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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
It's a great movie, 4 November 2004
Author: Sheltdawg2000 from Roy, Utah

If there was ever a movie that accurately described LDS missionary life, it's this one. One of the reasons that I liked this movie, is because I could identify with a lot of the experiences, i.e. The pictures on the toilet, the cockroach family tree, etc. I could also identify with the times that he didn't want to be on his mission. There were plenty of those times for me. As an LDS missionary I definitely could appreciate the attitude of the movie. Some people say that it offends them, and it doesn't accurately portray LDS missionaries, but having been on one myself, It does.

LDS missionaries aren't all about being strict and serious 24/7. They are out to share their beliefs with others who want to know, because they believe it as well. I admire Richard Dutcher for taking a stand and being the first to produce a movie that tells the public what missionaries do, and what they go through. He's opened a whole new world to movie-goers.

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9 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
This film is an amazing accomplishment., 27 July 2004

Author: carlstrobel-1 from Annapolis MD

If anyone had dared suggest that I could sit through 104 minutes of 20-something youths trying to convert people around Los Angeles to the Mormon church, I would have snickered. But I did sit through it and loved it.

The motives driving these young men gradually become apparent, but at no time are the religious aspects of the film overbearing to a non-Mormon (I am a Unitarian and am extremely sensitive to propagandizing or proselytizing) At the end of the movie, the viewer has a understanding of and respect for the beliefs the missionaries are trying to instill in others.

Most appealing is the gentle humor when the real world of Los Angeles comes in conflict with the Mormons' beliefs. One scene is priceless -- the harried father, two children screaming, his wife yelling, who is being assured by the Mormon missionaries that the family is eternal.

This film is well off the beaten cinema path -- if religion is not central to your life but you enjoy well written, well directed drama, God's Army is for you.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
An interesting look at an interesting culture, 16 June 2003
Author: Jolard from Seattle, Washington

Some of the reviewers seem to have expected a movie that preaches mormonism. That is not what this movie appears to be. It is simply a snapshot of people's lives, living in a very unusual way in modern times. The characters seem real, the situations mostly non-contrived, and the writing is good.

This is just as much a movie about Mormons as Witness was a movie about the Amish. You get a glimpse into their lives and a small taste of what they believe and do, but the story is the important part.

Dutcher has stated that his purpose was to make movies for the mormon market, and if other people enjoyed them then that was ok. While it can be a little rough around the edges, it is a fine piece of independent cinema, and a joy to watch.

I really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to Dutcher's next effort, The Prophet, the story of the mormon prophet Joseph Smith. He is an interesting character and lived an interesting life, whether you believe he was a prophet or not.

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4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Good Acting... Great Writing... Priceless Subject! An inspiring, 30 March 2000

Author: mjrei from St. George, Utah

I saw "God's Army" with my wife, who is not a member of the Mormon church. We both loved this movie, but for different reasons... That's the mark of good film-making.

This was truly an entertaining and informative movie. The movie accurately depicts the experience of an LDS mission. Having been on a mission myself, revelled in the chance to relive those choice moments that are now difficult to remember, and even more difficult to put into words. The acting was good, the writing great, and subject matter priceless! Throughout most of the movie, I forgot I was watching actors.

While I felt this was a movie about Mormons, for Mormons, it was so well done that it could have more broad appeal. My wife who is not Mormon, and knows little about my mission, really enjoyed the characters and their development.

I hope this movie does well, encouraging not just Richard Dutcher, but other filmmakers to make more movies of this kind. Big thanks to everyone who made this movie possible!

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Integrity sets this film apart from other works in the fledgling "Mormon cinema.", 4 September 2002

Author: Kynan Griffin (kynangriffin@hotmail.com) from Durban, South Africa

The start of, and perhaps, the definitive work thus far with regards to the fledgling "Mormon cinema" movement, God's Army is an honest and worthy cinematic effort. Writer/Director/Actor/Producer Richard Dutcher tells a story he really beliefs in with honesty and passion, and although the acting and production value of the film are not up to par with his subsequent effort, Brigham City, the integrity of the film makes it far more enjoyable and far more appealing. With reference to the other works within "Mormon cinema" including Singles Ward, Brigham City and Out of Step, God's Army stands tall in comparison, the quality perhaps being reflected in a boxoffice take more than twice it's closest competitor. Singles Ward and Out of Step in particular are cheap, easy and unimaginative swill churned out to an eager, but small, target audience of Mormons starved of entertainment they can reallly call their own. These films pander to the lowest common denominator, whereas God's Army

attempts to rise above purely Mormon culture and give the world a taste of what it is like to serve a higher and unseen entity - relying purely on faith, as an insecure, young, and unlearned youth.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
By and for Mormons, 21 November 2000
Author: N. Pomeroy from San Jose, CA USA

I had a chance to see a screening in Utah with Richard Dutcher. He said that he made the film for the LDS community so they could see a bit of themselves on screen in an entertaining way. After having seen the movie, I agree that is what he accomplished.

