The latest film featuring Nicolas Cage, The Carpenter's Son, has arrived in cinemas, and it represents a significant misstep for the acclaimed actor. Directed by Lotfy Nathan, this biblical horror attempts to reframe the early years of Jesus but instead delivers a confusing and tedious experience that wastes its potential and its cast.
A Baffling Casting Decision
Nicolas Cage appears profoundly miscast as Joseph, the carpenter who served as adoptive father to Jesus. Rather than adapting his performance to suit the grave subject matter, Cage maintains his distinctive California accent and tendency toward dramatic outbursts. This creates a jarring disconnect in a film that treats its biblical source material with dead seriousness.
The confusion begins immediately regarding what kind of film this actually is. Is it a supernatural coming-of-age story? A gonzo horror experiment? A superhero origin tale? The answer appears to be all of these simultaneously, but the elements never cohere into a satisfying whole.
Questionable Storytelling Choices
Inspired by the Infancy Gospel of Thomas – a text considered heretical by some Christian traditions – the film establishes its dark tone early. The opening features a screaming cave birth sequence followed by King Herod's men burning babies in a bonfire as mothers wail in despair.
We then follow Cage's unnamed carpenter and the mother, played by FKA twigs, as they escape with their teenage son, known simply as "the boy" and portrayed by Noah Jupe. The family settles in a remote village where the boy struggles to understand his unusual gifts amid conflicting forces.
There are glimpses of a more compelling film here – the concept of exploring Jesus as a gifted teenager navigating his identity and powers holds dramatic promise. His father embodies joyless devotion, fasting regularly and blocking all light from their home. The townspeople maintain suspicion toward the family, except for one lonely girl eager for companionship.
Technical and Performance Flaws
The film's beautiful Greek locations provide its only consistent visual appeal. Unfortunately, Lotfy Nathan's devilish imagery proves nasty but entirely unscary, while his rushed storytelling creates confusion rather than tension. The pacing suggests last-minute editing that hacked the film apart before frantically reassembling it.
The cast suffers from Nathan's uncertain direction, with each performer seeming to appear in a different, equally problematic film. FKA twigs delivers a performance as stiff and unconvincing as her work in last year's The Crow remake. Noah Jupe emerges relatively unscathed, though his role remains thankless rather than rewarding.
Cage's performance fluctuates awkwardly between the restrained work of Pig and Dream Scenario and his more excessive, fan-pleasing midnight movie tendencies. He appears poorly modulated, much like the film itself, which never commits fully to horror nor develops sufficient emotional depth to work as drama.
The Carpenter's Son ultimately languishes in an unsatisfying middle ground – not frightening enough for horror enthusiasts and too messy for drama fans. The film's inability to define itself stems not from bold originality but from fundamental uncertainty about what it wants to be.
The film releases in Australian cinemas on 20 November and arrives in UK cinemas on 21 November. Given the disappointing results, it's difficult to imagine this finding much appreciation among British audiences seeking either meaningful biblical drama or effective horror.
