A Twist of Faith

A cop dealing with his own mistake resulting in a partner's death and loss of faith is on the trail of a serial killer who has some obsession with the Catholic church. Many of the standard themes are there - cop has trouble with supervisor, his own family has trouble, early leads are blind alleys, a special relationship develops between the crook and the cop who hunts him, etc.

There are a few departures from formula as if the film seems to know what we're expecting and chooses to give us that or surprise us with a twist we weren't necessarily expecting. In general, this is certainly not a great movie but entertaining enough to see it through.

it was 2 am and this came on cinemax and as i am ridiculously intrigued by serial-kiler movies i had to watch this, saying i'd turn it off after a few minutes. well, that didnt happen. the thing that made me want to watch this wasn't to find out who the killer was, after a while i lost interest in that, but WHY they were doing it. the whole religious aspect was creepy from the beginning b/c an exceptionally nice priest is killed and a tape is left behind with the killer screaming in Latin, "if you're you so powerful why don't you stop me?". it sets this really creepy tone for the killer and you want to know what this guy's religious hang-ups are. the suspense of that is quite well done. as far as acting goes, i was pleasantly surprised by some of it. i think mc carthy can be quite good with the right material and even though this is straight to video fare, he's actually worth watching. of course, some of the dialogue really needs to go and a subplot involving the captain's dead son and mc carthy's guilt really was unncessary, but his persona as a detective worked well. you wont even remember that this was the skinny guy who played Blaine (a household appliance of a name, according to Ducky) in Pretty in Pink. mc carthy's interactions with his partner leave you with some memorable lines and their time together makes the film amusing. however, michael ironside is so wooden in his role that it drags the thing on slowly. at times he's ok, but not when its necessary to show true emotion. his scenes in the finale are painful to watch for the wrong reasons. mc carthy's wife wasnt played with much force, and either were some of the supporting characters with the exception of the woman with "perfect faith" who works for the church. at first mc carthy's atheist character seemed to have this point simply for the plot but at the end, i feel that the change in his beliefs will feel deserved by the audience. overall- the scenes of the city at night will seem like they are taken out of a movie from 1983 rather than 1999 and were a bit cheesy. the set could have needed a bit more lighting (this film can not try to be on par with the deservedly gloomy Seven). the "why" behind the killer's actions was ok, definitely a little creepy but yet i really got annoyed by the old woman mc carthy talks to who gives the audience this information. who the hell was she? and why did she have such a ridiculously overdone accent?

i think that the movie is worthwhile if you want to see mc carthy in a role he isnt' typically known for and if you want a creepy movie that isnt TOO creepy a la Seven. i didnt see the video box like the above viewer did but i still want to hear what anyone else thought about this film. its obviously B movie stuff but if a more enlivened actor would have played the killer i think it could have been good. mc carthy gave his character his best shot, i think.

A TWIST OF FAITH (aka: BEYOND REDEMPTION) stars Andrew McCarthy as Henry Smith, the lead cop investigating a series of religiously-themed murders. While the deaths continue, we're shown that Henry has problems of his own. He's haunted by tragic past events.

Enter Business executive / philanthropist, Alex Hunt (Michael Ironside), who arouses suspicions in Smith that seem to defy facts or reason. Hunt is a man above reproach in the community.

This is another post-SE7EN thriller with a similar plot. There are some semi-supernatural elements involved that make it lean more toward being a horror film.

McCarthy makes a decent copper, but it's Ironside who makes the movie worthwhile. He just has a way of looking , acting, and just giving off some sort of seething menace. Even when he's just standing around!

A suspenseful mystery with a tense finale...

Andrew McCarthy definitely redeems himself as he does his best save this mediocre film. However, it starts off really slow and stays that way for about the first 45 minutes at which point it gets better.

Unlike other movies where elements such as action drama or comedy are there and plot isn't, "A Twist of Faith" is completely different it only has two worth noting, which are plot and mystery. I'm really sorry it lacked the others needed because it would have made for a much better movie.

However good this movie intends to be, it is lacking in areas that would make it worthwhile. If you enjoy good films with good plots then this is the movie for you, otherwise don't bother renting it.

The writer did an excellent job at making everything that was said come together without giving anything away. This plot was unlike one that I have ever seen

Okay, this isn't the greatest film of the year, but it's not completely incompetent, and it would be an okay video rental for a cold winter night (which it was when I rented it last night). But the video box has some action photos on the back, including one character holding a sharp instrument to another character's throat. Trouble is, that scene happens at the very end of the movie, after some 90 minutes of speculation about the identity of the killer. The characters may have been speculating on-screen, but home viewers knew the answer before leaving the rental shop.

The movie's about a serial killer whose killings have something to do with religion, and the atheist cop who's trying to stop the killer. Not terribly complex, although it wants to be. But any hint of complexity was eradicated by the video box!

I'd really like to be able to say more about the movie, but it was ruined for me. Remember the trailer for "Ransom", in which THE key plot element--Mel Gibson announces that the ransom is a reward--was revealed? Or the one for "The Negotiator", in which Kevin Spacey announces, "Now you'll have to deal with both of us?" Those films were pretty much ruined by their trailers' giving away the plot...but at least there was a little (VERY little) suspense in seeing the last 30 minutes of each movie.

Not "A Twist of Faith", though. There was no suspense. The very end of the movie was revealed right up front, so all of the this-man-is-above-suspicion and he's-practically-a-saint gyrations were clearly just a waste of the audience's time, until the character gets around to holding a sharp instrument to someone else's throat.

If you decide to see the movie, send someone else to the video shop for you, and have them hand you the tape without the box. Watch it without seeing the box first, and see how you like the movie. I'd like to see viewer comments from anyone who didn't have the entire movie spoiled for him, like I did.