The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
Directed by Mark Pellington
Written by Richard Hatem
Starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Will Patton, Debra Messing
Release Date January 25th, 2002
Published January 25th, 2002
The words "based on a true story" have a way of stirring up controversy in Hollywood. Case in point A Beautiful Mind, where a few seemingly minor factual omissions have fueled all sorts of critical rants. Now comes The Mothman Prophecies based on the 1975 book of the same title by John Keel who investigated paranormal activity in the small town of Point Place, West Virginia in 1966.
The paranormal activities were said to be the multiple unrelated sightings of moth-like creatures including one by the author himself. Thus the "based on a true story" credit at the beginning of the film has elicited skepticism and even laughter from some reviewers, myself not included. Not that I believe in these supposed moth-like creatures, I just found the film itself to be so entertaining I don't care if it's true or not.
Richard Gere stars as Washington Times reporter John Klein who, with his wife Mary (Debra Messing), is involved in a car crash which both survive but leads to the discovery of Mary's brain tumor. The tumor is terminal and soon enough Mary passes away, but not before she draws pictures of the moth-like creatures which she claims caused the accident. Months later while driving to an assignment, Klein gets lost and winds up in Point Place, West Virginia where under very strange circumstances he is accused of stalking a local man named Gordon (Will Patton). Klein is released after meeting with the sheriff Connie Parker (Laura Linney) who explains that Gordon has been acting strange since experiencing strange visions that Klein finds are quite similar to those described by his wife. Gordon isn't the only person in town to have these visions and Klein decides to stick around to investigate.
The story is somewhat superfluous, but the first rate cast improves it greatly. Gere is especially good using his trademark stoicism to great effect as his character begins to meltdown. Laura Linney shows herself to be the heir apparent to Meryl Streep in the versatility department, and Will Patton continues to show himself to be the "go-to" character guy who can play anything and make it believable.
Let us not forget director Mark Pellington, whose supreme pacing and great eye for exciting visuals keeps the film moving at an entertaining clip that keeps the audience off balance all the way through. True story or not,The Mothman Prophecies is an entertaining story and that is what counts.
