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Perhaps a filmmaker will eventually explore the Resurrection in an artful manner. Or perhaps Indiana Jones will investigate the empty tomb in a worthwhile, well-made adventure that respects the integrity of its subject matter. But until then, thinking moviegoers hungry to discuss these things may have to look elsewhere. At E! Online, the critic concludes, "It'd take a miracle to raise this Body from the dead."

Michael Elliott at MovieParables writes that "unneeded cinematic gimmickry such as fading to black in the middle of a scene … only distracts from the intensely powerful performances that [Walker-Pearlman] elicits from his talented cast." And then he joins other critics praising those actors, complimenting Marla Gibbs, Rae Dawn Chong, Billy Dee Williams, and especially Hill Harper (He Got Game) who plays the prisoner. The Visit, Elliot says, "puts the emphasis where God would want us to focus: The salvation that is available to all men, regardless of their past sins."

Roger Ebert was also moved by the film's conclusion. In his review at the Chicago Sun-Times, he writes, "The Visit is about … the fact that the prisoner we see is not the same person who was convicted. If, that is, he is lucky enough to grow and change. The last act of The Visit hurries that process too much, but the journey is worth taking."

No, you're not having a flashback. Paul Hogan really is back in theatres, starring in Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. The hero of a couple of mid-'80s caper comedies, and more recently the star of SUV commercials, Hogan's fish-out-of-water hero is once again trying to make sense of our strange, big-city ways with his Australian outback sensibilities. Dundee's return has most mainstream critics asking "Why?"

But critics in the religious media seem happy that there's another relatively harmless family entertainment in theatres. Preview calls it "old-fashioned fun. While poking fun at the unreal world of movie making, the film also ties in messages about respecting nature and being honest with others." Movieguide says the movie is "a highly entertaining addition to the series that is probably tamer and more family-friendly than the other two movies. It's like visiting an old friend who, though he may regale you with the same old stories, is still fun to be around." But the U.S. Catholic Conference shrugged it off: "Director Simon Wincer's scenarios eke out some minor laughs but the film is mostly a snore with a paper-thin, time-worn premise." "Wincer … handles the picture like it was a paint by numbers kit," Michael Elliott similarly complains at MovieParables. "He doesn't stray from what has been used in the past and … produces nothing that is of much interest."

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April (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45