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The Patriot (2000)
An epic rollercoaster of emotions through splendid visuals and performances
I may be a little biased towards this film as a movie called "the patriot" has a heavy resonance with me. Even as an Englishman seeing soldiers of my nation be utterly destroyed by Mel Gibson's awesomeness, I could care less about the portrayal of English soldiers in this film. The patriot is a marvel of epic filmmaking. Pure and simple.
Noah (2014)
Visually impressive, but borderline blasphemous
I enjoyed pretty much every second of this film. Not one moment dragged and all the performances were top notch. But something was nagging in the back of my mind during this whole experience. And by the halfway point I found it. This film takes the Biblical narrative and completely rips it apart. Not just story-wise. But from the characters to the narrative that follows the flood. Say what you want about the Exodus film, at least it stays partially true to the story, given its many deviances. Noah does it's own thing and likes to play around with the story. From a secular perspective it's nothing to fuss about. But from someone who believes in the story and the morals it teaches, I take great issue with a film that turns Noah into a villain halfway through, makes up stories about angelic rock monsters and somehow forgets that Ham becomes the future of the African races without a wife to reproduce??
Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
A visual treat, yet something is sorely missing
I was hesitant to watch Exodus, despite my love for Ridley Scott and his style, as I heard many stories about the filmmakers and actors not fully grasping the story of the Book of Exodus. Scott, as an atheist, was a strange director to make a Biblical story. I was pleased with Exodus as an exclusively epic scale film, however it's Biblical aspects are thoroughly lacking.
For a start, the story is only slightly partially faithful to the Exodus narrative and there are many, many, many small aspects that are changed. For example, Moses kills two Egyptians in an alleyway instead of one and he does so to protect his identity not to save a beaten Hebrew. Another aspect is the lack of Moses' staff and its use in the crossing of the Red Sea. What is worse is that there are many more essential details that are missing: Moses and Aaron meet far too late into the story, the plagues occur out of order, the burning bush IS God (not the angel). So many things are left out and they seem small to regular audiences but to the Christians watching, it is quite a travesty.
The movie is largely centred around its visuals, which is fine for an epic to do, but there has to be an underlying substance to hold all that spectacle up. And sadly Exodus has very little substance. I found it very hard to relate to anyone in the film, even the enslaved Hebrews. It was a struggle to empathise with the characters. I want to say the visuals and production design make up for the lack of characterisation, but I cannot. I love Scott's visual style but it cannot float without good characterisation. But I must say... my goodness is this film a beauty to look at. Both computer-generated and practical, the production is truly great. Expected for a Scott film.
The acting overall is fine. No one really stands out to me apart from Joel Edgerton. His broken character is all that makes this movie more than an empty eye-candy fest. Bale is a very strange pick for Moses, but I grew on him as the film progressed. Everyone talks about Bale's casting being strange but I find Ben Mendelson's casting as the viceroy the weirdest thing I have ever seen in an epic film. And I've seen some weird Epics (also can we just point out that Ewen Bremmer, the guy who said in AVP "now this is like finding Moses' DVD collection" is featured in an Exodus film? I genuinely think Scott hired him just to make that gag).
I wanted this to be so much more, but I guess having a Biblical film directed by an atheist, this is the best kind of result we could have gotten.
40 Nights (2016)
A nice, low budget, Biblical character study
When I saw the score for this film I went into it expecting another poor excuse for a biblical adaptation. However I was presently surprised by the depth that 40 Nights brings to a story that is alluded to in only one chapter in all the gospels and in some cases only a few verses. It is an exceptional Biblical story with a lot of passion poured into it.
The story of Jesus being tempted in the desert is something that has always interested me. However, very few Jesus adaptations have actually shown this in great detail. The Bible tv series had a small scene of a physical Satan coming after Jesus, most other adaptations have either a snake as a representation of Satan or just his voice in Jesus' head. Having an entire film dedicated to Jesus' suffering was an excellent idea. Similar to the Passion of the Christ dedicating the entire film to the gruesome detail of Christ's last day, 40 Nights has more opportunity to show the detail of Christ's suffering through his temptation. It adds to more sympathy to Christ knowing that he not only suffered on the cross but he also suffered in the desert as a sort of pre-atonement.
DJ Perry does an excellent Jesus and, although his role is minimised in the Christ Slayer, he is given the full reign of his acting ability here, especially in the scenes where he quarrels with Satan. Having Satan appear as a boy, then a man, then an elder shows the manipulation of the devil in a very thematic way. Jesus remains the same in all their encounters but Satan has to change every time in order to try and win Jesus' favour. It also shows the depths the Father of Lies will go to achieve victory. All three actors who play Satan's various forms do a phenomenal job, with none superseding the other's. Although they are consistent, Taymour Ghazi gets the spotlight the most with his scenes of temptation and he owns it all. The writing compliments all three of the actors but I feel like Taymour had the most fun doing it. You can just see in his eyes.
