Two sister missionaries (played by ex-Mormons Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) find themselves knocking on the wrong door when the resident recluse of their assigned town, Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) invites them into his home, leading them down a path(s) that will have them fighting for both their physical and spiritual lives.
Heretic is a very tempting film for Mormons both active and inactive in the LDS church (that’s Latter-Day Saints). It’s a potential “Ha! I told you so!” for former members who have their grievances with the church for valid reasons, but also a possible “Ha! Nice try!” for active members who have kept their hand on the iron rod (Mormons will get this reference). Having been raised in a Mormon household with four siblings, two of us are inactive while the other two remain very much active in their faith and callings in the church, both having served full-time missions as well. As you may have guessed, I am the half that didn’t stay active. But if I’m being perfectly honest, my heart and soul were never really in it, even from a young, impressionable age. So I had obvious expectations for Heretic: the usual dissection of my former faith that will likely be damning in highlighting the problematic pillars that attempt to hold it up. But what I got was both a surprise and a disappointment. Not really in its thematic content or even portrayal of Mormons (which for the most part, is spot on), but most importantly, the story, which ends up being the biggest sin on display here.
At some point in the first act (or maybe the second), my mate turns to me and asks when the TED talk is going to end so we can finally watch Heretic. He’s right. As compelling and interesting the setup and discussions that take place in the film’s early days are, it’s far too interested in showing off just how smart it is and it loves to dwell on this fact. Hugh Grant, as good as he is here, is essentially delivering a theology lecture to the poor souls who are too polite to turn him off. Don’t get me wrong, a large portion of its set-up is smart and engaging, but once it makes its point, it insists on making that same point for what feels like an eternity. You get movies that are all style but not enough substance but in this film’s case, it weirdly has loads of substance but somehow not enough of it as well. Its depth is only finger-deep, not enough for you to dive in and go for a swim. When its snail-pace plot finally escapes its TED talk set-up, it starts to fall apart as it can’t keep up and match the bold promises it makes.
Both the film and Mr. Reed aren't interested in dismantling only Mormonism, instead, its more interested in conversing with the sheer ridiculousness of organized religion in general, citing comparisons with one another, making good arguments about how everything is essentially a remix of one another and how it’s all essentially brainwashing. It doesn’t really matter that these sister missionaries are specifically Mormon. They serve as mere carriers for the film’s overarching themes. They could’ve been any denomination and that’s exactly the point that Mr. Reed and Heretic are trying to make: that it’s all bullshit. They just happen to be in the firing line this time. It feels as though Mr. Reed is the film while the sister missionaries are the audience. Thankfully you don’t need to be Mormon to understand the conflict here as Heretic looks to challenge the notions of faith across all religions.
Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) is the less naïve of the two sister missionaries. She appears to be more “worldly” in terms of perspective and overall aura whereas Sister Paxton (Chloe East) is almost childlike in her innocence (the opening scene has her embarrassingly but also curiously discussing pornography with Sister Barnes). So it’s a natural occurrence that Sister Barnes pushes back on Mr. Reed’s increasingly hostile advancements and lessons he is determined to win. This is one of the things that Heretic does do well. It’s not just a one-sided assault on a denomination but offers opposing viewpoints to further clarify the themes and ideas that it wants to discuss: belief vs. disbelief. Faith, really. And it’s interesting to see where the filmmakers, as well as its cast, ultimately stand on the whole idea. It’s a good example of just how to challenge an audience effectively. What Heretic offers isn’t new, but what it scratches briefly is what it means if our faith is meaningless and betrayed by the structure that housed it in the first place (literally and figuratively). Just where do we go from there? But as soon as the sermon slows down (and eventually outstays its welcome), Heretic doesn’t quite know what to do with itself. As mentioned before, this is where it feels as though Mr. Reed is the film while the sisters are us, the audience. Once we start questioning everything and push back what is being offered to us, there’s not much else going on underneath. It simply begins to fall apart, revealing the lame secrets to its magic trick that are empty and kind of lame. It’s a faux intellectual at a party who bases their whole personality on one thing, but once you start talking about something else, they aren’t very interesting at all.
Despite its flashy surface-level intelligence through dialogue, Heretic is frustratingly lazy. Despite some early flashes of excellent tension building, Heretic whimpers and stumbles to a finish line where convenience is king. It makes a seemingly logical film become illogical. The film focuses so hard on reminding you of certain items that will drive the plot forward in helping or harming its characters but doesn’t do enough in laying important breadcrumbs to convince me that certain actions and revelations are believable or even interesting when they do happen, making key character beats and arcs feel unearned. In a film that wants to challenge its protagonists and audience in what their belief system entails, it does a poor job of making that journey feel difficult - needlessly cutting corners just to drive the plot towards its finale.
**SPOILERS One positive I will give the filmmakers is that instead of going the route of definitively shitting on Mormonism, religion, or even just faith in general, is that it lets its character (again, i.e. us) cling to the faith they have always had, or better yet, sewing new seeds of faith we never knew we had or needed. But as mentioned before, the journey to that conclusion is hardly worth the admission alone. SPOILERS** We have had many great films about the loss of faith. They weren’t just great because of their themes, but because of the stories that elevated the ideas and themes they intended to confront. Heretic nearly achieves that with its first act before buckling under pressure just like its antagonist.
The film's biggest plus lies in the performances of its three leads. They are spot on. And despite my disdain towards the film’s narrative frailties, I can’t fault any of them here. Hugh Grant is in the grumpy stretch of his career, and I’m here for it, continuing his turn of villainous characters, going against the charming love interest type-cast he was stuck doing for so long. He’s both menacing and charming enough to keep me watching. And so are the ladies, giving us a journey of mutual politeness to eventually fighting for not only their lives but their very souls. And I completely believed them. I just wish its ho-hum plot lived up to all three lead performances because they deserve it.
Heretic is candid about Mormonism to a certain point but doesn’t prod as much as I expected or even needed it to, eventually priming its focus on religion as a whole, making the whole sister missionaries angle feel like mere character details serving as a delivery mechanism for its overarching themes. It’s about belief vs. disbelief and the battle for our faith we so badly need to overcome for better or worse. But unfortunately, Heretic fails to live up to the potential of that: A surface-level film that gets so caught up in showing off how smart it is that it forgets to tell a story that both rewards and punishes its audience, failing to deliver an experience worth mulling over. Its heady, challenging premise gives up on itself, providing the easiest and most convenient of revelations and solutions for its characters that unfortunately left me wanting more.
Where you can watch it: In Theatres (SA, USA, UK).
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