Rate It
|
||||||||||||||||
Rating Averages
My Friends |
Not rated. () |
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
All Flixster |
(13167) |
4893 |
22380 |
Female |
(5326) |
1979 |
9052 |
Male |
(7841) |
2914 |
13328 |
More Like This
If you liked this, then you'll also probably like...
Got another recommendation for someone who liked this movie? Add it to the list!
Got an opinion? Use the buttons to vote on all the suggestions people have added.
If lots of people vote, the best suggestions will rise to the top.
| Requiem (50%) |
|
|
|---|---|---|
| The Rapture (100%) |
|
|
| The Usual Suspects (40%) |
|
|
| Fallen (75%) |
|
|
| Hard Candy (50%) |
|
|
Plot: A man confesses to an FBI agent his family's story of how his religious fanatic father's visions lead to a series of murders to destroy supposed "demons."
Skin art by
virgincrow. Unskin this page.
Meet Other Fans
-
ONLINE NOW -
ONLINE NOW -
ONLINE NOW -
-
-
-
-
Recent Reviews
-
MCT:August 17, 2008Not what i was expecting,i did not find it creepy or disturbing as many other Flixster members did but it was a good film,i would describe it as a horror drama. Great ending,fab twist.
-
MCT:August 8, 2008Definitely one of the best in the moral serial killer genre, good acting throughout the whole movie and a very satisfying ending.
-
MCT:August 3, 2008
A good start. Bill Paxton is the only one that continuously shines in his directorial debut; the kids only go so far and the people not faking accents keep this from becoming an absurd "La Mala Educacion." The story was constantly interesting in its religious "placebo effect" though I expected a little more. As far as the amount of "God-told-me-to-do-it" violence and disturbing contents go, I'm more than satisfied.
-
MCT:July 26, 2008
Wow! I absolutely did not see that coming. I love Bill Paxton in this movie he is so very talented. Matthew McConaughey telling his story with its many twists and gripping details.
-
MCT:July 25, 2008A really good flick with an interesting story and a really good twist. I´m alway being interesting in stories about religious fanatic, I find that subject so disturbing.
Matthew McConaughey did a great performance, and guess what? he isn´t shirtless.
A worth of watch! -
MCT:July 16, 2008
Intense and terrifying, Frailty haunting atmosphere will give you chills and the cast brings their A-game.
-
MCT:July 13, 2008One of my favourite films and one of the best film twists ever.
A sinister tale, well written and put together well, I never tire from watching this and never fail to be impressed.
To anyone who hasn't watched this film yet, you really should. -
MCT:July 13, 2008
Including religious fanatics and killing demons this wasn't exactly what I expected. I was waiting for a mediocre thriller to spend my boring night with but instead I got a thought provoking and at times a positively confusing story. Leaves you thinking afterwards of the different theories the movie delicately suggests.
-
MCT:July 13, 2008
This is one crazy, crazy movie! It is shocking to find out that it was all true and the people killed actually deserved it in the end and were actually worse offenders than the murderers themselves. It has such a well placed twist that I enjoyed it nonetheless.
-
MCT:May 30, 2008Bill Paxton's directional debut, "Frailty" is a powerful story about father-son relationship, faith, delusion and emotional abuse with disturbing yet lovely anti-Christian subtext and it's a damn shame it doesn't live up to what it promises.
"Frailty" is a remarkable film. Magnificent, really. Till the last 15 minutes when the first twist land before our eyes, causing a little bit of confusion and quickly followed by another that floors viewer on the ground, making him shake his head mutely and then mumble angrily: "Why?"
The problem with twists is that they never lift the value of the material, and with badly putted ones, they make a viewer feel as a victim of practical joke, obviously making it something one would never want to experience again. Knowing that they are reserved for entertaining factors, not for as serious and as intelligently written script as "Frailty" is, which respects our intelligence and imagination from the very beginning, it's seems unbelieveable that Brent Hanley would've wanted this story to end as it ends, making it to be a victim of a few lousy twists that leads us to see how thought-provoking story is turned into a sheer Hollywoodesque nonsense, leaving us feel as if the author's lost touch with the original idea, which is suposedly one of being obsessed with wanting to be someone with a greater purpose than others. It's important, for the most part brilliantly exectued theme which makes the ending only more awful as if 15 minutes were written by someone else.
