What a waste of my time!!!

Great Film overall

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

A woman with extrasensory perception is asked to help find a young woman who has disappeared. The Gift is not one of Sam Raimi's all time best movies but it's still a very entertaining one with a very talented cast such as Cate Blanchett, Giovanni Ribisi, Keanu Reeves, Greg Kinnear, Hilary Swank, J.K. Simmons and Rosemary Harris and i gotta say it was pretty good what he did with some actors here especially Harris and Simmons since he cast them again in 3 more movies later on as Aunt May and Jonah Jameson in The Spider-Man Trilogy. It does have some small issues like some over the top sequences or even scenes with certain characters but as far as acting, direction and script goes the film does deliver a lot!!

Maybe i'm wrong but it's the first movie i watch with a lot of big names and that ends up really good : Hillary, Keanu, Katie, Cate, Kinnear and Ribisi really push their original characters and thus the movie never lost quality. In addition, we have Sam's team on the board as well with « aunt May », « JJJ », « sheriff Lucas Buck » and the famous yellow Oldsmobile. It's a pity that we don't have the usual cameos of Sam himself, his brother or Campbell ! It's also a great thing to find a story in a small town, with « ordinary » people having simple life as ours. I expected Sam to be more dynamic and on the contrary, the movie is as quiet as lying water. But as the main hero isn't Darkman or Spiderman but a widower mother of three boys, he was inspired to choose this pace: it really fits the Cate's compassion and maternal instinct, all the more than as told in the movie, she is really the heart of the town ! And for sure this wild nature with swamps and torn trees are as much frightening as any other supernatural monsters !

For starters Cate Blanchett can do no wrong in my humble opinion, she's a very natural actor with an amazing ability to totally absorb the role she's playing.I found the story weak and some of the scenes incredibly predictable, the jump out and scare you moments, whilst only a handful are over done with sudden explosions of noise from the film's score. Totally un-needed as the tension works a wonderful solo.The cards she uses to get her 'visions' are weird - what are they. This, for me was the biggest weakness. They are an unnecessary prop, the character's psychic ability could very well stand on its own as visions and dreams.There's not badly cast person in this thriller, especially the three boys who their roles brilliantly, one wouldn't know they were acting. If you love Blanchett, you'll not be disappointed. Had it been a little tighter and not so strung out, I'd have given it a 10 - as it is, 8's a pretty good score I reckon.

This movie might be in my top-ten not to see comfortable in my bed, on a rainy afternoon. Usually, I like to see hard action movies on the great screen of a theater, and psychological drama movies alone, at home, advertising the family not to disturb. Well, in fact "The Gift" works both ways, and I feel the need to give all my credits and respect to the writers, the director, the whole actors team. Cate Blanchett was amazing from the first scene up to the end. Her performance has been awesome, as the neurotic single mother of three, her gift necessarily to make a living, yet social controversial. At some point, one could see her eyes's injected like after crying a lot, is this possible to be "a special effect", I wonder: yes, but ingenious. Keanu Reeves, one of the most controversial stars of all times, has constructed here an unbelievable role of a rude, brutal, huge, abusing husband versus the kiddo "knock, knock" looks as Neo, a year before. My respects here. The feelings of being unsecured, trapped transcends and catches the viewers. (This is what I have felt). The whole atmosphere was genial realized, like in a black and white old movie, but the end where in the cemetery, one can feels peace and mild autumn colors. While by 3/4 section movie you can guess that Donnie is not the killer and you keep for yourself the "disappointing" relationship with the movie, the switch on scene when Buddie Cole coming back to the rescue,the policeman saying that he was dead was also a great or ingenious ideas. Well, I have just said that the movie connects with the auditorium. That is very rare. Tremendous feeling. I have rated this movie 10 from 10, I do not feel the need to take a star or two. My only fancy question raises like that: why Keannu Reeves has felt right to perform two "bad guy" roles after the huge success in the Matrix, knowing there will be another Matrix -es? I mean "The Watcher" and this "The Gift". Has this superstar felt the need to indulge himself loosing fans... cause the bad guys's characters could dangerously decline a "Speed" or a "Matrix" career of the usually's Keannu Reeves positively heroes. The Warchovschy Bros have not counted this one?