-Story-
L’élu’s story revolves around, as the title implies, the chosen one. In this case the chosen one/reincarnation of Christ/saintly angelic avatar of the Second Coming takes the form of a cute little girl. This special little girl is, of course, being hunted down by a demonic cult bent on satanic world domination. Fortunately for her the love and faith of her adoptive mother and a kindly police officer are there to fight for righteousness. Ok, so it possibly sounds a little clichéd; and this type of quasi religious/supernatural thriller became quite chic once again around the millennium but even if the storyline makes you want to roll your eyes at times it is actually told in quite an entertaining and captivating manner. Stories don’t become bad just because we’ve heard them before; they simply need to be told better, and in that L’élu delivers.
3/5
-Look-
This film really looks quite good. The key to this is in the details. The little girl’s angelic snow globe, the menacingly ominous home of the antagonist, and especially in the special effects. Both the girl and her adoptive mother are plagued by visions of demons. These scenes especially caught my attention as excellent. The demons are constantly circling, constantly surveying, influencing, and tormenting the followers of evil. Their design is effectively shocking and gruesome; as is the film’s violence.
Some of the costuming and cinematography felt pushed. Then again the accepted clichés if these ‘Omen’-like films are clichés for a reason. Namely that they work, and because L’élu for the most part treats it’s audience fairly and intelligently some of these super obvious axioms can definitely be forgiven. The look is striking, not overly unique, but appropriate and entertaining.
3/5
-Acting/Direction-
The roles of this film are filled seemingly exclusively with the most appropriate or maybe predictable actors available. That’s not to say the acting was bad; in fact everyone did a very good job especially Holliston Coleman who played the little girl. It was the casting that really strikes of predictability. Kim Basinger plays the fiercely loyal and determined adoptive mother, Rufus Swell the calculating, uberchic, satanic bad guy, and Jimmy Smits the cop who just about became a priest until he found a better way to fight evil. All quite good actors in their right, and all did good jobs here, it’s just that I was expecting it.
AS for the direction, it struck me as good but like most of the film somewhat predictable. Some good camera work, some nice details, but nothing overly stands out as unique.
3/5
-Overall-
A good film, nothing new here, but it didn’t feel burdened by cliché. An entertaining evening and definitely worth seeing once.
