The Child (2012) Poster

(2012)

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4/10
The Child is a waste of your precious time...
TheCornProject10 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
What can be said about this movie? For the people who don't like long reviews I'll save you the effort & just sum it up with the sentence "read the title of this review". I hope that is suffice. Now to people who prefer for me to explain the movie in detail & why I didn't like it, here goes. So the story is set in Germany, why? Who knows, I'm still trying to figure that one out. The plot follows a strange terminally ill boy who claims to have not only been reincarnated but also has vivid memories of his former life as a brutal serial killer. This is never explained. So along comes Robert Stern (Eric Roberts), a big shot defense lawyer who was once the partner of the boy's mother/guardian named Carina (Sunny Mabrey). For whatever convoluted reason, Carina wants Robert to help explore her son's twisted thoughts by uncovering the victims he supposedly killed in his past life. Initially skeptical, Robert quickly jumps on board when the bodies start piling up. I also forgot to mention that he is also being extorted by a mysterious entity who is holding his wife & supposedly dead child captive but it's not worth explaining because it contributed nothing to the overall plot.

So roughly, for the next 90 minutes we watch the boy follow one clue after the next while they begin to uncover a child pedophilia ring. Here is where I give a warning to some sensitive viewers. Pictures of naked children are actually shown in one scene. I couldn't believe my eyes but it's true. Also an old man acts sexually towards the boy as he 'grooms' him for what's to come. I thought it was done in poor taste by the director. However it is a European film so I guess strong sexual themes are to be expected. The second half of the film is a prolonged & bloated mess where there are ridiculous plot twists that extend well beyond the realm of disbelief. Another point to add is that the end credits were 20 MINUTES long. I swear, the film makers must have included half of the German phone directory among the list of credits.

From beginning to end, this movie couldn't decide what plot it wanted. Was it the plot about the terminal kid trying to cope with his impending death; was it the one about Eric Roberts dealing with the death of his newborn or was it a tale about a serial killer who needed two lives to exact his revenge? It's a shame to see decent actors like Eric Roberts and Peter Greene waste their obvious talent on this pointless drivel. Regardless, both of these actors gave solid performances under the conditions & made this film at least mildly bearable to watch.

2/5
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3/10
Great idea - bad... everything else!
anomis_ananda24 May 2016
I liked the idea and the general plot twist, as it ends up being not what it starts as (just so I don't spoil this for others by sharing too much).

But everything aside from that, was absolutely horrible! Bad acting, awful screen writing job, especially when it goes for the dialogues, horrid directing with major mistakes - things the viewer already knew for a half an hour, would be made seem as the main characters' huge revelation and culmination. Just poor. To be honest, I give it a 3/10 just because the idea was good, and I am giving that to the book author. I'm amazed I made it through the movie with such patience, actually...
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5/10
Generic, but ...
kosmasp28 July 2013
... still one of the better movies Eric Roberts seems to have done in a while now! Of course that shouldn't count in a vote you cast, but since I like him, I added one extra point to the 4 I would've normally given this movie. Acting is decent enough, story not too bad either. Relationship kinda work, while pace is as you'd imagine it to be.

Of course the movie will not really surprise you with many things (though I did like the general idea with the kid). The ending does explain what happens, though you'd imagine someone would've thought of that earlier in the story. The movie seems to have a lot of German money in it, which is obvious by the casting they did. It's nice seeing some people that are identified/known for something else breaking their image in this. OK, but not as good as the story could've been
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1/10
So bad it's.......well, bad.
tamsin-0140129 June 2015
What in the name of Morgan Freeman is this rubbish? The acting was so wooden it gave me splinters....sadly, they were in my eyes! The plot didn't even have the decency to revel in it's own ridiculousness....and the execution? For such a teeny budget it didn't look bad but the set-pieces that were there to disquiet verged on 6th-form, end-of-term parody. Creepy for all the wrong reasons. What a shame a good idea took the wrong direction. Sure it would have been better in German. Maybe even in Norwegian or Welsh....at least then I wouldn't have to understand the clunky dialogue and painful delivery.

I'm going off now to exfoliate with sandpaper to try and get rid of this grubby feeling.
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2/10
Another generic serial killer movie
salviolog9 March 2013
At first the movie takes a pretty serious turn, but then starts jumping back and forth as if not sure what tone to contain, so it just tone-shifts allover.

The actors are decent and the characters are interesting enough to be invested over, but the story suffers from all the psychological triller clichés we've seen a thousand times before.

The ending is one big giant letdown, and the last act of the movie is just characters explaining the plot to the audience - which is not such a bad thing considering how confusing the film is due to its tone-shifting issues - although you can't help but keep expecting the phrase "And I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids" to pop up. Don't waste your time on this one, watch 'Silence of the Lambs' instead.
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7/10
Enjoyable
HorrorMoviesLover23 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I enjoyed most of this film. The first three quarters was good. I found it quite easy to guess who was the bad guy quite early on, but enjoyed watching how everything played out. I like the third party approach that they took to show the serial killers' view of the situation. I have to say I was very disappointed with everything following the climax of the film though. It was like they had no idea of how to end the film. Everything after this point felt tacked on. The adult characters explanation to Simon at the end about how everything happened felt forced. I think this could have been dealt with better through more flash backs of how it happened and allowing the viewer to making the connection instead of just spelling it out. The death of Simon at the end felt boring, like I'd seen this kind of ending a thousand times before.
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9/10
Amazing Movie, without a doubt
hamzasamhan15 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
I am not a professional critic, but I am person who love cinema, and knows what to like. and I liked this movie very much. if their was something i didn't like, it was Erica's reaction to potential threats while he was searching for the bridge with the boy. I believe he should have been more violent. but anyway, that was the character how the director wanted it, and Erica has done that perfectly.

the core story in the movie isn't about the serial killer, it is about child trafficking and illegal porn. the serial killer, and his relation to the child comes in the second place. and at the third place comes the story of the detective's son. connection of those three stories in this movie is the amazing thing that made me to write this review.

talking about the story, in my opinion, this type of movies is what i call a high end story, from the aspect of respecting the audience, which is not strange for European directors.

am not going to spoil the movie more, but i would advise anyone searching a movie that respects his mind to watch this movie, you will be touched, and you will be entertained.
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9/10
Great Movie
thomaxz-tc17 May 2015
This was a great movie.

The actors are good and the characters are interesting enough to be invested over, the whole idea reincarnation added a new side to a movie of this genre I have not seen before.

The whole idea of Simon Sachs remembering is good, and the contrast with Robert Stern not believing it functioned well.

The direction and acting was good and I liked the style of the movie.

I liked the ending as well.

So I give this movie a 9 of 10 as was excellent good (not excellent excellent)
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