MOVIE REVIEW :: Frailty

'FRAILTY' FIRST MUST-SEE MOVIE OF 2002
Finally.

Four months into 2002 and the first must-see movie of the year has finally come out. And in this case, it has come out swinging (with an ax, among other things).

Frailty, directed by and starring Bill Paxton, is an eerie Southern Gothic tale that blends elements of an X-files episode with a slasher flick, then veers into the supernatural and back for a final twist that rivals The Sixth Sense, even if you did see it coming.

I did, but it didn't matter. The film is laden with so many twists and turns that even if you do figure it out, there is more to the story than you ever thought possible which makes the conclusion that much more satisfying.

The story follows an FBI investigation in present day Texas. A young man named Fenton Meiks (Matthew McConaughey) approaches the lead FBI investigator, claiming he knows the identity of a serial killer who calls himself 'God's Hands.' The FBI agent (Powers Boothe) is curious, but skeptical until Fenton reveals that the killer is his younger brother Adam.

Fenton recounts in a series of flashbacks, how he and his brother grew up in a very loving family, raised by their widowed father.

All that changed, the day his father awoke, believing he had been visited by an angel and given a mission to destroy 'demons' -- seemingly normal looking people, who walk this earth as pure evil.

Fenton's father, and then his brother Adam, swore to carry out this "divine" mission. Fenton refused to participate in the killings.

Out of loyalty however, he refused to go the police, until now. The FBI agent follows Fenton to the family's rose garden only to find that neither evil nor innocence are what they seem.

And Frailty is the same way.

The audience didn't know whether to laugh or cringe when Paxton tells young Fenton, "Do it like I showed you," motioning toward a restrained 'demon,' "The neck is first." Here is dad, seemingly consumed by murderous religious fervor, patiently coaching his son on the fine art of hacking someone to death with an ax.

It was brilliant.

The entire film leaves you on the edge of your seat, thanks to Paxton working double time as star and director. Behind the camera, Paxton shifts a normal Texas town into a grisly, dark world where nothing is as it seems. And in front of the camera, he turns in the performance of his career as a caring father and ... serial killer? Or demon slayer?

Frailty is a much stronger film than the title suggests, and if it does not make a killing at the box office, it could very well be the sleeper hit of the year.