M. Night Shyamalan’s hotly anticipated new film opens Saturday in select theatres. Zions, a follow-up to his critically-acclaimed 2002 film about aliens landing on Earth, chronicles the dark night of the soul of another defrocked minister (Mel Gibson), who thinks the planet might be on the verge of another invasion–this time, from within.
Gibson plays Reverend Turner, a grieving widower and ex-leader of a small rural community. Strange things have been happening lately in Opus Dei. Cattle mutilation, strange animal behavior, disappearing Christian babies. Most of the townsfolk are convinced that the events are a series of coincidences, or perhaps a harmless prank. Turner suspects it might be something more sinister. Something more…Jewish.
His growing suspicions are confirmed by the appearance of Crop Stars of David in several of the fields bordering the town, including his own. The rest of the townsfolk dismiss his theories as the rantings of a disturbed man, but the audience isn’t so sure, especially when shadowy figures in black hats begin to appear on news reports around the world.
Turner holes up in his farmhouse with a hunting rifle and a bottle of Maker’s Mark, and Shyamalan artfully builds the suspense as the Jew sightings–and Turner’s blood-alcohol level–increase. Turner begins to wonder if the Jews were perhaps responsible for his wife’s death…but was Turner himself the culprit? Shyamalan tells the story of the accident in broken flashbacks, and the audience begins to wonder if perhaps Turner’s alcoholism is responsible both for the Jewish invasion and the car crash. Gibson turns in a virtuosic performance as a raving, paranoid drunk.
Shyamalan doesn’t reveal the truth until the final few minutes of the film, when every audience assumption about Turner’s character and grip on reality are destroyed in an explosion of action and suspense. This critic was on the edge of his seat during this story of a man who might have uncovered a vast conspiracy…or who might just really hate Jews.
(Hat tip to Bad Reporter (go to sfgate.com for the link to his excellent parody, which I just kind of ripped off; I can’t access it right now.))