- When God has had enough he sends a
preacher to do his work
Machine Gun Preacher is based on true
story of Sam Childers and whether it's completely true, or true with
a flair for the artistic, or even perhaps just true in name only is
certainly up for debate. The movie doesn't give any indication that
it isn't true (no flying dragons or anything hyper unrealistic) and
it adds a clear warning that Kony started in a similar fashion so as
it isn't completely one sided towards the hero Sam. Now I admit I
don't really care for the entire Kony thing. I never watched the
video though I know there is one, I know there is a sequel and it
didn't do as well because nobody really wants to be preached about
the same thing twice. I live once and where do I draw the line at who
I care for? The answer is friends and family. But I figured it has
the action tag on it it's probably more action-oriented than gospel
so I'll give it a viewing.
The movie begins to a similar fashion
to Faster (2010). Convict Sam Childers played by Gerard Butler gets
out of jail and begins a string of drug and gun related crimes,
misdemeanours and one count of being a bad husband – to stay with
the frank theme here, the scene where he is a bad husband/father gets
me far more than the crimes of killing, guess I'm just desensitized
to that sort of thing. Now to jump ahead a bit, he finds God and
decides to help the children in Uganda. You'd think I just jumped
over a lot, but there is a lot of movie here at 129 minutes and at
the end of it you might just be happy they really skipped over it
too. Also, if you watched Machine Gun Preacher looking for an action
movie you probably just fast-forwarded the part when he found God
too! While certainly a large part of Sam's life, his turning the
page on his previous lifestyle doesn't really hold the same kind of
attention in a movie – action movie or not.
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| If you can't figure out why the young girl needs the oven mitt, don't ask. |
I can't help think there is some sort
of propaganda within this movie, but then there is that character who
suggests he is like Kony. And if you're trying to make Sam Childers
out to be a real American hero, why would you leave a line in like
that? Actually that character and her few negative lines are never
really put down, they just float there to linger in the viewer's
mind. Though I still can't get rid of the feeling that Childers is
still just too good after having such a life of evil behind him.
Perhaps it's just my general pessimistic lifestyle that hinders me
from seeing that he truly did change. As I said before they fly
through his (we'll call it) rehabilitation in a rush. He finds God,
gets a company, sees a preacher about Ugandan children and off he
goes to make up for his sins. Skipping over his undoubtedly rough
transition into a moral citizen (regrettably maybe not so morally
sound) took a lot of the power away from this movie for me. He
apparently stops his substance abuse cold turkey? The film never
takes a look at Sam taking a look at himself, really worrying about
repenting or sorry for what he has done. So the movie fails at the
repenting, and moreover just focuses on the now which isn't bad per
se, but disappointing. This movie would have had a stronger
story had it built on Childers getting to Uganda than having the
existing story that doesn't hold itself up very well.
This was an alright movie, I don't mind
the story overall, although it ran on a little too long and Childers
makes some idiotic decision, and if he made them in real life, he's
clearly a poor decision maker even after finding God. None of the
acting really stayed with me, the only real character who has screen
time is Sam Childers where Gerard Butler is a fine actor for the most
part (but then again he has picked some horrendous movies to star in
so he isn't that fine). I enjoyed this movie more as a fluff piece; a
pure fictitious story with bouts of action more than as an
documentary movie about the life of Sam Childers and how we all need
to donate to his cause for the children of Uganda.
I give it a 6/10
PS: if they changed some names and
gotten rid of his family after finding God and replaced it with
action it probably could have been a good 80s style action flick!
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