The Mothman Prophecies: Movie & DVD Review (2002)

(Originally published 2002)

Mark Pellington's "The Mothman Prophecies" sounds as if it's based on a comic book; you half expect it to feature a winged superhero zipping about the world in a colorful lycra Mothman suit--one that is, naturally, riddled with holes.

Instead, the film is a supernatural drama "based on true events," which in this case means that the truth--or what is allegedly the truth--has been stretched to create two hours of occasionally compelling fiction.

But don't expect a satisfying outcome.

Loosely based on John Keel's book, "The Mothman Prophecies" stars Richard Gere as John Klein, a Washington Post reporter whose life turns into an episode of "The X-Files" when his wife, Mary (Debra Messing), crashes their car after seeing something strange hovering in the middle of the road.

Each survives the accident, but poor Mary isn’t the same. Diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor shaped like a moth, she becomes hallucinatory and paranoid--and is eventually drawn to a bright light of her own.

Two years later, John, still mourning Mary’s death, is driving to Richmond, Va., when he’s mysteriously transported to Point Pleasant, W.Va., a small town whose weird sightings are documented by the local cop (Laura Linney), but which nobody wants to talk about without first raising a shotgun to John’s head.

What follows is a movie that has its suspenseful moments and a technically well-conceived final blowout atop a shaky suspension bridge, but audiences might be hard pressed to make sense of any of it by the time the film reaches its dramatic conclusion. Indeed, by not revealing what or who the Mothman is (we barely see the creature), "The Mothman Prophecies" keeps a wary distance. It would be great to report that it’s elusive for the sake of creating a stirring mystery, but what’s closer to the truth is that Pellington and Hatem couldn’t get a handle on their subject.

Grade: C