Prodigy (I) (2018) User Reviews

I watched this so you don't have to. You're welcome.

[CabbageCustard · 3/10 · 22 April 2019]

This is one of those movies where the director and the writer are the same person. I often suspect this happens when the writer can't get any studio to produce his work and so decides to go it alone and do it himself (not always, of course). Sometimes, the result is a really interesting, original movie. I've come across a few of those. Unfortunately, this movie does not belong to that group. Whatever studio(s) gave this script the thumbs down made the right decision. It is that bad.

This is chock full of themes and ideas from other, better, movies. Despite that, there are plenty of holes in the plot. It boasts a roll call of truly cliched characters - the jaded father who drinks to forget and has become estranged from his family; the barmaid with the heart of gold and a sad past; the sinister doctor from a mysterious and unethical government agency; and the group of murderous rednecks with guns etc etc. They're all there. What the movie does lack is tension, excitement and a plot you care about. You won't have seen the cast in any other movies and you probably never will. They may very well be the director's family members for all I know. Some of the male cast members do look similar. Sadly, none of them can act and it's sometimes painful to watch them trying. This movie was done on the cheap and it shows. I hope no one mortgaged their house to make this movie! The script occasionally throws up some quasi-religious gobbledygook and once or twice I was asking myself if this was maybe produced by some religious organisation. I'm still not sure. The religious stuff does nothing to make the movie more enjoyable though, as you may expect.

Coming in at almost two hours, this movie is a real test of endurance. I watched it to the end, not because I was engrossed in the story, but because I wanted to see how bad it got. The answer - pretty bad. I happily recommend that you give this movie a miss and assure you that you wont actually have missed anything.

Not really bad, not really good.

[ilikeweirdstuffs · 4/10 · 20 April 2019]

In descending order of goodness: -The camerawork and general cinematography was really nice at times reminding me of much higher budget movies. -The concept was a good one. -The dramaturgy was fine and provided for some thrills and twists even if some of them ver really predictable. -The music used was good, but at times unfitting and always too loud. -The acting had it's moments from everyone involved, but also really bad moments from everyone involved. Decent effort, needs improvement. -The audio editing was not good. It wasn't quite as atrocious as other low profile movies, but bad enough to put this in the student movie category. -The story.... was atrocious. It left me with a 'damn this was awful' feeling, even though the whole thing wasn't really bad as a whole. The constant cringy dialogue and events and the super hamfisted religious bits... ugh

All in all if A movies are blockbusters, B aresmaller budget hollywood movies, C are direct to video, comedies, and arthouse, and series tie ins, and D are student films, this is a D movie. I hesitated between giving this a 4 or a 5, but eventually, it wasn't that bad, and it did some things right, the whole story just left one feeling profoundly unfulfilled and nonsensical and the ending didn't help much at all. It felt a bit like some american bible belt fantasy. If that kid was not jesus2.0 then he shouldn't have been acting like this much of a messiah figure. Nice effort, with lots of good bits, but could've been handled a lot better, with more believable characters especially the main father son duo, and a less shallow preachy plot

Almost

[markdebsam · 3/10 · 9 May 2019]

Mr. Leon and company ALMOST made a good film.

Production quality is very strong. Oregon woods, shot exceptionally well. Drone filming, static scenery, lots of natural light. Continuity smooth. Comfortable editing.

However, the pace is slow. The script is tolerable. The delivery, by actors who may have wanted to do more, is plodding and tone deaf. "Prodigy" is like a well produced (technically), long, student film.

As in another review here, "Midnight Run" meets "Knowing" at a sermon.

PRODIGY is a parasite movie.

[S_Soma · 1/10 · 21 April 2019]

I don't think PRODIGY deserves a legitimate effort at a proper review from me for the following reason.