For a Mormon to wade through movies where they are portrayed as rustics, idiots or laughing-stocks (My Five Wives, or Orgazmo, anyone?) is tiring. For a Mormon to wade through other movies about people who act immorally (in their view) and are praised in the movie for it (any action film, and many romances) is equally tiring or even offensive. He thought 5 million Mormons in the US wanted to see something different. He was right.

He did not make the film to proselytize to non-mormons, address or explain "issues" about the Mormon church, teach doctrinal points or any other such thing. Anyone saying otherwise probably missed the entire "raison d'etre" of the movie.

The plot was a bit more formulaic than one might like, but less so than any "Action movie blockbuster" of the year (For example, did anyone really *wonder* how the plot of "Gladiator" would develop?).

The acting was solid. That's pretty suprising for essentially an indy. Dutcher said that only a few of the actors were Mormon, but they were convincingly Mormon. The dialog was good and too jargon-filled for any non-mormon to follow 100%. It wasn't the movie's intent to provide explanations for these things. If you need a glossary for the movie, ask the target audience. The music was well done, contributed to the movie without being to obtrusive. The production was very professional, even considering it was done on a shoestring budget and shot in less than 3(?) weeks.

Compared to such high-profile stinkers as the Blair Witch Project, this movie was masterpiece. Compared to a masterpiece, it was good, not stellar but good.

That's my $.02 opinion. Take it for what it is.

N.

P.S. For those who wonder if the movie is a "realistic" portrayal of Mormon missionary life, the answer is "yes, it is inasmuch as a 108 minute movie can do."

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3 out of 3 people found the following review useful:
Minor spoilers ahead from a heathen reviewer, 20 October 2000
Author: keala from usa

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I was dying to hate this movie. There are lots of Mormons where I live, and since an unpleasant political conflict occurred with me and the Church on opposite sides, I haven't exactly been smiling on the soldiers in God's Army who try to convert me. I watched this with my fellow agnostics hoping for a personal appearance from God, mass conversions of pimps and drug dealers, a lightning bolt incinerating a gay pride rally or a Starbuck's, anything that would give us some laughs.

Well...we weren't 100% disappointed. There are conversions, one of them rather unlikely. There's a 'miracle' that I'm sure is technically possible, but doesn't fit this film. And while the movie isn't homophobic, it never addresses the Church's anti-gay stance.

This is noticeable because, surprisingly, it does address other grim issues. In one scene the main character and a black partner sheepishly explain the Church's former bigotry toward blacks and present chauvinism toward women to a skeptical black couple. At one point the unbelieving male racistly disregards the white missionary, which at first struck me as the film's cheap summons for indignant sympathy ("see, blacks are racist too!") at a moment when it should have bitten the bullet and said, "That was wrong of the Church." It doesn't in so many words...but I now wonder if the remark was the film's quiet acknowledgment that the past injustice is offensive enough to make some blacks blindly angry.

The film is like that. It isn't mean to its opponents or loudly preachy. It is quite pro-Mormon, but it goes out of its way to be even-handed. In one of its most admirable scenes, a dying missionary attacks a departing colleague who's lost faith; he subsides when the doubter soberly points out that imminent death might be fuelling a desperation to believe and persuade others...and the ex-LDS is allowed to leave - permanently - with some dignity.

It also skillfully imparts the atmosphere of the young men's spartan lifestyle; sharing cramped, dingy apartments on tiny budgets, dressing in identical outfits, eating identical rations of cold breakfast cereal, and passing out tracts to identical reactions in a scene that will make the rest of us feel guilty (I was never cold enough to trash those leaflets where they could SEE it, but still...) They play jokes on each other to enliven the proceedings, and I can believe the earlier poster who said their real life pranks are even more extreme; if I had to live that way I'd end up streaking down the avenue.

All in all, GOD'S ARMY is pretty worthwhile viewing. It has flaws - some of the plot is weak, it should have addressed the gay issue, etc. - but it stirred subtle respect in me for these proselytizers, replacing an admiration that had been more akin to what you feel for Evel Knievel making a 1,000 foot motorcycle drop. Another poster described a character's religious epiphany as a moment of insanity, and he might be right. One of the film's virtues was reminding me that a somewhat irrational life based on 'moments of insanity' might be more valid than a strictly logical life without them.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
okay, 27 January 2003
Author: Ajtlawyer from Richland, WA

I'm an ex-Mormon who, as a film buff, thought that "God's Army" was saleable merchandise. One thing that is great about movies is that it can take you to worlds or lifestyles that you wouldn't get to see otherwise (or want to see) such as "Boogie Nights" look at the porn industry. "God's Army" is that sort of look into the world of an LDS missionary. Of course the movie is aimed at Mormons but I did like Richard Dutcher's willingness to have one of the missionairies start to question the validity of Mormonism and finally quit his mission. I can guarantee you that every LDS propaganda film made has always shown missionaries and LDS leaders as stalwarts without a hint of doubt about their work.

