Paul Bettany searches for his soul, and a serial killer, in Paul McGuigan's inconsistent medieval murder mystery The Reckoning. Adapted from Barry Unsworth's Morality Play, it boldly tackles issues of grand-scale corruption and censorship that wouldn't be out of place in a Michael Moore documentary. Alas, as a crime thriller, it's plotted like a game of Middle Age Cluedo.
When caught bedding another man's wife, young priest Nicholas (Paul Bettany) flees his parish and joins a travelling band of actors led by radical thinker Martin (Willem Dafoe). A detour takes them to a small village where a local boy is found slain, reported to be the work of a witch (Elvira MÃnguez) who's promptly sentenced to death.
Keen to tell stories of social relevance, Martin decides the troupe should stage a play recounting this terrible crime. However, as Martin and Nicholas dig deeper into the circumstances surrounding the boy's death, they uncover a sordid conspiracy that binds church and State - threatening both their lives if they dare to expose it.
"SIMPLISTIC & FORMULAIC"
Although raising intriguing questions about the moral obligation dramatists have to throw a spotlight on taboo subjects, The Reckoning offers simplistic solutions. As the finale approaches it becomes more formulaic, culminating with Nicholas outlining his (frankly, flimsy) theory for the townsfolk in a scene that could've been lifted from an Agatha Christie mini-series. His audience is easily swayed of course, and being portrayed as impressionable dullards, their immediate response is to go out and lynch someone. As a meditation on justice, it's right up there with Charles Bronson's Death Wish movies.
The Reckoning (2004)