I'm sure there's a more commonly-used name for it, but since I don't know what it is, I'll simply call PRODIGY a "parasite" movie. A parasite movie is one that is quickly produced at the same time a very similarly named, more "legitimate", big-budget movie is making the rounds in theaters. Right now, there's a horror picture called THE PRODIGY playing at theaters accompanied by a lot of promotional advertising, and now here we have PRODIGY released direct to video.

Another example current at the time of this writing is the digitally animated DUMBO in theaters and the direct to video junk-animated movie JUMBO trying to capitalize on it.

The apparent objective of such parasite movies is a slimy attempt to capitalize on the popularity and advertising promotion of the host movie and get people to watch their crummy knockoff by mistake.

A particularly irritating feature of PRODIGY is that it's a spiritual/theological message movie from a Christian production company, Visionary Film Productions (VF). The only conclusion I can come to is Visionary Film Productions is hoping to Trojan horse their religious message by engaging in this kind of trickery.

In the interest of full disclosure, while I'm not religious myself, I am generally pro-Christianity on a philosophical basis. To my way of thinking, the entire mechanism of parasite movies falls into the general category of lying which goes into the whole general heading of bearing false witness, and we know what the 10 Commandments has to say about THAT. The fact that a Christian production company would engage in this kind of deceptive behavior just helps to support what atheists have to say about Christianity.

And the cherry on top is that the primary "prophet" character in the movie has the most ear-bleeding going-through-puberty cracking voice I've ever heard. It makes you want to stab yourself in both ears with a sharp pencil.

Visionary Film Productions, and all the people that work for them, should be ashamed of themselves for engaging in this kind of duplicity. WWJD

>:(

Unbelievably bad, wasted 20 minutes of my life

[kayvanblue · 1/10 · 18 April 2019]

No offence but did they just hired the actor/s from a random street? this movie is ridiculously weak and meaningless. i mistakenly picked up this title over another movie with similar title, unfortunately it took me 20 minutes to realize my mistake. badly written, badly acted.

Just another throw away movie

[charvelstrat81 · 1/10 · 19 April 2019]

This movie has bad movie cliche all over it. Bad acting, poor story, terrible ending it is a cliched throw away movie you will not want to see again. Nothing redeeming except at the very end when the credits roll and you realize it is over.

Something missing.

[kellyezeh · 1/10 · 29 July 2019]

The overall idea of the movie is great and very interesting but it lacks so much, it feels like the producer thought he had $10000 to make the movie, but looked at his account a day before shooting and realised he only had $1000 but still decided to go ahead and film. The actors spoke with no conviction at times like they had just heard there would be a pay cut. There were three very annoying things that happened. 1) They used loud music to cover up most aspects of the movie which just makes it look like they really didnt have money to pay a sound studio enough to make the proper sounds be it footsteps or "fight scenes" so they just covered it up with music.

2) They cut so many scenes out or zoomed in too close purposefully just to avoid showing the actors "complete" normal tasks ie: there's a scene where and actor is supposed to be bandaged up on his thigh, they start to show the dressing being taken off but it just cuts and goes to the dressing all done... like ... wth... sigh

3) The most annoying is a scene where a character falls and rolls down a ridge in the woods, both number 1&2 annoying things happen they play loud music to cover up the roll and they started showing the roll then tthey cut to a branch sticking out upright, then they cut to him rolling then they cut to only his thigh being pierced by the branch then the cut to his face screaming then cut to his only his thigh taken off the branch . That wasn't even the annoying part. The branch went through his tie but somehow this dude was still walking normally and no, he doesn't have any superpowers. He limped for like 5 seconds and started running normally and then started walking normally. He walked and ran normally for 2 days (in the movie) he even had more energy than other characters. Other characters wanted to stop walking and rest but he was the one saying " we need to keep going" I'm just watching like "isnt this dude supposed to have a hole that goes through his thigh?"

Not worth watching.

