BI Agent Wesley Doyle (Boothe) comes into the office late one night to take the testimony of Fenton Meiks (McConaghey), who tells Doyle that he knows who is committing a series of brutal murders around Texas, the so-called "God's Hand" murderer.
Doyle is skeptical at first, but is intrigued by Meiks' claim that his brother, Adam, is responsible. "Sometimes the truth defies reason, Agent Doyle," Meiks says calmly.
Meiks' story flashes back to 1979, when 12-year-old Fenton (Matthew O'Leary) and his 9-year-old brother, Adam (Jeremy Sumpter), live an idyllic small-town life with their doting single father (Paxton). That is, until Dad comes into the boys' bedroom late one evening and tells them something extraordinary. An angel has come to him and revealed to him that demons dwell among us, Dad says. Dad tells his two incredulous sons that their family has been chosen to destroy the demons in a holy mission.
Adam quickly embraces the revelation. But Fenton is shocked. "My happy life was flipped over, and there were dark things there—very dark things," he recalls. "My little-boy mind just couldn't take it."
But the worst is yet to come. God later reveals to Dad the magical weapons that will be the instruments of His justice: a double-headed ax, a lead pipe and a pair of work gloves. Weeks pass. Nothing happens, and Fenton believes that it was all just a bad dream.
But then Dad comes home in the middle of the night with a large bundle in his truck. It's a woman. Dad brings the boys into the shed, where he lays the woman on the ground, bound and gagged. "Don't be afraid, son," Dad tells Fenton. Then he raises the ax high.
Two first-timers dream up shady deeds
Frailty, an original story by first-time feature writer Hanley, marks genre veteran actor Paxton's directorial debut. An ambitious psychological horror thriller with supernatural overtones, the movie raises disturbing issues about the "frailty" of human perception, what writer Hannah Arendt called "the banality of evil" and the darker implications of faith. The movie keeps the viewer guessing right up to the end: Is Dad crazy or not?
But the movie is marred by clumsy storytelling—including multiple flashbacks within flashbacks and a ham-handed voiceover narration—and overly gimmicky plotting, with several confusing and implausible twists toward the end.
Even so, Paxton shows admirable restraint as a director and even more in the measured and calm performance of Dad, who in less capable hands might have come off as a raving lunatic. Paxton's humid vision of horror and his relaxed mien underscore the appalling nature of his actions. The horror creeps up on the viewer in increments, much as it might for the main characters, until the viewer finds himself surprised at how far into darkness he has come. Paxton also wisely opts to suggest the graphic nature of the murders rather than depict them, making them all that more horrific.
Frailty flashes back to the 1970s, but the world of its past has more in common with the 1960s of To Kill a Mockingbird. One half expects Atticus Finch to live in the house up the street. Paxton's choice to depict Fenton's childhood as a gauzy, timeless summer when everything changed also heightens the depravity of the horrors to come.
The children—including newcomer O'Leary—put in credible performances as the rural children caught up in extraordinary circumstances, even though the kids' dialogue sometimes feels artificial. But O'Leary may be overmatched for the complex emotions required of his role, though he is capable of playing fear, anger and anguish.
McConaughey, who appears only in the framing sequences and provides the narration, underplays his role as well, to good effect. Boothe has the thankless job of being the audience's surrogate for most of the film.
