Some Sacrifices Aren’t Worth Making
What words come to mind when you think of Cuba Gooding, Jr.? Good actor? Sweetly suave? Smooth? Likable? Hot? He’s made some odd career choices, but is an immensely watchable actor. He and Christian Slater star in Sacrifice (2011; DVD/Blu-ray release date: April 26, 2011) and handle their roles capably, although suspension of disbelief gets a workout stretching to accept Christian Slater as a Catholic priest. If only they were supported by the supporting cast. A credible script would have been a nice touch, too.
Ostensibly an action flick, Sacrifice has a few G-rated, family-movie moments. Filmmakers apparently tried to show that Gooding’s character, John Hebron, is really a kind-hearted guy, no matter how many people he might kill (if bullets were rating stars, this film would be off the charts). Hebron is a hard-drinking undercover cop whose wife and child were murdered; he feels guilty that he couldn’t save them.
Christian Slater is Father Porter, the priest who tries to counsel Hebron about his grief. Their conversations are as plausible as any other in the film, which is not a good thing. When Hebron gets involved with a child whose brother was killed in a botched drug deal, then battles the drug lord and his gang, the only back-up he musters is a woman who works at a rec center (Athena Karkanis) and Fr. Porter.
The showdown between Hebron and the bad guys takes place in a Catholic church (Note to Pope: skip this one), where Fr. Porter has been patiently waiting with his Good News Bible. “What?,” you may ask, “not a Catholic Bible?” If it was a Catholic Bible, there would be no irony in the bad news it held for the drug gang.
After a bunch of bodies fall and several buckets of blood are shed, Sacrifice wraps up with one of the worst examples of improbable happily-ever-after endings captured on film. It’s as if the filmmakers said, “Hey, we didn’t bother with the rest of the story, why start now?” It’s sad when good actors are wasted in a bad film; even sadder when the audience’s time is wasted watching it.
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