Review of The Reaping (2007) by Mega M — 03 Nov 2008

Clearly hiring Swank blew the budget, but fortunately, she was fabulous as always (not just looking, but also acting) and carried the film through the drier parts (of which there were few).

On the other hand, the CGI left much to be desired and as to be expected, there's more than a heaping helpin' of it in this biblical plague flick. I guess it wouldn't be practical to dye an entire swamp red but the blatant phoniness of the water-into-blood scenes greatly diminished the awe effect. And the supernatural hellstorm at the end could've been footage ripped wholesale from "The Science Project" - cutting edge 20 years ago, but Flintstonic by today's standards. Yet, I didn't much care.

The screenplay was well-written and coherent (something that cannot be said of many recent entries in this genre) and even the now obligatory "twist" ending strengthened rather than detracted from the story.

As defined by my "time-check" count, this film pulled a strong zero. And whenever I can make it through 100 minutes of cinema without so much as glance at the watch, something's gotta be right. Not a fantastic film by most measures, the Reaping is nevertheless an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.