I don't normally write reviews with spoilers. This story comes completely undone with in the last five minutes. And does so in such a fashion I managed to practically dismiss everything good from the beginning.
The quiet but steadfast Pastor Toller is a token Pastor in a tiny token church financed by a much larger religious organization known as Abundant Life.
Toller already has faced a fair amount of pain and loss, his son killed in the Iraqi war only six months into his first deployment, which lead to his divorce. Toller is quietly plagued by alcoholism and guilt as a result. He also has the added anxiety of now facing terminal cancer.
A young married couple, Michael and Mary, come to the Pastor for counseling as Michael wants his wife to abort their coming baby.
Michael is completely obsessed with the idea of total global environmental meltdown by the year 2050, and can not bear the thought of his child being handed an unlivable world.
The good Pastor Toller very much enjoys engaging Michael for the sake of avoiding the abortion, and feels he is gaining ground to give the soon to be father some badly needed hope.
The cinematography greatly captures the mood with most scenes so darkly lit and in late fall, just before the advent of a long and cold New York winter.
There is a near complete lack of a soundtrack as well to deepen the severity of the conversations and the Pastor's own private musings.
Michael then abruptly commits suicide, dooming Toller to find his body minus half his head.
Toller now takes on Michael's grave environmental concerns, and it doesn't help when he discovers the main benefactor of his parent church is none other than a man who runs one of the biggest corporate polluters on the list.
Toller is already in the possession of a suicide bomb-vest, homemade by the late Michael.
The suspense at this point is thick enough to be cut with a knife. But the incredibly weak, silly and scattered ending destroys everything one might be on the edge of their seat expecting.
Does he blow up the church with all the evil, rich polluters? No. Does he commit suicide by drinking Drano? No.
He instead wraps himself up in barbed-wire and makes out with his girlfriend.
I, like everybody else in the theater left shaking their heads in disbelieve, leaving the entire story which was about to receive a solid 8/10 rating, shoots itself down to a 3.
Absolutely disappointing.
The quiet but steadfast Pastor Toller is a token Pastor in a tiny token church financed by a much larger religious organization known as Abundant Life.
Toller already has faced a fair amount of pain and loss, his son killed in the Iraqi war only six months into his first deployment, which lead to his divorce. Toller is quietly plagued by alcoholism and guilt as a result. He also has the added anxiety of now facing terminal cancer.
A young married couple, Michael and Mary, come to the Pastor for counseling as Michael wants his wife to abort their coming baby.
Michael is completely obsessed with the idea of total global environmental meltdown by the year 2050, and can not bear the thought of his child being handed an unlivable world.
The good Pastor Toller very much enjoys engaging Michael for the sake of avoiding the abortion, and feels he is gaining ground to give the soon to be father some badly needed hope.
The cinematography greatly captures the mood with most scenes so darkly lit and in late fall, just before the advent of a long and cold New York winter.
There is a near complete lack of a soundtrack as well to deepen the severity of the conversations and the Pastor's own private musings.
Michael then abruptly commits suicide, dooming Toller to find his body minus half his head.
Toller now takes on Michael's grave environmental concerns, and it doesn't help when he discovers the main benefactor of his parent church is none other than a man who runs one of the biggest corporate polluters on the list.
Toller is already in the possession of a suicide bomb-vest, homemade by the late Michael.
The suspense at this point is thick enough to be cut with a knife. But the incredibly weak, silly and scattered ending destroys everything one might be on the edge of their seat expecting.
Does he blow up the church with all the evil, rich polluters? No. Does he commit suicide by drinking Drano? No.
He instead wraps himself up in barbed-wire and makes out with his girlfriend.
I, like everybody else in the theater left shaking their heads in disbelieve, leaving the entire story which was about to receive a solid 8/10 rating, shoots itself down to a 3.
Absolutely disappointing.