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THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES Send This Review to a Friend
There is enough psychic gibberish in "The Mothman Prophecies" for a season of extra-sensory perception films but not enough sense for one. Strange things are happening, but the strangest of all may be the involvement of two such stars as Richard Gere and Laura Linney in such nonsense. Both are substantial enough actors to lure one to a film in which they co-star, but disappointment sets in early.
Gere plays John Klein, a Washington Post reporter whose happy existence with his wife Mary (Debra Messing) is shattered after they have a horrible auto accident. In treating her doctors discover she has a fatal brain tumor. Goodbye Mary. But before she dies she has visions of a horrible creature, which she draws in notebooks found after her death. John takes a weird drive one night that mysteriously lands him in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where further strange circumstances leads to a meeting with a nice local cop, Connie Parker, played with the utmost serious charm by Linney.
Some supernatural force seems at work. There are mysterious phone calls--telephones hardly ever stop ringing in this film even if disconnected--and advance predictions of deaths come true in such tragedies as plane crashes. The climactic disaster is the lethal collapse of a bridge between West Virginia and Ohio, an incident reportedly inspired by a real event.
John is convinced all of the odd developments are somehow connected to the death of the wife, whom he misses terribly, and he believes he'll hear from her. He seeks out an authority on such phenomenon, Alexander Leek, another leaky role, this one played by Alan Bates. Director Mark Pellington, with a script by Richard Hatem from the book by John A. Keel, drenches the film in camera movements meant to build tension and lots of special effects, particularly to simulate the destruction of the bridge. There's a bit of underwater photography to boot.
But not much can alleviate the boredom that sets in when it becomes apparent that the film may not yield more than solemn acting in the midst of absurdities. A Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment release.
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