The Gift
Synopsis
The only witness to the crime was not even there.
When a local woman disappears and the police can't seem to find any leads, her father turns to a poor young woman with psychic powers. Slowly she starts having visions of the woman chained and in a pond. Her visions lead to the body and the arrest of an abusive husband, but did he really do it?
Cast
Popular reviews
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This slow-burn southern Gothic potboiler is Sam Raimi's most underrated movie. The screenplay by Billy Bob Thorton and Tom Epperson is a whodunit revolving around the disappearance of the town tart (Katie Holmes) and a local psychic (Cate Blanchett) who receives fragmented visions about the missing woman's fate. I love that the film doesn't try to explain Blanchett's characters gift - rather than playing up the horror-movie tropes, she's otherwise a kind, very average single mom with a cluttered living room, a beat-up old car (the Classic!) and an oldest son who is acting up in school. Raimi's approach is effectively understated here, though the film's rare shock effects benefit from his shameless showmanship. The entire ensemble (including his future…
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See? Sam Raimi is perfectly capable of making a great movie. Cate Blanchett and Keanu Reeves have more in them than Galadriel and Neo. This is a tense, spooky, personal and dramatic film that goes by largely unnoticed in the sea of things. Great for an autumn night!
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Cate Blanchett as a psychic , Hilary Swank as trailer-trash and Keanu Reeves as a redneck wifebeater. Just the sort of movie for mothering Sunday.
Sam Raimi directs a by-the-numbers psychological thriller with a few nice scary touches.Written by Billy Bob Thornton this has the same small-town America feel he captured so well in Sling Blade.
A widowed mother of young boys,Cate Blanchett is the psychic who becomes involved in a murder mystery after she witnesses a murder with her second sight. Blanchett as always is incredible. Has she ever been anything but? Hilary Swank yet again doesn't act,she just plays herself and Keanu Reeves comes to work in his own clothes and needing a bath. And what about Katie Holmes,she gets them out. Now I know why Tom got rid of her the hussy.It's decent and Giovanni Ribisi is in it so it gets another 1/2 star. -
Pretty by the numbers and not really that engaging but Cate Blanchett is phenomenal. She is a treasure on film, never less than great.
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It was the period between his Evil Dead and Spider-Man franchises that I think Sam Raimi excelled best as a filmmaker. Of course I am talking about that brief period where he collaborated with Billy Bob Thornton for more darker, mystery-shrouded projects like the brilliant, career-best A Simple Plan, and The Gift, a huge ensemble piece penned by Thornton and Tom Epperson.
There are a few incredibly effective performances in this film, and surprisingly it is Keanu Reeves who comes out on the most notable end of the enormous cast, creating what is a huge departure from the usual demeanor we are accustomed to seeing from Mr. Anti-Personality. He plays Donnie Barksdale, a wife-beating hick who has a certain hatred…
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Hits hard when it works
Thanks to a genre master
Bad accents abound
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Bland on all fronts. Everyone does a fine job in this but altogether it becomes very forgettable. Also doesn't help i have no interest in southern small town hussy's getting their comeuppance.
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Aggressively mediocre (though the end credits had numerous potential dick names).
P.S. Katie Holmes has a stupid baby face with perky boobs. Unsettling.
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Dry (by Raimi standards), tame and more than a tad predictable, but I will say that "The Gift" at least provided solid performances by all involved (even Keanu mustered the strength in most of his scenes).
I want to say that the weak point was that the movie seemed to have little-to-no budget, but as I know that Raimi has worked with less, the weakness seemed to be that no one was inspired to do better.
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This *deep breath* Southern gothic supernatural thriller with elements of horror (*phew*) embodies all of those descriptors but never congeals to anything greater than the sum of its parts. Sam Raimi does journeyman work, giving the film a timeless look, but I just never felt that the technical qualities were in support of a worthy screenplay.
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It was the period between his Evil Dead and Spider-Man franchises that I think Sam Raimi excelled best as a filmmaker. Of course I am talking about that brief period where he collaborated with Billy Bob Thornton for more darker, mystery-shrouded projects like the brilliant, career-best A Simple Plan, and The Gift, a huge ensemble piece penned by Thornton and Tom Epperson.
There are a few incredibly effective performances in this film, and surprisingly it is Keanu Reeves who comes out on the most notable end of the enormous cast, creating what is a huge departure from the usual demeanor we are accustomed to seeing from Mr. Anti-Personality. He plays Donnie Barksdale, a wife-beating hick who has a certain hatred…
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Pretty by the numbers and not really that engaging but Cate Blanchett is phenomenal. She is a treasure on film, never less than great.
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Sam Raimi directs this supernatural thriller with an elegant hand, bringing eerie visuals, an atmospheric musical score and a gifted ensemble together, elevating the so-so screenplay as a consequence. The third act unwinds with minimal suspense (the twist reveals itself too early), but there are some very powerful sequences here, ranging from subtly touching to more disturbing content. Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi and a surprisingly dangerous Keanu Reeves are the thespian highlights, but the rest of the talented cast also acquit themselves assertively. Not one of Raimi's very best works, but a worthy showcase of how his directorial prowess can polish less than remarkable material.
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Cate Blanché (as she calls herself) borrows Dr. Peter Venkman's psychic cards and arranges a date with a killer at ... 8 o'clock?
"I was just about to say ... 8 o'clock. You're a legitimate phenomenon!"Predictable Channel 5 TV movie.
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Spannender Mystery-Thriller mit interessanten Charakteren (Keanu Reeves mal in einer ganz anderen Rolle). Ich hatte einen Horrorfilm erwartet, aber im Grunde ist es ein Krimi, bei dem man sich die ganze Zeit fragt, wer wohl der Täter ist. Nur dass die Hauptperson, die in den Mordfall verwickelt wird, eine Kartenlegerin ist. Ihre übersinnlichen Fähigkeiten werden dabei angenehm "alltäglich" eingebaut, sie ist kein abgehobener Freak, sondern eine ganz normale alleinerziehende Mutter. Der Gegensatz von phantastischen Ereignissen und einem klassischen Kriminalfall machten den Film für mich besonders interessant. Und ein bisschen gruseln kann man sich auch.