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Nicolas Cage may be the perfect choice for a bold scary movie about the biblical figure, though not for the reasons many audiences could guess. Actually, Cage doesn't actually act as the central religious figure in The Carpenter’s Son: his character is listed only as The Carpenter. The actor is positioned as a father figure in this narrative, striving to maintain his faith as the teenage character (acted by Noah Jupe), their adolescent foster child, commences to show miraculous gifts. Why it's challenging to imagine a different major actor taking this character is that while his character grows stricken with various difficulties, the actor appears almost moving certain that this murky, somber feature is a valuable project.

Cage's Current Film Selections

Nicolas Cage was allocating those years more carefully recently. He continues to makes more films than the majority of regular audiences may ever watch — as an illustration, are you aware that he has made a trio of distinct cowboy movies recently? — but he also mixes in esteemed critically acclaimed roles for example Dream Scenario, Pig, and Longlegs. The Carpenter’s Son seems like a similar project, because it’s genre-adjacent, potentially provocative, and handles a campy-sounding premise in a earnest manner.

The Film's Premise and Execution

Unfortunately, writer-director Lotfy Nathan does not reward viewer engagement. The film opens in a compellingly nomadic context, marketed as inspired by an obscure religious text about the youthful days of the messiah. Cage's character, the maternal figure, and the boy move constantly, anxious of doctrinal intolerance or doubt regarding The Boy’s mysterious gifts. “Trouble pursues us,” The Carpenter sadly observes. It goes on as sinister entities focus on the household where they currently live, getting a jump-start on the well-known scriptural test for the son.

At times, this production echoes an demonic possession-type supernatural thriller, though none of the central roles are directly possessed. Rather, they are increasingly alienated mutually, while these forces affect a local young woman (Isla Johnston, listed as an outsider) that The Boy connects to, and gives everyone disturbing images of a dark tomorrow. The Carpenter notably grapples with his position within the plot, at times berating the boy he doesn't completely grasp.

Discussion and Sensitivity

This material is apt to court controversy, and the director handles it with plenty of delicacy — overly, perhaps. The idea of a young man dealing with his future martyrdom and tempted by unknown powers is certainly terrifying, but the filmmaker may be wary of looking exploitative and anxious to telegraph his goals, thus he frequently retreats into darkly ominous visuals. Characters constantly ponder — the singer-actress, who displayed real promise in the 2024 Crow remake, of all things — yields her role to her religious attire, at times punctuated by some gnarly horror imagery.

Cage's Portrayal and Film's Shortcomings

At the same time, the actor toy with just the sort of exaggerated performance that his more snickering appreciators may desire. There is a moment (also included) in promotional material in which he erupts and shouts “I’ve lost my faith!” When this sort of florid outburst is part of a religious scary film, possibly a more boldly ridiculous approach would make better use of Cage’s willingness to exaggerate when necessary. Rather, The Carpenter’s Son more closely resembles the poorer direct-to-video productions Cage made during that period — excluding the campy action films but rather the dramas and ghost stories that often seem intriguing, and often contain some select memorable scenes, but finally come across like, indeed, cheap home video fare.

Truthfully, a number of those, although simpler, were more watchable as a whole. At this point I have to break my own dogma, not religious but career-related: Years back, a respected mentor convinced me to eliminate adjectives like “boring” or “dull” from my reviewing language. These phrases convey little other than a subjective and broadly stated restlessness, withdrawing from the job of vibrantly communicating the mental and emotional experience of viewing a particular movie. It's hard to convey monotony without seeming uninteresting yourself. It's just as unclear as calling a movie “notable.” “Explain further,” that is.

Yet, I acknowledge, I grew weary during much of The Carpenter’s Son. To the movie’s non-exploitative credit, it’s a religious style of dullness, not for The Carpenter’s Son is moralizing, but because it takes a kind of dutiful submission to sit through it. After a while in the beginning, this feature settles into a repetitive rhythm of ongoing suffering, and never really