[alphaswift · 1/10 · 21 June 2020]

This is the wrong kind of bad movie. Nothing fun like some cheesy 50's B movie sci-fi. This is plodding and dull exercise that will have you hitting fast forward in hopes something interesting happens. It is an okay story completely undone by poor acting, poor direction, poor scriptwriting and the worst editing and continuity I've ever had the misfortune to watch. Amazon Prime needs to do a better job choosing movies that show up on it's service.

God-awful God movie...

[williamdeanauthor · 1/10 · 24 June 2020]

Basically, a very cheap faith-based story with a poorly executed cliche every minute, horribly contrived situations, zombie-like acting, all working in unison to generate zero believability. There are absolutely no laughs, suspense, action or surprises for anyone who is not highly intoxicated. A cringe-fest and a complete waste of time.

Perfect movie

[barrygilbertjohnson · 1/10 · 24 November 2021]

For the weak of mind and mentally ill. One of the worst I've seen in a very long time. Here, I made a movie with a kid who says it's so, so it must be. Absolute trash.

Intriguing

[kels-12435 · 10/10 · 27 November 2019]

You never know what may come in the future. Maybe writers get a glimpse of something and put it on film. I think this film was well cast. Perfectly put together. And a good possibility of how the end of the world could play out.

Poorly executed

[mooveefan-87188 · 6/10 · 11 January 2020]

I think the movie had a lot of potential, but it just seemed lazy to me and therefore sloppy. I am a big fan of faith based and/or Christian movies and I thought the story was intriguing. I am used to poor acting in this genre; that wasn't the problem for me. There was scene after scene where I was just cringing and thinking 'that would never happen' or 'why would he (the dad) do that?' He makes his getaway with Caleb and then pulls over while obviously still in the area and honks the car's horn over and over. He knows there are people every where who are looking for them but he lets a stranger come into their camp and accepts alcohol from the guy, without even a thought that this guy might be there to take Caleb. This was common throughout the movie and frustrating. It felt like the film makers only cared about their message and didn't give a darn about how they got there.

Overly long and trite

[Snootz · 3/10 · 22 May 2019]

A two-hour movie that could have been done in 60 minutes (or less) and still achieved the same effect. It has a fatal flaw in extremely bad sound and overly-loud music in the last few minutes that made critical dialog very hard to understand. Anticlimactic in nature. Characters are cliche. Teen actor's voice is raspy and often difficult to understand. While the main story is mildly interesting, there is nothing original in this film, nor anything that makes it a "recommended watch". What starts out as an interesting premise turns into an excessively long yawner.

Worst, blandest...

[mjasfca · 3/10 · 7 June 2019]

Worst, blandest, most emotionless acting ever. Especially the father and the aunt. And then the kid...he sounds like he is afflicted with a perpetual case of pubescent voice cracking. I could only stand 25 minutes of it. Which was probably about 15 minutes too many.

Garbage

[rkconst-sk · 1/10 · 5 June 2020]

Garbage says it all. 40 minutes wasted before giving up. Don't waste your time

Not to be confused with the horror film

[zachmetzgers · 5/10 · 7 November 2019]

Full disclosure: I rented this on accident. I thought I was renting the horror film "The Prodigy." I won't hold that against this movie though. This is not a horror film. It's more of a drama with some suspense elements about a boy who sees the end of the world coming, and it has religious undertones. It was slow at times and some of the suspense felt contrived, but I liked the part of the movie when the young boy was teamed up with the mountain guide. There was more gravity and forward motion in the story then. An indie film that will be more appreciated by the "faith film" lovers than those who like horror or thrillers.

Good story

[jmpowell23 · 2/10 · 13 May 2020]

Awful acting and this is too short of an answer but that's all that Is needed to say so I'm just gonna hit the middle word on the txt bar from here out cuz I'm that bored waiting to see the big surprise ending here goes : back and forth with the rest and I gotta was a great night to see ya next year and to let me see the big guy next year haha next week I will be a great guy and a big birthday and I will be a great guy and a big happy happy Mother's Day to come home love ya and see you guys and I love ya girl and love ya girl love ya too baby love ya ya know how I love you and love ya ya know how I feel when I'm in bed and sleep and I'm exhausted I can't sleep in bed all night and sleep for my bed night night and night sleep and night and I watch the game with me and I have to my next appointment and I'm not sure I can do that I will let ya ya girl know I'm not happy I love you I gotta was the night you got to my birthday girl I love ya girl and

good idea pitiful execution

[mcochrane-87400 · 3/10 · 7 January 2023]

This is like having a really good idea for a house, but then you build it out of paper.

