Paxton’s ‘Frailty’ an overpraised thriller

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In theaters

FRAILTY, directed by Bill Paxton, written by Brent Hanley. 100 minutes. Rated R.

More than anything in the world, Bill Paxton’s overpraised thriller, “Frailty,” wants to ride what’s left of M. Night Shyamalan’s coattails, which have been ripped and ruined over the years thanks to a long line of supernatural-thriller-wannabes eager to hop on “The Sixth Sense” bandwagon.

But in spite of featuring an engaging first half that’s genuinely unsettling, and an understated performance from Matthew McConaughey, “Frailty” is ultimately as superficial as a bruise, a film so manufactured to crank out an absurd series of final twists for the sake of offering some final twists, it does so at the cost of all that came before.

Told in flashback by McConaughey to an FBI agent played by Powers Boothe, the film is about a single father identified only as Dad (Paxton) who wakes one evening to find God glowing in the center of his bowling trophy. Instead of offering Dad the gift of a perfect game or a shiny new ball, God offers Dad something potentially more rewarding: the divine order to kill those demons living in his West Texas neighborhood.

Thrilled by the prospect, Dad wakes his two sons – 12-year-old Fenton (Matt O’Leary) and 9-year-old Adam (Jeremy Sumpter) – to tell them the good news, which is when the bad family vibes start.

Indeed, while Adam is young enough to be snowed by his father’s religious rhetoric, Fenton is old enough to know that the murders his father is preparing to commit are the product of madness. Worse, it’s Fenton who’s burdened with the responsibility of saving himself and his brother before Dad truly goes berserk and kills them both.

At this point, “Frailty” spools away from Paxton and his screenwriter, Brent Hanley, even while its mood of terror intensifies. So intent is Dad that his sons connect with God as he has, he insists that they join him in the murders, a gruesome task that involves collecting those people on Dad’s divine list, taking them back to the family’s newly constructed dungeon, beating them over the head with a lead pipe and then wielding an ax named Otis into their heads, throats, arms and legs.

The subject of “Frailty” is such that it can’t help eliciting the revulsion it seeks; there’s no denying there’s physical power when Dad swings his ax or emotional power when he turns to his sons and asks them to do the same.

But by the end, what’s also clear is that “Frailty” ultimately had no interest in these children at all beyond using them to generate a few thrills and to create a marketing buzz: We don’t learn anything about them beyond what serves the plot – or the ridiculous twists that come at the end – which seems to me a decision that would have been a more appropriate place for Dad to bury his ax.

Grade: C-

On video and DVD

DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE, directed by Harold Becker, written by Lewis Colick. 88 minutes. Rated PG-13

Harold Becker’s “Domestic Disturbance” is like an old circus animal, one that’s performed its tricks so many times, it can barely muster the strength to perform them again.

The film, from a script by Lewis Colick, stars John Travolta as Frank Morrison, a divorced, recovering alcoholic who learns his family’s third-generation boat building business is about to go belly up just as his ex-wife, Susan (Teri Polo), is set to marry the local stud, Rick Barnes (Vince Vaughn).

What’s remarkable about Frank is that neither of these events seems to phase him. He’s so complacent and emotionally removed, so absurdly mild-mannered and detached, he seems less like a man facing a turning point in his life than he does a pod person who just stepped off the mother ship.

Grounding him is his teen-age son, Danny (Matt O’Leary), a troubled liar who wants his parents back together so badly, nobody believes him when he claims he witnessed Rick brutally murder a man. Is Danny crying wolf? Or could it be that he really did see Rick stab his former business associate, Ray (Steve Buscemi), before roasting him in a brick oven?

As the film moves toward its rushed ending, “Domestic Disturbance” occasionally simmers, but it drops so many clues and telegraphs so many scenes along the way, it also suggests that Becker would rather play it safe than shake up a genre that badly needs to be invigorated.

Grade: C

Christopher Smith’s reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, occasionally on Fridays on E! Entertainment’s “E! News Weekend,” Tuesdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5” and Thursdays on “NEWS CENTER at 5:30” on WLBZ-2 and WCSH-6. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

THE VIDEO/DVD CORNER

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores.

Black Knight ? F

The Deep End ? A

Domestic Disturbance ? C

The Man Who Wasn’t There ? B+

Mulholland Drive ? A

Spy Game ? C+

Bandits ? D

13 Ghosts ? F

Donnie Darko ? B

K-Pax ? B-

Life as a House ? C

Original Sin ? F

Our Lady of the Assassins ? B+

Riding in Cars with Boys ? B-

Training Day ? B-

Heist ? B+

Joy Ride ? B+

Zoolander ? C-

A.I. ? B-

The Last Castle ? C-

Sexy Beast ? B+

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back ? F

The Musketeer ? D-

The Taste of Others ? A-

Don’t Say a Word ? C-

Hardball ? C+

O ? B+

Hearts in Atlantis ? B

Life Without Dick ? D

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin ? D

Ghost World ? A

Lost & Delirious ? C-

Atlantis: The Lost Empire ? C

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion ? B-

Lisa Picard is “Famous” ? B

Kiss of the Dragon ? B-

Rock Star ? B

American Pie 2 ? C+

Bubble Boy ? F

Glitter ? D

Sound and Fury ? A

Jeepers Creepers ? D

The Fast and the Furious ? B

The Glass House ? C

Greenfingers ? B-

What’s the Worse that Could Happen ? D

The Center of the World ? C

Evolution ? D-

Two Can Play That Game ? C+

Moulin Rouge ? A-

The Princess Diaries ? C+

Scary Movie 2 ? D

Hedwig and the Angry Inch ? A

Jurassic Park III ? B-

Rush Hour 2 ? D