God's Not Dead 2 (F) Movie Review
After answering a student's Jesus-related question, Grace Wesley faces termination and when given the choice to keep her job but apologize for the incident, refuses to apologize so as to not go against her grain. Facing her is an uphill battle to fight for her job and her beliefs.
The faith-based film scene is an interesting one. The first God's Not Dead (which does not require a viewing to understand its sequel) was panned by critics but made a good sum of money. And then came Heaven is for Real, which is quite a bad film but also made a lot of money. This year, we've already had a sizable amount of faith-based movies come out: Jennifer Garner's Miracles from Heaven, the biopic-ish The Young Messiah, and now God's Not Dead 2.
So I went out to see God's Not Dead 2. This film is really not meant for me, as it's very alienating of anyone not belonging to Christianity, and I tend to have no interest in faith-based movies. But with its predecessor's reputation as being one of the worst films in recent years, I must admit that I was interested in how this one would turn out. Also, this was the only new release opening near me. Anyways, this a bad film. In fact, it's a very bad film. One might say, a tornado of morally reprehensible trash.
Politics aside, this is a poorly constructed film. It's hackneyed beyond repair; the end of the film and how we get there is so formulated to please any devout, extreme Christian viewer that director Harold Cronk often forgets he's making a feature film instead of a preachy sermon. This is alienating in and of itself but more on that later.
God's Not Dead 2 is almost completely devoid of any moral complexity, which is a shame because the plot events concern tricky, controversial, even relevant material that could've been explored to an extent far more interesting than it is here. Director Harold Cronk boils the material down to the most simplest of moral tales. Not to mention the poor characters, who are also boiled down to cardboard cutouts. Each character stands on their side of the line, categorized into "well-intentioned Christians" and "evil atheists."
And not to mention the performances, which are quite bad as well. It would be an understatement to call them "nothing special." I hesitate to say that because it's not that the performances are generic, it's that they're cartoonish and unbelievable. In fact, I don't recall one single, decent performance in the film. Not that the one-note script allows them to do anything anyways.
Where the "morally reprehensible" part comes in is in the film's treatment of others who don't follow Christianity. God's Not Dead 2 demonizes those mentioned, atheists in particular. Most of my problems with the film are political, actually. The demonization is ugly but in reality, I think Melissa Joan Hart's character should be punished for the events in question. There's a separation between church and state for a reason, and I don't hate or disrespect Christians or their right to believe in God, but I found it ridiculous that I was being led to believe that this woman, who discussed the teachings of Jesus in her classroom and encouraged a student outside of class to look into Christianity, should not be fired. But even with my personal beliefs aside, the demonization of other beliefs in God's Not Dead 2 turns a harmless bad film into a bad film that's less harmless.
This is a difficult review for me to write because I'm trying to exclude my political issues with the film, aside from the demonization, because that should not be condoned under any circumstances. Regardless of my beliefs, know that this a poor film. It's religious propaganda and is hard to even judge as an artistic endeavor because it has no aim but to pander to extreme Christians. The world of faith-based film and audience members in general deserve better.
MPAA RATING: PG for thematic elements
FINAL GRADE: F
The faith-based film scene is an interesting one. The first God's Not Dead (which does not require a viewing to understand its sequel) was panned by critics but made a good sum of money. And then came Heaven is for Real, which is quite a bad film but also made a lot of money. This year, we've already had a sizable amount of faith-based movies come out: Jennifer Garner's Miracles from Heaven, the biopic-ish The Young Messiah, and now God's Not Dead 2.
So I went out to see God's Not Dead 2. This film is really not meant for me, as it's very alienating of anyone not belonging to Christianity, and I tend to have no interest in faith-based movies. But with its predecessor's reputation as being one of the worst films in recent years, I must admit that I was interested in how this one would turn out. Also, this was the only new release opening near me. Anyways, this a bad film. In fact, it's a very bad film. One might say, a tornado of morally reprehensible trash.
Politics aside, this is a poorly constructed film. It's hackneyed beyond repair; the end of the film and how we get there is so formulated to please any devout, extreme Christian viewer that director Harold Cronk often forgets he's making a feature film instead of a preachy sermon. This is alienating in and of itself but more on that later.
God's Not Dead 2 is almost completely devoid of any moral complexity, which is a shame because the plot events concern tricky, controversial, even relevant material that could've been explored to an extent far more interesting than it is here. Director Harold Cronk boils the material down to the most simplest of moral tales. Not to mention the poor characters, who are also boiled down to cardboard cutouts. Each character stands on their side of the line, categorized into "well-intentioned Christians" and "evil atheists."
And not to mention the performances, which are quite bad as well. It would be an understatement to call them "nothing special." I hesitate to say that because it's not that the performances are generic, it's that they're cartoonish and unbelievable. In fact, I don't recall one single, decent performance in the film. Not that the one-note script allows them to do anything anyways.
Where the "morally reprehensible" part comes in is in the film's treatment of others who don't follow Christianity. God's Not Dead 2 demonizes those mentioned, atheists in particular. Most of my problems with the film are political, actually. The demonization is ugly but in reality, I think Melissa Joan Hart's character should be punished for the events in question. There's a separation between church and state for a reason, and I don't hate or disrespect Christians or their right to believe in God, but I found it ridiculous that I was being led to believe that this woman, who discussed the teachings of Jesus in her classroom and encouraged a student outside of class to look into Christianity, should not be fired. But even with my personal beliefs aside, the demonization of other beliefs in God's Not Dead 2 turns a harmless bad film into a bad film that's less harmless.
This is a difficult review for me to write because I'm trying to exclude my political issues with the film, aside from the demonization, because that should not be condoned under any circumstances. Regardless of my beliefs, know that this a poor film. It's religious propaganda and is hard to even judge as an artistic endeavor because it has no aim but to pander to extreme Christians. The world of faith-based film and audience members in general deserve better.
MPAA RATING: PG for thematic elements
FINAL GRADE: F