Richard Gere is actually pretty good in The Mothman Prophecies

Don't you just hate it when there's nothing to watch on TV? I sure do and the fact that we pay for our cable (and pay a lot, I may add) doesn't help. Knowing I'd be home and bored out of my mind, I went to Blockbuster tonight (along with half my town) and ended up with three DVD's. One of which being The Mothman Prophecies.

I'd been interested in seeing The Mothman Prophecies since I'd first seen the previews. I can now tell you that the previews really didn't show much at all about the movie. Before seeing The Mothman Prophecies, I'd thought it was about a family named "Mothman" or something and some Prophecies that had been made about them. Or something. It's not.

Who? What?

Cast:

Richard Gere .... John Klein
David Eigenberg .... Ed Fleischman
Bob Tracey .... Cyrus Bills
Ron Emanuel .... Washington Post Reporter
Debra Messing .... Mary Klein
Will Patton .... Gordon Smallwood
Lucinda Jenney .... Denise Smallwood
Laura Linney .... Connie Mills

The Story:

As the movie begins, we see John and Mary Klein. They're a very happily married couple to put it mildly. They're house hunting and find the perfect house. They're more than just excited, they're on air. As they drive home from deciding to buy this huge gorgeous home, they're in a horrible accident in which Mary hits her head.......

Two years later, John goes to do an interview for the newspaper he works for. On his way there his car dies. He gets out and walks to the nearest house to ask to use their phone. He's greeted by what appears to be a crazy man with a rifle pointed right at him. This man says John has knocked on his door for three nights in a row now and he wants to know what's going on. Needless to say, John also wants to know what's going on as he'd been no where near this mans house the last 2 days.

More and more things happen, like John isn't in a town that he would have been driving through to get where he was going. He stays in the town to investigate things.......

and that's where I must leave you as I will not give away the movie. No need to fear as all of what I've told you here happens in the first 10-15 minutes of the movie.

My Thoughts

I'm not a Richard Gere fan in the least. In fact, I can't stand the guy and I'm still wondering why I picked up The Mothman Prophecies tonight instead of one of the many others that caught my eye at Blockbuster.

Despite my lack of interest in Richard Gere, I'm very glad I did rent The Mothman Prophecies. This is probably the best movie I've ever seen him in -- maybe Primal Fear was better? I can't say for sure as it's been years since I saw that one. Gere is not his usual self in The Mothman Prophecies and that's a very good thing. Amazingly enough, the man *can* act as he proves here.

The Mothman Prophecies is what I would classify as a mystery/thriller type of movie. It had me wanting to know what would happen next and delivered several surprises along the way of it's somewhat predictable story line. I'm sure the fact that it's based at least in part on true events helped to keep my eyes glued to the screen though I'd love to know how much of this story is from things that actually happened.

My husband had said he wasn't interested in watching The Mothman Prophecies. While sitting at his computer, he kept looking over for 10+ minutes at time and ended up watching most of the movie. He enjoyed it and it held his interest enough for him to pause from his usual obsession.... er, activity of playing computer games. That alone says a lot.

Compared to other movies.....

Compared to:

What Lies Beneath (Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer): The Mothman Prophecies had a much better creep factor and was considerably more interesting. Then again I was less than impressed with that What Lies Beneath, I found it to be a bit boring and very predictable.

The Sixth Sense (Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Haley Joel Osment): The Mothman Prophecies is not quite as captivating as The Sixth Sense was for me. The Sixth Sense had a super surprise ending that The Mothman Prophecies really does not.

Stir of Echoes (Kevin Bacon, Kathryn Erbe, Illeana Douglas): The Mothman Prophecies was not nearly as freaky as Stir of Echoes. When I watched Stir of Echoes, I jumped many times, sat on the edge of my seat and was a bit disturbed for a week afterwards. I've no doubts that I won't give The Mothman Prophecies another thought unless I want to.

bops_mom's Recommendation

I can easily give The Mothman Prophecies 4 stars. It was enjoyable to watch. I did not figure everything out for myself and there were some "Wow!" moments which completely caught me off guard. I am thankful that The Mothman Prophecies wasn't as creepy as Stir of Echoes (which is a must see, in my opinion) as I wouldn't have wanted to be freaked out for the next several days - and I am not one to be easily freaked out.

I'm happy I watched The Mothman Prophecies as it was what I'd call a great movie. It's nothing like I thought it would be and thankfully it was nothing like the horrid, cheesy "horror" movies. In The Mothman Prophecies you'll find a good way to spend two hours, you'll keep watching and have a good time doing so without having too many emotions one way or the other unless you're easily scared. In that case, don't watch this alone.


Thanks for reading!

~ Melissa :o)