Review:

Jackson Robert Scott is easily the best part of this entire film. Every single scene of his is wonderfully acted. The issues are everything else. Taylor Schilling is good most of the time, although I didn't always buy her emotions. The other actors are fine. None of those are my real problem with The Prodigy. I was 100% sold after the first trailers. The second batch gave away far too much and I was afraid that a big revolution had been spoiled, but the movie gives what should have been the biggest mystery away right of the bat. Alright, fine. I was really hoping for there to be a big mystery about what exactly is going on with the kid, but whatever, as long as they have something else to run on it should be great; I still love creepy children movies. However, they kind of just coast on creepy kid after the first half. Again, JRS is great. Everything I loved about The Prodigy is related to how compelling his performance is. But the plot is just so disappointing. It quickly explains everything way too fast and way too early, and then we escalate way too fast and race towards a creative, but (personally) unsatisfying ending. The Prodigy is barely an hour and a half, but the concept alone needs more than that to be fleshed out. It doesn't even really work as a horror. There are moments of tension and of course that creepy fucking kid just popping up is more than enough material for a few cheap jump scares, but nothing is developed enough to build any real fear. The most prevalent feelings is was left with were anger and disappointment. The cinematography was fine and there were no bad actors. The score was a little too manipulative, but okay. I blame Jeff Buhler's script for 90% of the failings of The Prodigy. A better script would almost entirely fix this film. I'm glad JRS is getting more exposure, but unfortunately he is the only bright spot here. There are a few scenes that were great, but not nearly enough to save this film.