In case you don't know, "Son of God" is a spin-off of the successful
History Channel mini-series, "The Bible." The movie was filmed at the
same time as the show. In fact, it's the extended footage of the Jesus
section of the series. But there was a reason all of that footage was
cut. If it wasn't good enough for television, how can this possibly be
good enough for the cinema?
Well, it's not. This movie is a bore. With an unnecessary 138 minute
run-time, the film drags through dialogue delivered at a pace slow
enough for the slothful to keep up. Even then the script isn't
interesting. The selections of the gospel that get quoted are
mercilessly butchered. And that's another thing, if not the most
important criticism of a movie of this caliber -- the filmmakers had no
respect for the source material.
The story misses on minor and major elements. Anyone with anything
better than a felt-board understanding of Sunday school Bible stories
will be able to identify the inaccuracies. And they are many: from
theology to dialogue to locations to the people involved and the list
goes on. If the filmmakers don't care for even simple and easy details,
how can we believe that they care about the more complicated matters
addressed by the gospel of Jesus Christ? Sadly, they don't.
Truth be told, creators Roma Downey and Mark Burnett are New Age
believers. They soak up multiple forms of paganism, mysticism, and
spirituality -- like a lot of celebrities do. It doesn't take more than
a little bit of Googling to know what any celebrity believes. Yet the
American church has been duped into promoting this trite, vapid
representation of the Bible to make the Downey/Burnett couplehood a
fishing boat-load of cash.
It's no surprise that Joel Osteen, K-Love, T.D. Jakes, and Rick Warren
gobbled this thing right up. But Mark Driscoll, Louie Giglio, Focus On
the Family, Liberty University, and the Women of Faith conferences
should have done their research and known better. "Oh, she was in
'Touched By an Angel' and he made 'Survivor' and they claim to be
Christians and God told them to make this! Let's promote the hell out
of it!"
The Jesus portrayed in "Son of God" is not the Jesus of the Bible. In
the vein of the film being just downright boring, Diogo Morgado puts
forth one of the worst depictions of Jesus I've ever seen. He's pretty
passionless, as is the rest of the disciples and the attitudes of the
crowds who follow him. The climax and resolution of the story don't
resonate because the previous hundred minutes of the movie haven't
given us any reason to care.
Whether you're arguing from a theological standpoint, or just as a
movie-lover, the film is devoid of content. It's worthless. There's
nothing redeemable about this film. Save the money, save the time. And
for heaven's sake, know your Bible. As long as the church is out there
ready to promote anything with the word "God" on it, we're going to get
horrible material like this.
0