Saturday
Oct112008
Farcing the Giants
Saturday, October 11, 2008 at 11:09PM
Okay, look. I'm a Christian. I'm not a great one, but I am one for sure, and I take my faith seriously.
While I believe the screenwriters also take their faith seriously, I have doubts about whether anybody involved with Facing the Giants takes cinema seriously. The story was so heavy-handed and in-our-collective-face that they could probably have saved some money by slowly scrolling a Gospel presentation across the screen read by Kirk Cameron. I say this because this story, more predictable than 2 + 2, was executed by a gaggle of actors whose performances were below Lifetime Television standards. The music made the score for The Princess Bride sound symphonic (don't get me wrong, I love TPB, but those cheap snyths have gotta go). The direction was middling at best.
I don't think I'm holding Christian cinema to an unfair standard here. By calling myself a Christian, I'm opening myself up to scrutiny. So why, when Christians endeavor to make cinema, shouldn't we hold such movies up against other examples of the motion picture? Maybe this film was the best the writers and director and actors could muster, but just because it might be their best effort doesn't mean it's a good film.
I remember when this movie came out a couple of years ago and a fair number of Christians I know raved about its earnest presentation of the Gospel. I'm sorry, but that's equivalent to claiming a tone-deaf singer was excellent because she sang great lyrics.
I don't hear anybody offering high praise for black-velvet paintings of Jesus...
While I believe the screenwriters also take their faith seriously, I have doubts about whether anybody involved with Facing the Giants takes cinema seriously. The story was so heavy-handed and in-our-collective-face that they could probably have saved some money by slowly scrolling a Gospel presentation across the screen read by Kirk Cameron. I say this because this story, more predictable than 2 + 2, was executed by a gaggle of actors whose performances were below Lifetime Television standards. The music made the score for The Princess Bride sound symphonic (don't get me wrong, I love TPB, but those cheap snyths have gotta go). The direction was middling at best.
I don't think I'm holding Christian cinema to an unfair standard here. By calling myself a Christian, I'm opening myself up to scrutiny. So why, when Christians endeavor to make cinema, shouldn't we hold such movies up against other examples of the motion picture? Maybe this film was the best the writers and director and actors could muster, but just because it might be their best effort doesn't mean it's a good film.
I remember when this movie came out a couple of years ago and a fair number of Christians I know raved about its earnest presentation of the Gospel. I'm sorry, but that's equivalent to claiming a tone-deaf singer was excellent because she sang great lyrics.
I don't hear anybody offering high praise for black-velvet paintings of Jesus...
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