Sam Raimi has long been one of my favorite film makers. His past pictures have always had a manic energy that I've admired. Movies like The Evil Dead series, and Darkman would always pick me up when I was down. Raimi had always been known for cramming more dazzling movement in a single camera shot then most directors would use in an entire film. The brilliant A Simple Plan marked a departure for the director, elevating him to the status of character storyteller. The film worked with flying colors. He followed up the much praised film with the baseball drama For Love of the Game, a film I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, no one else did. The Kevin Costner baseball flick was more or less trashed by critics and didn't really catch fire with audiences either. Enter The Gift, a new thriller that tries to have it's cake and eat it too.

The Gift is a southern fried thriller with Cate Blanchett as a widowed mother who makes ends meet by doing tarot card readings for the locals. Her higher power is put to the ultimate test when she is asked to help find a missing woman (sultry spitfire Katie Holmes). Keanu Reeves shows up as a dastardly redneck who likes to beat his wife (Boys Don't Cry's Hillary Swank). Not surprisingly, he's accused of kidnapping Holmes. With the help of Holmes' distraught fiance (Greg Kinnear) and the aid of her special gift, Blanchett tries to piece together what actually happened.

The Gift is full of terrific performances. Blanchett is lonely and sympathetic as our hero, while Reeves is actually quite good as a hateful, racist s.o.b. Holmes seems to be having a great time leaving her Dawson's Creek character behind. She goes for the gusto here as a fiery vixen. My favorite performance in the picture is courtesy of Giovanni Ribisi's. Last year, he was terrific in Boiler Room, and here, he's even better as a manic depressive with a closet-full of tragic secrets.

On one hand, it seems that The Gift would be Raimi's forte. After all, it is, at heart, a supernatural thriller. On the other hand, it is also a character study, and there lies the problem. Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson's screenplay is chalk full of Southern stereotypes and obvious situations. From early on, I knew what had happened to Holmes. It seemed painfully obvious to me. I expected more from the man who penned Sling Blade. This is just a play-it-safe thriller. Still, Raimi does manage to get strong performances from his cast and also offers up some eerie atmosphere. I couldn't help, however, but yearn for some of that great camera work that Raimi infused in his earlier pictures. It might have elevated The Gift to another level.

The Gift sort of reminded me of that dreadful Zemeckis picture What Lies Beneath. Thankfully, I liked this much more. I think it's because The Gift tries to stay grounded in realism despite it's tricky little Sixth Sense type ending. At any rate, The Gift is merely a warm up for Sam Raimi's next picture, the highly anticipated Spiderman.