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- Frailty - US DVD -

'Frailty' is actor Bill Paxtons directorial debut. Paxton is an interesting choice
to bring this macabre and suspenseful movie to the big screen. 
This movie was not what I expected. I am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.
Even as I write this review, I am not sure how I completely feel about this movie.
The plot has to do with two separate cases of serial killers, a generation apart.
The recent killings are being done by someone referred to as the ‘Gods Hand killer.
A man who identifies himself as 'Fenton Meeks' (Matthew McConuaghey) shows up in an
F.B.I. office. He wants to see the agent in charge of the case. 'Agent Wesley Doyle'
(Powers Boothe) agrees to meet with the man. 'Agent Doyle' is informed that Fentons 
younger brother, 'Adam,' is the killer. 'Agent Doyle' is sceptical but agrees to 
listen. 'Fenton' explains that to understand this recent string of killings the past
must be explored.
The story then shifts back to 1979.  
'Fenton' and his younger brother 'Adam' are in grade school. Their widowed father 
(Bill Paxton) works as a mechanic. One night their Dad has a vision. He believes 
that an angel came to him. Dad is given a mission for his family. It appears that
the world is full of demons. The family must save the world from these demons. The
family will be provided with three weapons to defeat the demons. The weapons turn 
out to be an axe named 'Otis,' a pair of work gloves, and an iron pipe. 
One day at work Dad is once again visited by an angel. A list of demons is provided.
Dad goes right to work. He kidnaps the first victim and brings her home. She is brought
to the shed. The boys reluctantly join their father. Dad takes off the gloves and 
touches the bound, gagged and bleeding woman. He has a reaction indicating that the
woman is in fact a demon. Using the axe, he disposes of her. After she is chopped up,
Dad and the boys bury her in the towns Rose Garden. 
Young 'Adam' (Jeremy Sumpter) believes in his fathers labor. Young 'Fenton' (Matt 
OLeary) does not. 
The family finds itself in conflict.
The movie movies along at quite a slow pace. Quite often I thought it was too slow. 
Many of the scenes seemed that they just did not want to end. 
The movie does take some interesting twists and turns. 
For most of the flick I was convinced that the supernatural, in any form, had nothing
to do with the plot. 
Dad is obviously nuts and that is it. Religious fanaticism has caught a hold of him.
His mind has become warped. He has no special powers. That was what I thought.
The movie spins around and causes us to wonder what is really happening. 
A major problem with this is that too many of the twists and turns occur to close to 
the end of the movie.  
Most of this movie bored me.
It was not until the very end that I started to see the logic in the film.  
After I was finished watching the movie, and was involved with screening the extra 
features, that is when I started to really like the movie. 
After I watched the directors commentary that is when it really clicked together.
This is not a good thing. A movie needs to absorb the audience while it takes place,
not long after it is over.
Screen writer Brent Hanleys script is heavy on dialogue. The interaction between the
characters is good. The script allowed too many static situations to exist. These 
were built around the interaction between either 'Fenton' and 'Agent Doyle' or
the boys and their Dad. Scenes like this are necessary, but overdone in this movie.
I did like the abduction scenes and Dad slaying the alleged demons. They are 
realistic, brutal, but not overly excessive. The axe is never shown striking flesh.
We do hear it and feel its intensity. They are well set up and realistically morbid.
Director Paxton gets high marks for these scenes. 
The darker parts of the story are right on target. 
The scenes in the Rose Garden are quite chilling. It does not make up for the slow
pace. The problem was that I expected something to happen long before it did.
After it happened so late in the story, I was so far along in the story, that I 
felt like I had watched two separate movies.
The acting is very good. Powers Boothe gives a fine performance as the F.B.I. agent.
Jeremy Sumpter and Matt O Leary are outstanding as two young boys caught in a 
desperate situation.
The movie is well scored. It has a classic, almost Gothic presence about the sound 
track. It keeps us from ever thinking that everything is going to work out all right.
Quite a few extras are included. Three, yes, three commentary versions can be chosen.
There are a directors commentary, a production commentary, and a writers commentary.
That is just a little too much for me. I would recommend passing on all but the 
directors commentary. I mean, unless your life is more boring then mine and you have
more than four and a half excess hours to kill.
Several of the other extras are worth watching. A documentary, ‘The making of Frailty'
gives quite a bit of information on what went into creating the film. 
‘Anatomy of a Scene' is also quite engrossing. It focuses on the car ride with 
'Fenton' and 'F.B.I. Doyle.' This scene is an important part of the film as it links
the past to the present. It shows how the script, the acting, the photographers, the
production design, the editor, and the director must all be in tune with each other.
The pictures from selected story boards are also worth a quick look. 
Deleted scenes can be played either with or without directors commentary. I recommend
watching with Paxtons explanation.
I recommend ‘Frailty, but with reservations. 
This is a movie with quite a bit of potential, but I cannot guarantee that you will 
like it. 
If this DVD did not have all the extras, I might say pass on it.

Reviewed By Scal Williams.

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