Nicolas Cage biblical horror film The Carpenter’s Son blasted as ‘dreary’ and ‘misguided’ in first reviews

The reviews are in, and critics say Nicolas Cage has another trouble on his hands in his latest film, The Carpenter’s Son.

In the already controversial biblical horror film, the 61-year-old Oscar winner plays Jesus’ father Joseph, who tries to protect his teenage son who is tempted by a mysterious stranger who turns out to be Satan.

The film, which will be released on Friday, November 14, is written and directed by Lofty Nathan and is inspired by the apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas, which attempts to retrospectively fill in the early stages of Jesus when his divine powers emerged.

Early reviews of the film described it as ‘bleak’ and ‘misguided’, while others criticized it for lacking suspense due to its well-known Bible-inspired storyline.

Cage’s performance was more polarizing for critics; While some praised the star’s work in a weak film, others said he was as over-the-top as ever. Carpenter’s Son.

Accordingly WindingAccording to William Bibbiani of , The Carpenter’s Son’s greatest weakness is that viewers will be left guessing as to whether Satan can successfully lead Jesus into sin.

Several critics wrote that Cage was miscast due to both his overly dramatic performance and the connotations it brought with him due to his previous unbalanced roles; A photo taken in Osaka, Japan, in May

‘Let’s just say that the ending is unlikely to be a spoiler,’ writes Bibbiani. ‘There is no doubt because the chances of Jesus joining Mephistopheles’ Brotherhood of Evil Messiahs are zero. It doesn’t work.”

Bibbiani also takes issue with the film’s reference to Joseph, Mary (FKA Twigs), and Jesus (Noah Jupe) as the Carpenter, Mother, and Child, respectively, because the absence of proper names does not make it any less obvious that viewers are seeing a story inspired by apocryphal texts excluded from the official biblical text.

writing for Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck thinks The Carpenter’s Son ‘tries too hard for a seriousness it never deserves’.

He cites the casting of Cage and FKA Twigs as Joseph and Mary as examples of him ‘throwing in the towel’ from the beginning of the film.

From the beginning of the film, Cage ‘exudes a joke vibe’, echoes of his earlier wild performances.

The actor’s demeanor also clashes with the film’s overly ‘serious’ tone, and Scheck says the film won’t please those looking for both an inspirational faith movie and a solid horror movie.

Inside colliderAiden Kelley admits that Cage is ‘miscast’, but notes that his intense performance is not objectively bad, but doesn’t match the other lighter performances.

He writes that The Carpenter’s Son suffers from a ‘meandering’ pace before ramping up for a ‘hurried ending’ that ends the film on a sour note.

FKA Twigs plays Mary and Noah Jupe plays Jesus

According to The Wrap’s William Bibbiani, the biggest weakness of The Carpenter’s Son is that viewers will be left guessing about whether Satan can successfully tempt Jesus into sin due to its widely known source material.

Some critics criticized the film’s overly somber tone, which contrasted with Cage’s “campy” lead performance.

Jacob Oller of the AV Club, in a C- rating, calls The Carpenter’s Son a ‘shockingly dull genre movie’ that consistently veers away from the temptations of Satan and towards dull domestic drama involving Joseph and Mary.

But even negative reviews tended to praise the performance of Isla Johnston (pictured) as The Stranger, who is later revealed to be Satan.

In a C review, AV Club‘s Jacob Oller calls The Carpenter’s Son a ‘shockingly dull genre film’.

‘It takes dedication to make a boring movie starring Nicolas Cage as Joseph and Jesus in a fistfight with Satan, but The Carpenter’s Son sets about its task with no small amount of dedication.’

Oller criticizes the film for failing to build tension by constantly returning to the domestic drama between Cage and Twigs instead of focusing on the dark temptations provided by Satan.

Finally, he compares The Carpenter’s Son unfavorably to other well-respected biblical films, writing: “It grapples with Jesus coming into his own without the bloody masochism of Mel Gibson, the brooding sophistication of Martin Scorsese, or the bombastic sheen of prayerful bargaining epics.”

Some critics were more positive about the film; IGNSiddhant Adlakha of .

She writes that The Carpenter’s Son is ‘a fascinating film of committed performances and violent imagery that at times play out in compelling ways if you ignore conservative ideas surrounding modern gender norms.’

He praises Cage’s ‘deeply heartfelt performance’ and decides that the film should be seen as ‘a religious drama knocking on the door of effective psychological horror’ rather than an all-out scarefest.

For Slash CartoonChris Evangelista praises the horror film for its ‘real sense of threat’ and suggests that those familiar with the Biblical apocryphs may enjoy the film more than viewers who only know the standard texts.

Although most reviews were negative, critics were largely positive about Isla Johnston’s performance as Jesus’ mysterious friend.

She begins as a bad influence on the messiah who is later revealed to be Satan, and many critics praised the subtlety of Johnston’s performance and the character’s engaging role in an otherwise rote story.

However, some of the praise was tempered as many critics questioned the film’s decision to have Satan take a distinctly androgynous form.