Nicolas Cage’s Jesus-themed horror movie is a disappointment

Nicolas Cage may be the perfect actor to cast in an audacious horror movie about Jesus Christ, but not for the reasons some of the internet might assume, which presumably include (but are not limited to) shamelessness, borderline-camp overacting, and a willingness to wear a flowing fake mane. In fact, Cage isn’t even playing Jesus in The Carpenter’s Son: The credits refer to him only as The Carpenter. But he’s positioned as the Joseph of this story, attempting to maintain his faith as The Boy (Honey Boy’s Noah Jupe), his now-teenage adopted son, born to The Mother (FKA Twigs), starts to exhibit divine powers. The reason it’s difficult to picture another major actor playing this part is that while his character becomes stricken with his various burdens, Cage himself seems almost touchingly certain that this murky, grim little movie is worth his time.