The idea and premise is fine, the execution of that idea is amateurish at best. I mean every single facet of the movie was done pathetically. It was shot in 22 days, you can tell! I bet they only did 1 take of each scene and it shows.....

I WISH producers would spend $100 and get consultants on the project who can point out glaring errors.

One? You can't hot wire modern cars by crossing wires under the dash.

Two; dad fall down and hill and sticks an 8" branch through his leg, next day? Running along like it's nothing

Three: cop in the red mini van gets shot by a silenced rifle? Next shots aren't.

Four: when they are injecting the kid before the tests, no alcohol swab first? Are they trying to kill him?

I could go on but you get my drift.......

Unbearable, boring and directionless

[sauravjoshi85 · 1/10 · 24 December 2020]

Prodigy is a Drama Thriller movie directed by Nathan Leon and stars Embry Johnson, Cory Kays and Hailey Henry.

I was reading the review of this movie and most of them were negative and i would also like to voice my opinion in the favor of those as the movie is unbearably bad.

The screenplay of the movie is slow and doesn't holds you for long, Acting is just average and sometime irritates. Cinematography is average and back ground music is irritating.

The plot of the movie is decent and has some potential but with bad script and pathetic execution the movie falls flat, must avoid this movie.

Couldn't get past the 20-minute mark

[dylandonaghue · 1/10 · 5 May 2023]

20 minutes in, and despite the bad production and plot full of holes, I still would have kept going on, had it not been for the boy's raspy, nails-on-chalkboard voice, and the fact that the closed captioning for this movie is horrendous! I use CC a LOT because I have both hyperacusis and misophonia - I am extremely sensitive to sounds. I rely on those subtitles. And if I can't use them, due to some person's lazy captioning, then that's it for me - movie over. Upon reading other peoples' reviews, I will go so far as to say that I'm probably not missing anything spectacular. I wish that I knew what the 3 predictions were, though. I'll have to go look those up on Google...

Very much enjoyed this movie.

[santiagv-86973 · 10/10 · 16 June 2019]

Kept me wanting to watch. I would watch again. Acting was very good. The suspense kept me on edge.

Interesting, but...

[ironcandle · 7/10 · 4 June 2019]

A little slow, the soldiers in the beginning looked atrocious (why can't movie people research Army regs), several illegally modified guns, having said that, it's worth watching and makes you think about what's important.

Believe in God, Feeling reality

[sufyanliaqat-83378 · 10/10 · 19 July 2020]

A great movie for those who believe in God. there is nothing to watch but you can feel everything from this movie.

For a low budget movie, I enjoyed it.

[bhsppskca-85921 · 6/10 · 20 August 2022]

The acting was good by the two main characters. The story had holes in it, the filming was ok, the story moved too quick at times. I did enjoy it but not everyone will.

Solid Work

[smooveballs · 7/10 · 10 January 2019]

This is the first film from writer/director Nathan Leon & it was an entertaining thriller that touched on some deeper philosophical themes throughout. The backbone of the film rests on the shoulders of its two protagonists, Erik & Caleb Black (Cory Kays & Embry Johnson). The duo must overcome their own challenges in their father-son relationship in order to help everyone else in their orbit.

The performance given from Kays is the biggest thing I'll remember about the film. The transformation he makes from the opening scene to the close really shows the work and attention to detail he & Leon invested in the role. There was also a really terrific monologue delivered from Adam Elliot Davis, who played John, which stood out.

Can't wait to see what they do next.