Seriously, when the credits started to roll, I sighed and imagined myself a scene with some old slowly-thinking jerk at the production office sitting at the corner of his giant oak-desk, throwing the original script on Hanley's knees and saying: "Listen, kid. I like this thing, I really do, but this ending... the older kid kills the father and then we see them how they struggle with their memories some years later. No, no good. It's boring. We need something here that would spice things up a little bit. Throw in some damn FBI agent who will turn out to be the real villain and by doing that you'll make a vigilante from one of the boys or some shit like that. Come back when it's done." Didn't you had the same relevation, too?
But enough of whinning. Paxton's direction is very competent yet low-key; being an actor, he builds each scene very carefully focusing on acting and dialogue, making his directing completely invisible. He also understands perfectly that the true treasure in the script lays in the concept the origins of the father's delusion remain unexplained, making it normal, obvious and mysterious at the same time and, in result, fascinating. Each scene has its inner strong drama that slowly builds tension which keeps us interesting without feeling that we're waiting for something to happen till it explodes in final confronation. Perfect approach.
I don't recall in recent memory any movie which would left me as unsatisfied and in the notion of being cheated as "Frailty" did. Probably because I loved it so much to see it ending as fascinating as it started. Even though I imagine it as a picture that could've been a psychological masterpiece and think of it a deeply flawed film seeing it as it is, I admire every single inspiring and simply good element it contains. -
MCT:May 27, 2008
This was before McConaghey began starring in romantic flicks. This is one of those movies that has a slight twist in the end. I can watch it over and over again because it is sooo good.
-
MCT:May 26, 2008
Although I really enjoyed the flashback story about the father and two sons and how creepy it was because of the lack of emotion the father showed when talking about "killing demons," I found the segments set in the present to be extremely uninteresting and the ending was not as surprising as it thought it was. Still pretty good and very creepy/weird.
-
MCT:May 25, 2008Es una lastima ver como una muy buena idea se va al caño simplemente por estar hecha de una forma exageradamente predecible.
-
MCT:May 23, 2008
Of course I only watched it for the eye candy, but I loved the ending. I felt like a nut for being surprised by it but I was so. *shrugs*
-
MCT:May 20, 2008
Mr. Everywhere, Bill Paxton does a spot on job, both acting and directing this film of a Warrior for God, that can "see" the Sinners.
The boys in the movie did a great job with such a dark plot.
The twists throughout the movie are well done. -
MCT:May 20, 2008
i love movies that lead you in one direction and when it ends your in a completely other direction..and this movie definetly does that
-
MCT:May 17, 2008One of those movies that is only good if you haven't figured out the twist. Of course, the TV static leaves everything in doubt about what's real and what isn't. At the end, I really didn't care.
-
MCT:May 9, 2008
The best kind of film to know nothing about other than it's a thriller (in case you're trying to decide what to watch). Sadly, as with all great thrillers, it won't have the same impact on the second viewing.
-
MCT:April 13, 2008
There's something about an axe murderer that's a little bit more frightening than other forms - not that I have a great deal of experience of course. But I suppose if you recount the way you've felt when watching a movie about said subject, the firing of a gun, strangulation, pushing someone off a cliff... they don't quite have the same churning, disturbing impact as the thought of someone being murdered with an axe. You can be sure when a movie choses this as its central theme, that the intensity and drama is going to imprint itself far more than if the subject was killing with a sniper or via a killer dog or something. Vulgar thoughts, but often those are the ones that ring truest.
In "Frailty", a serial axe murderer [dubbed the God's Hand Killer] is the central theme. That axe murderer is unkonwn to the FBI despite the best efforts of Agent Wesley Doyle (Boothe - "Men of Honour", "Joan of Arc", "Nixon", "Tombstone"). The investigation turns on its head when Fenton Meiks (McConaughey - "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", "Reign of Fire", "The Wedding Planner", "Contact", "A Time to Kill") enters his office one rainy (obviously) night and identifies his brother Adam as the killer. Doyle is sceptical, and only slightly less so after Fenton recounts their childhood.