I also liked it that he included the scene where the black couple gives a dressing down to the African-American LDS missionary (I'm sure that there're are some; I've never seen one in person or even met anyone who has met one!). The missionary's response to past, blatant LDS institutional racism falls like a lead balloon to the couple and it seems evident that Dutcher feels that the official LDS line on past race problems is insufficient.

He's also willing to show the missionaries with not only their hair down, but their pants down as well. The practical joke photos of different missionaries sitting on the john were funny and I can only imagine more than a few LDS leaders being a bit offended by that. Again, a bit of Dutcher's unorthodoxy seeping through? Everything I've read about him says he's a TBM (true believing Mormon) but there is something about Dutcher that seems just a little out of step, just a little unorthodox for the usual Mormon. I know that he's trying to create a "Mormon Cinema" and it will probably make him a wealthy man since he has no real competitors for the LDS-drama genre. I would like to see what he could do though with just a straight, non-LDS theme movie and some better actors.

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3 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Let's go out and do some good, 2 September 2000
Author: lou-50 from Houston, Texas

I attended an open house for the recently completed 97th Mormon Temple and was once again impressed by these 'true believers' - men and women of steadfast religious conviction (some would say, the product of communal brainwashing). But judging by "God's Army", an honest and down-to-earth depiction about Mormon conversion, you have to say the young members are far from being willing robots, ready to accept their faith. It took a lot of guts for writer, director, and star Richard Dutcher to make this mainstream religious feature that, on the whole, is both inspiring and entertaining. But in his quest for a wide audience, Dutcher has toned down the religious preaching and built up a story about multi-ethnic characters in the heathen Los Angeles. Devoid of some proselytizing however, we don't fully appreciate the Mormon beliefs nor their missionary work. The various conflicts in the story and their syrupy resolutions also lent themselves more to the "Touched by an Angel" TV series. That being said, "God's Army" has several good points. The humor is both refreshing and yet self-directed: in their pristine mission quarters, the men have a posted cockroach board with specimen and species identification; Elder Sandoval boosts himself above a railing to face the famous Hollywood sign as he delivers his salvation message even as his fellow missionaries are throwing pieces of food at him; and the house antic is to take pictures of fellow missionaries sitting on the commode. The acting (mostly first-timers) is surprisingly good, especially the genuine chemistry between Elder Dalton (Dutcher) the mentor and Elder Allen (Matthew Brown) the student. In their shared dialogues, we learn much about a disciplined lifestyle that will lead to personal growth and salvation. It isn't afraid to air out dirty laundry in discussing issues of black bigotry and dissent to the Book of Mormons. It shares with us flawed characters trying to overcome their barriers - Elder Allen raised by a stepfather who baptized him to the Mormon faith and later landed in prison for child molesting, Sister Fronk unable to commit to a Mormon suitor because of her inadequate faith, and Elder Kinegar who could not overcome his religious disbeliefs. "God's Army" isn't a film for everyone because in witnessing men and women struggling to understand their faith and commitment, we are bound to ask ourselves the same questions.

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1 out of 1 people found the following review useful:
Down-to-earth, not sugared and realistic story, 2 October 2000

Author: fcornejo from Denver, USA

It would be honest to say first that I'm LDS and a returned missionary. I am one of those that has been waiting many years for "God's Army". A movie that does not proselitize, does not explain doctrine or portraits us as "perfect and beautiful". It shows reality, it shows people that have reached their own testimonies, people struggling to understand their faith, and people attracted to find answers in the writings of the anti-mormons. It shows one big true: the real answers must come from inside, rather than people that have or not have the faith. It is inspiring to observe Elder Allen's gradual change into religious maturity, knowing for himself. Very well portraited: no thunder or lightning involved, just the time spent alone with God. The experiences in the mission field are so realistic that anybody who was in a mission could relate to them. Give me 20 or 30 returned missionaries and we can put together all of them and more. The healing miracle... When I saw the film I knew that this could bring controversy, even among LDS people. Then I thought: Why not? Miracles like this happen every day in the world. I've seen it myself. Again, why not? Is was totally justified and possible for somebody that strives for doing the right thing. It is possible, like knowing about the coming of your own death. For all those criticize the lack of some doctrinal answers, I say that this is not the place to look for them. This is a movie about people, not about doctrine. It shows an aspect of the mormon culture, and it is very well done. I wait for more.

Fer

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