It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

This wasn't as bad as all the reviews had me believing. Hillary swank does a good job with her role as a former Christian missionary who after the death of her family loses her faith and now spends her time debunking alleged religious miracles. We also get Idris Elba, which is no hardship as her student turned personal assistant and a welcome sighting from the former "Governor" David Morrissey.The story itself is interesting following Swank and Elba into the bible belt of small town Louisiana to investigate a series of biblical plagues. They arrive to prove that a supernatural force is not at work but soon find that science cannot explain what is happening.I wouldn't exactly call this a "horror" movie, sure it maintains a mysterious and spooky atmosphere but its never truly scary its more set up multiple times to be ultra jumpy; things falling, people sneaking up behind, strange dream sequences, a creepy mute girl in the woods.The scenery from the Louisiana bayou is beautiful, and the special effects due to the ten plagues are well done; river of blood, locusts, boils, lice, a priest witnessing strange things, dying cattle. The locusts swarm scene is particularly good. All in its not a great movie and not super scary but still worth a watch. 11/3/16

Hillary swank didn't really do a great job carrying the lead role in this movie to be honest. The script is alright, it's not exactly award winning, it's really kinda lazy at times, too many clichés as well. The special effects might be the worst thing about The Reaping, the effects are just really weak and fake looking. The plot had some serious potential, but unfortunately, in my opinion, it was wasted. This movie may attract some horror, thriller fans, but do not be deceived by its somewhat cool look, this movie is just not nearly as good as you might think it is. There are so many better films of this genre that are far better. 3/10 for The Reaping.

The Reaping (2007): Dir: Stephen Hopkins / Cast: Hilary Swank, David Morrissey, Stephen Rea, AnnaSophia Robb, Idris Elba: Great opportunity to bring conviction to the Biblical plagues but reaps only embarrassment. Hilary Swank plays a woman who defuses miracles with logic until she is summoned to explain a river turned to blood. Apparently this village wants a particular young girl dead claiming her as responsible. Flimsy setup becomes one big laugh. There is nothing scary in this sideshow and it is about as thrilling as a commercial for insect repellent. Directed by Stephen Hopkins who dealt with similar themes in The Ghost and the Darkness although Lost in Space matches it in complete idiocy. Swank carries the film because she asks the right questions but unfortunately she cannot make much sense of it. David Morrissey's presence consists of sleeping with Swank. Stephen Rea plays a Priest because every single film of this nature must have at least one and they must end up dead because that is the rule of these films, I guess. AnnaSophia Robb is embarrassing as demented girl who isn't very popular with the locals. Special effects are on par with its gruesome plagues but the screenplay doesn't quite have as much confidences. View The Exorcist for a superior film with similar themes, otherwise the Biblical plagues are bypassed in favour of typical horror crap that reaps stupidity. Score: 2 ½ / 10

Boy, what can i say? Horror movies of this kind are typical of what Hollywood has been producing for roughly the past 20 years! It's basically the tired old formula of the professional sceptic called to investigate some mysterious events,in this case, a small town that seems to be reliving the 10 Egyptian plagues of the old testament. What follows is the expected rehash of scenes and situations that are standard fare in these kinds of movies.Some of these are: The fleeing little girl that disappears and reappears during the movie and is suspected of being the evil cause of the bad goings on,the worried priest trying to warn the heroine that something like the end of the world is going to happen,the more or less clueless town folk that rapidly identify whom they think is responsible for everything,the hero-heroine that is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery but has a troubled past of her own, etc.. etc... In a nutshell: you've seen one you've seen them all! Don't waste your time on this.