you know that a movie has issues when most everyone in the audience comes out laughing . . . and it's not a comedy ! and what a strange career path for director chuck russell . he starts his career off with a decent take on the " nightmare on elm street " series with his debut as director on installment number three . he follows that up with the blob the very next year , but waits another six years to do his next piece , a little film called the mask starring jim carrey , and then one more star vehicle in eraser two years after that . so then he thought , " let me wait another five years , get a weak script jammed with cliches and hope that jimmy smits and kim basinger could pull it out of its ashes " ? ! ? strange dude and one crappy flick . plot : a six-year old girl is believed to be some kind of mysterious prophet sent down from god . a satanic cult wants the girl to switch over to their side , while the girl's aunt wants to . . . well , save her from those damn devil worshippers ! enter one occult expert agent , plenty of bobo cops and lots of nuns praying , and you've just about got the gist of things here . critique : with plot holes the size of my ass , this movie barely squeezes any sense out of its clich ? -ridden plot , with wasted talent , cheezy effects , bad dialogue and unintentional laughs to boot . what's good about this movie ? well , rufus sewell is pretty fun to watch as the head of a creepy runaway children's shelter/satanist supreme , with seriously wicked eyes and just enough ham in his performance to go with all of the cheese lying around . the little girl is also pretty good but unfortunately her character doesn't really do all that much . and believe it or not , i was actually enjoying some of the film's first half hour , which starts off with some promise , but not before bonehead moves after bonehead moves from our protagonist , basinger , just drown the film's entire basis of believability . for some reason , it takes her more time than anyone to figure out that her niece is gifted , and even longer to figure out that every move that she makes . . . is a dumb one ! add that to the entire police force of incompetents , save for jimmy smits ( whose talent agent advised him that playing the exact same cop character from nypd blue would be a good career move ? at least change the clothes , jimmy ! ) , zero scares , zero thrills and even less actual drama , and you've got yourself a pretty bad movie . and why would respected actors like christina ricci and ian holm take bit parts in this movie ? did they owe the director a favor or something ? together , they barely have five minutes of screen time , but i suppose that ricci's hospital room scene might be worth a look for some of you horn-dogs . the worst part about this movie is its hilariously unbelievable ending , which features police officers coming up with the brilliant idea of " sneaking up " on a man's house , who they know to be guilty of a crime ! uuuhmm . . . how's about knocking on the door and arresting his sorry ass , officers ? ! anyway , i don't usually inscribe spoilers in my reviews but the stupidity of some of these characters is just too difficult to describe without validating it with solid idiotic proof ( and there was plenty to go around ) . and did basinger lose some of her acting " talent " during her hiatus from the profession after her 1997 oscar win ? difficult to say if it was her lines that were really bad , or if she just delivered them poorly . either way , little originality , very obvious computer effects , little thrills , little drama and very little entertainment value , certainly bestow the honor of one of the worst movies of the summer upon this film . but if you really don't mind a rehashed gobbledygook of various satanic and " kid " -based thrillers , and enjoy watching films that don't bring anything new to the table . . . well , drink some beers , smoke some beans and rent this video , because it may just be one of the funnier thrillers of the year .
