Based Supposedly on Outlandish Early Christian Mythos!
At times, this films seems to be leading somewhere, however fails to deliver any valid message other than there was supposedly a group of evil folks walking around witnessing the heinous atrocities of all time, including the death of Christ on the cross. Christina Ricci was alright in this film, however she didn't really convince me that she had too much amnesia issues. After an accident caused by Marion Kirman (Kerry Fox), Cassie Grant (Ricci) is invited to stay while recuperating from amnesia at a small town called Ashby Wake. During her stay, Marion's husband Simon, (Stephen Dillane) is called away to look into a recent discovery nearby involving ruins in an old church that appear to record the crucifixion of Christ. Immediately afterwards, she runs into Dan Blakeley, (Ioan Gruffudd) and begins to experience a series of strange visions about the people around her. Somehow, the story-line unravels and begins to point to a connection with the recent archaeological dealings when they begin uncovering evidence of a centuries-old religious cover-up involving a sect known as "The Gathering", who are cursed to watch human suffering. Everyone involved seems to become involved with unraveling these ghostly apparition's true intentions before Cassie's vision come to full fruition.
Part of the good stuff in this film includes the scenes within the underground lair where the original discoveries take place. From the appearance of the decorations, which look suitably decrepit with the scaly appearance completely covering the statue's faces while the line of faces completely encircles the entire lair. This, allows for an extremely believable and chilling centerpiece to which the entire film centers around.
What really makes this film fall apart and way short, is it's seemingly never-ending sub-plot that ties a fanatical killer to the main story-line. As as a fictional story goes, this one could have been a real winner if it just kept it a bit more simple.
If you want a sermon on what this film really intends to accomplish, it would be to help us examine our intent on watching frightful and disturbing things being played out daily in the world and try not to fall prey to callousness and apathy towards cruelty to others. We should try hard to examine ourselves long enough not to put ourselves outside the pictorial representations of our world, yet just long enough to be a judge our own salvation. The lust of the flesh makes us weak, so we have to identify with the humanity of others much quicker than the animal that lies dormant beneath the reasoning of the id and ego. A good example of this marked turn in defining our species would be the changing wave of humanity's views on capital punishment and other things such as gender preference, however unpopular it might be to others (religious or otherwise).
As a good friend has said, "A continual effort to establish Faith is essential, due to the inevitable likelihood of the occasional dismantling of this or that belief. When such an event occurs, a strong Faith is there to absorb the impact and restructure the belief. Yet again, as we acknowledge the KNOWING process that helps us improve our understanding of just HOW to WORK on solidifying our Faith in a POWER well beyond a direct grasp.I personally seek such improvement thru Christianity."
The film sports great acting, directing, & look, but is burdened by a series of confusing moments that don't fall together correctly in the final cut.Read full review
