The Prodigy – Film Review

The Prodigy

GPA: 2.4/4.0

A young boy with blue and hazel eyes named Miles is smarter than your average kid, but he may be possessed by some evil force.

I wanted to check this out because I try to go into most movies with an open mind.  This was a hit or miss horror movie.

The Music Score was Great for a Reason:

Joseph Bishara composed the score for three out of five of The Conjuring movies, and the score here was easily the strongest element of the whole movie.  It added more to the movie’s atmosphere.  There was also some decent sound design in the film.

The Atmosphere:

The atmosphere in this film was another strong element of the movie.  There were jump scares yes, but none of them were false (thank goodness for that).  In terms of scares and/or atmosphere, there was also some good tension (and okay foreshadowing).  There were some gory moments as well.  Aesthetically, the film looked okay.

The Acting was Fine:

The performances in this movie were decent, and that’s good considering that there were some horror movies in recent years that horrible acting.  Jackson Robert Scott (from the 2017 smash hit It) plays the main boy named Miles Blume, and he gave a believable performance as Miles.  He was able to pull off playing Miles, even during the evil possession (even though at times the idea wasn’t always executed).  Taylor Schilling and Peter Mooney were fine as well, and so was Colm Feore.  However, many of the characters weren’t well developed.  The father character was one of the better characters thanks to his backstory.

The Concept Had Some Unoriginal Ideas:

This was yet another possession type of movie.  That’s okay since we have had plenty of these type of horror movies.  Sadly, most of the story was rather predictable.  In terms of familiarity, there was a scene in which Miles and the evil inside him are questioned and the evil side spews out lewd dialogue.  It sounded like The Exorcist minus the stronger profanity.  Except he talks to psychologist Elaine’s colleague Arthur Jacobson instead of some priests.

The Ending was Disappointing:

To say the least, the ending was easily the biggest downside of this entire film.  It was unsatisfying thanks to the direction the film took, along with its nearly non-existent conclusion that had little pay-off.  The story had some interesting build-up, but it just got a little stale by the time the end credits started to roll.

Overall, this movie was average at best, but there was some excellent atmosphere that improved the film.