Through a series of flashbacks we see the simple family life of Fenton (played as a child by the very talented Matt O'Leary - "The Alamo", "Domestic Disturbance", Spy Kids 2", "Spy Kids 3-D"), Adam (Jeremy Sumpter) and their father (Paxton - "Twister", "Aliens", "A Simple Plan", "Titanic") - their mother died when giving birth to Adam. They lead a normal blue-collar existence in Texas until one night their Dad tells them that God visited him. God tells Mr Meiks that it is he and his family's job to track down demons on earth who are masquerading as humans and kill them. Further visits from angels will reveal who those people are and how the job is to be done.
What do you know...this seems to make some sort of psychological impression on Fenton and Adam. Adam follows his father loyally, believing in his revelation, Fenton resists. Now, both grown up Fenton finally reveals to the cops that he believes the serial killer is Adam.
Bill Paxton makes his directorial debut here. Used to being a minor player in major movies ("Titanic", "Aliens", "Apollo 13") and not a particularly talented one either, one would not expect the sharpest of performances from him behind the camera. You'd be dead wrong. This might be one of the most surprisingly adept movie debuts you'll see. The story of "Frailty" is like a coil - tight and tense, it needs to be handled carefully to stop it springing free and out of control. Not to overstate things, Paxton directs at a level you might expect from Brian DePalma.
Critical to the movie is the investment you put in Fenton and Agent Doyle. From the beginning, the scene is set well - a dark office, late at night. The rain is falling, Fenton looking unkempt but alert - his question to Agent Doyle as to why he only has one picture of his mother in the office, bringing her in to the story for what seems to be little rhyme or reason at the time.
Forced to flash back twenty five years or so to tell the tail, and subsequently needing to employ kids to develop the plot, Paxton then shines on the other side of the camera, producing one of the most convincing performances of his career as an actor. He is helped undeniably by the ever-rising star of Matt O'Leary who put some guts in to the otherwise wimpy "Domestic Disturbance" with John Travolta.
I described in the first paragraph the uneasiness you feel when it comes to visualising an axe murderer and Paxton engages us with the subject matter without turning us off, or turning our stomachs. This is most definitely a psychological thriller rather than a gore-fest and it's a film that builds true intrigue rather than building a feeling that you should be intrigued, which many big-name movies do (without pay-off I might add).
McConaughey is back on form here after starring in rather fluffy material like "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". He's creepy - but if you'd been through what he's been through, you would be too. Boothe always reminds me of Tommy Lee Jones and I was left wondering if he was imagined for the role initially. As it is, Boothe is fine if a little generic.
"Frailty" really works and is genuinely scary and more thought-provoking than you would expect. The ending is real border-line genius/nonsense and if you're tipping towards the latter after seeing it, a few days contemplation might point you the other way.
If Paxton finds another script of this ilk and level (Brent Hanley's debut also), then there's no reason why he can't succeed where more established names have failed. -
MCT:March 21, 2008
A creepy film that gave me a few nightmares. Great acting as usual from Paxton and Matthew check it out.
-
MCT:March 12, 2008FRAILTY (2002)
directed by Bill Paxton
starring Bill Paxton, Matthew McConaughey, Matt O'LearyFrailty is quite a disturbing film and Bill Paxton directs it with flair. Even if sometimes it looks like a TV movie, some other scenes are simply great with an extremely harrowing look. Some shot are absolutely terrific. Bill Paxton not only does a great job as a director but also as an actor in this film and the child actors playing his sons are pretty good as well, they surprisingly manage to show depth.Well Fraity is about a man who claims he got a list of people to kill from God and starts taking his kids on his «missions». Frailty is about faith, but also about family, there are lots of good moments between the dad and his kids. This film is also about madness cause we never know if what the dad claims is for real and Paxton never gives us any hint leaving us wondering until the end.
Very clever film, smartly made, well-acted. Its creepy, sometimes funny, but intentionally funny, and its totally works.
-
MCT:March 12, 2008
Quite a deep psychological thrill ride of a story, and impressive acting by Matt O'Leary. Unfortunately ol' Billy-Bob Paxton brought this film down a peg or three in my peg book.
My Friends Said...
Frailty Recent Reviews
Register or sign-in to see your friends' reviews !
Comments
-
Ouiagonyposted 417 days ago -
i had difficulty walking in my house alone in the dark for days after watching this movie...there was just something about it.
posted 456 days ago
