God's Not Dead
God's Not Dead
Starring Shane Harper, Kevin Sorbo, David White, Dean Cain
Directed by Harold Cronk
Synopsis:
Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper) is a Christian (totally, because you can clearly see the cross on his neck) who is a freshman at a local university. He takes a Philosophy class under the strict Professor Radisson (Kevin Sorbo), who, during his first lecture, demands his students to write "God is dead" because, as a staunch Atheist, that is what he believes and what he wants his students to believe as well.
Josh refuses to do this, and the professor challenges him to debate the existence of God to his fellow students, and Josh sets out to do so, despite knowing it will probably cost him his grade and affect his future dream of being a lawyer.
Meanwhile, there's other stories going on. Reverend Dave (David White) welcomes an African missionary and wants to show him the sights but his car doesn't start. A Liberal reporter receives devastating news. A ruthless, heartless executive has to deal with his Christian sister and his mother who is suffering from Dementia. A Muslim girl is a secret Christian and tries desperately to hide it from her overly Muslim father. The Newsboys play a concert. For some reason Willie Robertson makes an appearance as well.
Review:
I feel that, as a Christian, I'm supposed to say this film is one of the best films ever made. However, the Bible speaks out against lying. I'm not saying this is a bad film - in fact, far from it. It's one of the best Christian films I've ever seen. The acting was above decent, it didn't look like it was produced by a high school senior, and it had a great message to it.
So what issues do I have with the film? I feel it could've been a lot better without the different sub-stories, but instead entirely focused on the debate between Josh Wheaton and Professor Radisson. Yes, I understand that the sub-stories play into the whole plot, but I feel it muddied the core aspect of the film - to prove or disprove the existence of God through compelling thought and argument. I also understand that the sub-plots also show this, but it diminishes the core argument.
As with my review of "Lucy," I feel that "God's Not Dead" also had a very disappointing ending, which takes away from the overall experience. I can't fully go into detail without spoiling it, but the ending seemed very cliche and hackneyed.
Still, as I said, it's not a terrible film in any way. In fact there's one scene in the film that I feel is the most powerful, and it's a discussion between the executive and his Dementia-suffering mother:
Man: "You prayed and believed your whole life. Never done anything wrong. And here you are. You're the nicest person I know. I am the meanest. You have Dementia
Mother: "Sometimes the devil allows people to live a life free of trouble because he doesn't want them turning to God. Their sin is like a jail
That was an extremely powerful and moving sequence.
Aaaand then they had Willie Robertson. That was a downer.
Summary:
"God's Not Dead" had a great premise and a powerful core concept, but sometimes became too muddy with other stories that leave you not caring as much for the characters as you should, because they weren't able to be fully developed apart from their generic stereotypes.
My Rating: B+
Comments
Post a Comment