Mothman Prophecies (**)
review by Jon Waterman

Washington Post reporter, John Klein (Richard Gere), finds himself mysteriously placed in Point Pleasure, West Virginia when he was trying to get to Richmond, Regular Virginia.  Now, he’s thrown into a news story that he can’t quite get a handle on.  It seems that tens of people around town have been seeing this big dark creature with red eyes, who in turn gives them red eyes.  One man, Gordon (played by Will Patton), claims to be talking to this thing and it’s giving him information on future disasters.  Can Klein solve the mystery before it’s too late?

If I was a video box writer who was bored with his job, this is how I would describe the plot.  It’s still an accurate description, despite the obvious flaws.  The plot is interesting.  We have a man who finds himself in a situation he doesn’t understand.  He meets people who can help him solve the mystery of what is happening in the town and to him.  He runs all over the place trying to learn the truth.  Sounds like a good idea, pretty basic, but still fun to watch, right?  So, what went wrong?

For one, it was too long.  The film runs about two hours.  I bet the story could have been told in around one and a half, tops.  If the movie was faster, maybe I wouldn’t have been so bored.  I kept waiting for something to happen, and it rarely did.  The first hour was comprised of several townspeople telling Klein and Sgt. Connie Parker (played by Laura Linney) what they saw.  He gathers data, and we might say to ourselves, “Hmm, I’m intrigued as to where this might lead,” once or twice.  However, it doesn’t lead anywhere until the interest is gone.  When something ear-catching finally happens an hour into it, that’s when the movie gets going, slowly.  But, who’s still awake?

The movie looked nice.  The title sequence grabbed me.  I was enthralled by the way the titles played with the picture.  The flares on the lights were unique and sharp.  After those first few minutes, the film was still shot very well, but nothing really stuck out in the same way without being a distraction.  Director Mark Pellington ("Arlington Road") shows promise, but he needs to work on his subtlety techniques.  There were a lot of moth images in the film, and each one was thrown into your face.  The use of red eye symbolism was less obvious, but by no means hidden.  As for the choice of angles and movements of the camera, I understand what they were doing there, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was being sucked out of movie when watching those complicated pans and birds-eye-view shots.  I want to be pulled in to the story, not thrown out because the camera makes some seemingly irrational move.  The POV shots were jarring and could have been handled better.

The acting was rather mundane.  Linney, who can usually pull out all the punches, reserves her energy for the next one.  Gere just seems to be trying too hard.  He pours out all these emotions so many times that boredom sets in.  I’d like a little more range from a character than just crying and moping (not mopping).  None of the other actors have much to be proud of either.  It seemed like they were on some bad TV drama.  Thankfully, there were no over-the-top, ultra-melodramatic performances (not even Gere’s).  However, all the performances were under-the-middle (even Linney’s).

I should mention that Richard Hatem (who’s only other credit is with Matt Reeves on "Under Siege 2") actually did a good job considering his experience.  He successfully avoided hokey dialogue and clichés.  I’m sure the screenplay (based on a novel based on true events) was modified and Hollywood-ized.  At no point did the film seem dumb or cheesy.  The subject matter was handled well in that the characters’ reactions to the happenings seemed believable and natural.  The flow needs work.  Condensing can be your friend.

I would have thoroughly enjoyed this movie had it been more compact.  I wanted to like it, but after an hour, I just wanted to fast-forward to the last ten minutes to see how it ended so I could go home.  The length and the acting together took away from my enjoyment.  Had I been blown away by the performances, perhaps I wouldn’t have noticed the repetition of the storyline.  Give me anything to keep me from counting the number of seats in the theater.

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