Missionary

The characters all behave so realistically that I was sucked in and on the edge of my seat. A lot of times things happen in this kind of movie that cause it to lose that realism. That did not happen here.

The story of a good mother that is going through a tough time and makes an understandably bad decision because of it. She never lost credibility to me. The kid in the movie is not some super child or genius or crazy person. He behaves like a real kid his age and the villain of the piece was frightening and crazy but not unrealistically tough or invincible. It made this movie uniquely scary.

I was in the mood for a thriller. I got it.

Not sure if there is a pun intended with the title of the movie, but one thing is for sure, this is a thriller that can be seen in the tradition of "Fatal Attraction". Kind of like "Fatherly Attraction" then if you're not too offended by that word play. The thrill aspect of the movie is pretty easy to pick up on and I'm sure almost everyone will know where this is heading quite early.

So it is the journey that is interesting and the "players" involved in the journey that will get our attention. With Dawn O. we you get not only a good actress, but a very beautiful one too. Which makes the temptation part even more believable. Unfortunately not all parts of the story are as believable and it does run into more and more clichés (especially when it is reaching the climax - no pun intended).

Still if you like thrillers, you will be entertained enough

I'm not sure I agree with some of the harsh reviews here, although yes this is at first glance your typical romance suspense thriller, this one is one with some very interesting twists and turns. I feel it has very likable, relatable characters even Elder Brock is likable at first, and the situations aren't far fetched. One of the main characters being an Elder Mormon isn't just a cheap gimmick, it delves surprisingly deep in the church of Latter Day Saints, while at the same time being tasteful about it. I feel Mitch Ryan really delivers on his performance as this clean cut, ironed shirt and tie wearing missionary. As the story progresses it turns out that Elder Brock has some very skewed ideas about his faith as well as the world around him, also due to some mental issues I reckon. His chemistry with Dawn Olivieri is pretty amazing, but I think all the actors do a great job on this one. It all comes across as very lifelike. I seen this movie years ago for the first time, and I should have reviewed it back then, and it was only after seeing it again tonight that I realized what a diamond this movie really is. I'd recommend it to anybody for a nice sorta rollercoaster ride. Unlike most suspence thrillers or horror movies the characters decisions actually make sense, you may find yourself watching this going "well yeah, thats what I would do" and yet you'll end up surprised at every turn. I think this is definitely a new favorite of mine and I just know i'll watch it again in the future.

Katherine is a struggling mother trying to create a better life for her and her son. She meets Elder Brock, a handsome Mormon missionary with a troubled past and they begin an incendiary love affair.

Some might look at this and say it is disrespectful to the Mormon religion and its followers. Those people would be wrong. This is not in any way saying that Mormons are evil, but that a twisted person will use their faith in twisted ways. For me, this was very much in the same spirit as "The Stepfather" with Terry O'Quinn. Stepfathers are not bad, but they can be!

The tone was just right, the tension was good. There was some dichotomy between what makes a family for one person versus another. This certainly deserves another watch and I would recommend it to others.

"Missionary" revolves around conflicts that appear beneath seemingly friendly and interesting relationships, only that nothing is what is seems on surface.

I'm usually willing to give latitude to smaller productions that feature a B-level cast, and that was the attitude I had when I saw the movie. The results were mixed.

There is some decent acting on this movie, and when they have good text they can put some above average character performance. The major problem of this film is that writing is very inconsistent. The story oscillates between some good and believable scenes, with others that let you down by their incoherence, lack of continuity or just plain 'straight from cliché handbook'. A couple passages are extremely lame, almost giving the impression two separate writes at odds with each other developed the story.

At the end of the movie, when closing credits come, there is this feeling that the director wasted an overachieving cast (relatively to their league) with bad text.