On N List of Movie Reviews
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Needful Things (1993)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
4/14
4/14:
Needful Things has an interesting concept to show off.
It's amusing to think of the irony when Father Merrin went from exorcising the Devil from Regan MacNeil to becoming the
Devil himself. But what the hey...it works. Max von Sydow shows what a great actor he is. Everybody else isn't bad, either.
Bonnie Bedelia's presence is strange. Was she cast to show off her sex appeal? If that's so, I must say it worked because
Father Merrin wanted her more than anyone else alive.
As for the film, I'm surprised at the liberal use of profane words. I'm not saying that I was offended, but it's been done in
the presence of Max von Sydow and he's saying a lot of them, too. The chief reasons for the rating of '7' are that the plot
feels overdone and that it's a half-hour too long.
One troubling aspect is it seems to convey the message that everybody deals with an atrocious situation in the
same manner which isn't reflective of how people do in real life. Some might be mawkish and do nothing about
it; others will go to the police and report the matter; and seeking a lawyer and filing a civil lawsuit is a third option.
Such approaches are endless, but how things went down in the film is too simplistic for me to believe.
All in all, as much as I liked Needful Things, the long running length finally got the best of me.