Watcher just to see if this was a fluke or due to Sam's influence.

Giovanni, of course, plays a psychotic. Gee, who would have thought, Giovanni playing a weird creepy guy! Still, he's like the Jack Nicholson of our era, because he does it SO WELL.

Ultimately, the movie was predictable. Maleficent and I trakced every single surprise, the twist ending, everything -- we mapped this puppy out in perfect detail and were never wrong once. Does this make it a bad movie? Not at all. Does it make it a great movie? Alas, not. Sam can do better. But we still love ya Sam.

The Sixth Sense meets To Kill a Mockingbird
Cate Blanchett gives a strong, nuanced performance as Annie Wilson, an impoverished widow with three children trying to make a living reading the tarot in a lush, southern town of secrets, mysteries and rednecks. The cast of hot young actors is strong. Giovanni Ribisi plays a very damaged and rage filled, but sensitive, garage mechanic. His scene with his father is almost unwatchable in it's intensity. Hilary Swank is perfect as an abused co-dependant wife who can't leave her awful, violent husband played by Keanu Reeves. Greg Kinnear does his usual sweet guy character that he does so well.
The direction of Sam Raimi is very stylized and dream like. This film has the same brooding intensity of his previous effort A Perfect Plan.
The story by Billy Bob Thornton has a few predictable twists and plot turns, but the message of the film feels new and is ultimately very uplifting. It's a dark, Gothic journey to redemption similiar to the one that is explored in the movie Magnolia.

More Customer Reviews (3 total)