The Carpenter’s Son Review: Biblical Prequel

Lotfy Nathan’s The Carpenter’s Son finds little new to say about fatherhood or faith, rendering its attempts at solemnity and horror a snore.

Thomas, the best known doubter in history, is attributed as the author of the Infancy Gospel, an apocryphal text that describes paranormal and spiritual events in the life of the pre-teen Jesus. Such texts were intended as private supplements to accepted Scripture, to be used to enlighten and recontextualise the stories of the established texts. Apocrypha have always been popular, from after the death of Christ to present day. Church condemnation and protests couldn’t stop Scorsese from bringing Kazantzakis’ novel The Last Temptation of Christ to the screen, but that film gives the Gospels an urgency that so many older Biblical films lack. The Carpenter’s Son doesn’t carry the same frisson of controversy, not because of its material, but because the presentation is nothing new. It looks good, but by dressing the potential subversion in the established tropes of horrors and solemn epics, the film loses much of its bite.

The Carpenter’s Son does try one new wrinkle, telling this story from the point of view of The Carpenter, the presumed father of the would-be Messiah. For most of the film, the characters never address each other by name, a pretentious move that underlines the skin-deep nature of Nathan’s script. The Carpenter is played by Nicolas Cage, whose decidedly American sound makes him stand out among the rest of the predominantly English cast. Charitably, one could say it emphasizes his distance from a son he can’t entirely call his own, but it mostly evokes memories of John Wayne deflating all solemnity in The Greatest Story Ever Told with one line (“Truly, this maaan wuz thuh sunahGaaaad.”).

The young Messiah is played by A Quiet Place’s Noah Jupe, giving Jesus his most hunky onscreen interpretation yet. His pouty face and curly hair could have come out of a tween magazine listing the latest heartthrobs, while FKA Twigs is mostly here for show in the role of the boy’s mother. All emote with gusto, but there’s no tangible effort to alleviate the cast of their contemporary trappings.

The story of The Carpenter’s Son sees this family in exile since the boy’s birth to evade persecution, first by King Herod and then by the local authorities that would kill the boy because of his nascent powers. The boy is tormented by the consequences of his abilities; after he accidentally heals a leper, the neighbours grow suspicious of the carpenter and his family, forcing them to consider going on the run. The boy’s self-doubt is stoked by a young Satan (Isla Johnston), tempting him to succumb to his own weaknesses. This depiction of the Devil as a quietly menacing female is one of many touches borrowed from The Passion of the Christ. Both films also feature handsome cinematography (Simon Beaufils’ cinematography is desaturated without being too showy), and a penchant for bloodletting. 

Pitching this as a prequel to The Passion would have been canny marketing but, even leaving aside The Carpenter’s Son’s apocryphal nature, the films are too different. Mel Gibson’s Passion play has surprisingly cheesy screenwriting and directorial choices, but its bloodshed assaults the senses of an audience that were expecting a serious faith-based experience. It’s not subtle, but it’s at least consistent in its portrayal of the horrors of the Crucifixion. The Carpenter’s Son indulges in a handful of jump scares and torture sequences to elicit reactions, but lacks the sense of purpose and confidence needed for these elements to be taken seriously.

Crucifixions and mangled limbs sit uncomfortably next to the simple but evocative locations and production design, suggesting that Nathan is unsure of what register he’s trying for. One moment could play like a made-for-TV Bible story, and the next feels like a lame Exorcist wannabe. Add in a few moments with a laughable CG serpent, and you end up with a painfully indecisive film, one that isn’t smart enough to merge the narrative of parental worry to its grander themes of temptation and tested faith.

There is effort on display in The Carpenter’s Son, but that just makes its failure to do anything with its potent material all the more disappointing. It’s not as painfully dumb as Brightburn’s dark take on another Earth-saving child, but both films lack the depth to get anywhere near considered or controversial. Try as he might, Nathan’s has broken the first commandment of filmmaking: thou shalt not bore.

The Carpenter’s Son is now available to watch in US theatres. The film will be released in UK & Irish cinemas from November 21 and on digital platforms from December 22.

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