GODSEND is not a godsend. Ugh, this is film is dumb. Paul and Jessie Duncan (Greg Kinnear, AS GOOD AS IT GETS, & Rebecca Romijn, X-MEN) love their son Adam (Cameron Bright, BIRTH). So when he is killed, they are distraught. At the funeral, Jessie’s former teacher Richard Wells (Robert DeNiro, RAGING BULL) offers them a morbid proposition — he can clone their son.
The film goes through the typical reluctance to the idea then clones the kid. Everything seems fine until new Adam reaches the age of old Adam and he begins to see and hear strange things. The film plays along typical thriller lines until the end when it tries to twist things and ends up twisting the entire plausibility of the plot off the rails.
Not that I’m saying any part of this film is plausible in the least. The pseudo-science the film spouts is as “real” as having alien demons creating a clone of Adam so he will become the antichrist. Actually, demons or aliens would have worked better because the science is so stupid it undermines the credibility of the characters’ intelligence. The whole proposition of Wells is preposterous. Him being Jessie’s old teacher is still not a close enough relationship for him to take such a chance in exposing himself to the authorities.
The twist not only stretches all scientific believability but also doesn’t make sense in regards to the character’s motivations. And the final ending ending is beyond stupid into the territory of “we ran out of ideas and this is all we could come up with.” The film becomes so inept at the end that even the simple cliché thriller moments are done in the lamest ways. Kinnear and DeNiro need to find new agents and Romijn needs to stick to silent roles where she has no clothes on like in X-MEN. The whole film isn’t unwatchable just the ending. But that’s not really a winning statement is it?
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
