sddavis63

"Gimme Shelter" takes a somewhat unexpected (to me, at least - I hadn't read the entire background of the movie) turn toward being faith-based about halfway in. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm a Christian myself. It's just that it wasn't where I originally saw this movie going. The impression you have from the beginning is that it's Apple's story. Apple is a pregnant teenager who's run away from an abusive mother and who's never really had a relationship with her father and who needs to find a safe space. We don't really learn much about her back story beyond that. It was a good performance from Vanessa Hudgins. But then - while the movie still tells Apple's story - it becomes much more about the Christian shelter she finally finds a home and family in. Run by Kathy (Ann Dowd), a formerly homeless woman, she established the shelter out of her own home, taking in needy and pregnant teenage girls and giving them a home. The turn toward faith starts with Apple in the hospital after being injured in a car accident, when she's befriended by Frank McCarthy (played by James Earl Jones) - the hospital chaplain who introduces her to Kathy. As the movie progresses we get periodic glimpses of Apple's very troubled and angry mom (played by Rosario Dawson) and we also learn about the father (Brendan Fraser) Apple never knew, who struggles with the sudden appearance of his daughter into the successful family life he had established.

This nis a troubling move in many ways, with a lot of just plainly unpleasant scenes - especially the ones involving Apple and her mom - and there are times when its easier to turn away than watch. There are some fairly brief reflections on "the system" - which doesn't treat Apple well - and it's heartwarming to see Apple develop from an understandably angry and suspicious to someone able to build strong relationships, especially with the other girls in the shelter. I wish we had learned a little more about her mother - and especially what happened to her. She just kind of gets dropped by the movie after a very troubling confrontational scene at a local church. There's also not much about how Apple's relationship with her dad evolved - we get the impression that it worked out, but the movie stops before delving into any of that dynamic in depth.

But basically, this is a realistic and gritty look at Apple's life and the hope she found from Kathy's shelter. (7/10)

The story is way out there. A group of 4 strangers invade the cabin of a gay couple and their adopted daughter, claiming that they're on some sort of heaven-sent mission - to tell them that the three must choose one of themselves to die, and then make the sacrifice themselves, or else the world will be destroyed. Movies about the end times or the apocalypse aren't uncommon, but at least this one was different. The four "messengers" (for lack of a better word) aren't going to kill any of the family - but they are going to kill themselves, one by one, with each death unleashing a plague on humanity unless it's stopped by the family's sacrifice. (It's a "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" kind of scenario, for those into that kind of thing - a reference that gets made in the movie.) The story is unique and surprisingly non-violent for the most part and not at all graphic. But to be honest the story was a bit too way out to really connect with me. But I will give credit to M. Night Shyamalan. He directed and co-wrote this. As I said, the story didn't resonate with me particularly and so while I wouldn't rate this highly for Shyamalan as a writing credit - on his directors' resume, I thought this was well done.

I didn't find this to be an especially scary film - but there was a creepy atmosphere from the start - from the moment (right at the beginning) that Leonard (played by Dave Bautista) showed up and tried to befriend 7 year old Wen (Kristen Cui.) When a big guy shows up trying to befriend a little girl he finds alone in the woods, there are knots in your stomach at the thought of where this might be going - but it doesn't go there. Still, the creepiness had taken hold, even though, in a strange sort of way, Leonard turned out to be almost likeable, and you do get the sense that all four of the invaders would really prefer not to be doing this, but did feel compelled. That sense of compulsion that the four seem to have combined with the "plagues" that were being visited upon humanity, along with all the speculation going through your mind about what exactly is happening - it was the atmosphere all that created that really made this work for me. It's shot almost entirely within the cabin, so there's a feeling of isolation and helplessness. There's just a heavy feeling of creepiness (I keep coming back to that word) that held me from start to finish, even if I did think the story was just a bit too out there.

What might I criticize beyond the silly story? I thought it was completely unnecessary to make the couple gay - to me that just provided an opportunity (pretty much divorced from the rest of the story) to add some extraneous background material about how difficult it was for them to be accepted and how much prejudice they faced. None of that really mattered to the overall arc of the story, though. I would have liked to have known more about the four "invaders." They were intriguing - the nicest home invaders you can imagine, but each of them gave a 2 or 3 sentence introduction of themselves to the family (it made this feel kind of like a weird AA meeting - "Hi. My name is Leonard/Sabrina/Redmond/Adriane ...") and that was it. But I would have liked more of an exploration of who they were and how their visions came to them. I also didn't care for the ending. It seemed too bland - a complete anti-climax after what had been portrayed. I understand Shyamalan changed the ending of the story on which the movie is based. Seeing how the movie ends, I'm thinking that might not have been his wisest choice. But it was still an interesting watch, with an atmosphere that truly draws you in and manages to compensate for a story that doesn't seem to quite have enough. (7/10)