There are moments that raise a few eyebrows. Like when Gabriel teleports in front of Satan to protect Jesus and the effects look like something from Powerpoint mixed with a weird jump cut. However, given that it is likely not a large budget film, I can forgive the effects. It's just the actor who plays Gabriel is a bit off in his delivery of lines. Especially when he's coupled against Taymour Ghazi's madman portrayal of Satan, he falls slightly short.
I vehemently disagree with the idea that this is the worst of the quest trilogy. Some shoddy effects here and there, some cheesy lines occasionally. But what does that take away from the experience of the story? Really not that much. 40 Nights is well worth the watch for anyone interested in the stories of the Bible, Christian or otherwise.
Persecuted (2014)
Another Christian film that hits the ground running
It's a shame that Persecuted has so little going for it while so much at the same time. I didn't really have any expectations for this film due to its low rating and it is by no means as bad as some people say it is. However, even looking at it from a Christian standpoint, Persecuted has little making it anything above average.
James Remar does the best he can with this script as does most of the cast. He does convey a broken man on the run for his life reasonably well, however it's the script that brings him down. There's nothing particularly bad about the script, but there's nothing special to be said about it.
I can say good about some particular scenes. Moments like Luther's dad being killed in this awesome long take, the ending where Luther has to make a decision whether to kill the FBI agent to save the cop lady. There are things that underpin Persecuted and try to lift it up, but ultimately not much can get it out of the mud that it was written in.
From a Christian standpoint, Persecuted comes off as having some sort of victim mentality. Yes Christians are persecuted across the world, yes they are sometimes persecuted in the West (I have seen it myself), but its never good to wallow in that victimhood and unfortunately it creates an outlook on this movie that makes me think I've got some kind of target on my back. If it's not told in an interesting and compelling way, I can't really feel for it.
Can I say there's nothing to like about this film? Not exactly. I'm certain there is something here for anyone, Christian or not. But not much sticks with me in a film that feels like the whole world is out to get it.
A Matter of Faith (2014)
Hamstrung by poor production, despite a good premise
As someone who firmly believes in the Bible and its creation stories, this film was quite a pain to sit through. The battle between evolution and creationism has gone on ever since Darwin invented his theory and all throughout this film I was thinking "this is such a good premise with such potential for heavy emotional weight". Ultimately it is held back by a filmic style that was in no way immersive or interesting and what good moments there are simply dissolve behind a myriad of painful subsequent scenes and an ending that does not feel deserved.
The characters are largely generic and ultimately not anything giving much attention for save for the father character and the black professor who returns to give a little speech at the end of the debate (yeah, I can't remember the names of the characters. Big surprise). You have all the stereotypes including jocks and nerd characters. Honestly feels a lot like a student film. Which would be fine if it was actually a student film, however, this is a film made by supposed professionals.
There are some good moments. For example some scenes genuinely made me smile and even laugh, like the running gag with the professor and the stressed out student (again, can't remember any of their names) where the professor says "and the university will be indebted to your contributions" every time the stressed student complains about his tasks. Also when the young creationist student rebukes evolutionist arguments in a cold and calculated demeanour. Sadly there are only few of these moments and a lot of the moments where the creationist comes on top don't even take into consideration the stronger arguments in favour of creation. No mention of DNA mutation rates that prove humans came into existence 6000 years ago - not hundreds of thousands of years ago - which perfectly lines up with the genealogies of Christ. No mention of the lack of transitional fossils, no mention of the fact that evolution breaks the law of biogenesis and the law of conservation. I feel like the writers could have had a lot more to say about the actual science behind creation rather than having the father completely stumped during the debate? They could have easily gone the route of "The Case for Christ" - a vastly superior film btw - but it has nowhere near as much weight as that film does.
The cinematography is truly horrendous as well. Nothing but shot/reverse shot between two people talking about something that, for the most part, is uninteresting. Talk about going full prequel mode. The scenes themselves jump from one another like Legolas jumping up the falling bricks during the Battle of the Five Armies. And both the Legolas scene and this film have similar effects on the viewer: it ruins immersion and doesn't keep you in the film. I think one scene actually lasted for less than 20 seconds before cutting to a new location and new scenario. Just not really interesting in any way and I found myself skipping scenes constantly.
Overall "A Matter of Faith" is nothing more than a missed opportunity. It's boring above everything else. Boringly shot, boringly edited, boringly paced. It doesn't even serve as a feel-good film for exclusively converts. I honestly don't see anyone enjoying this film too much.