DAVID ADAMS watches God’s Not Dead 2...
God’s Not Dead 2 (PG)
In a word: Heavy-handed
OK – first a confession: I never saw the first God’s Not Dead. Second – this film comes with an important message – that Christians are increasingly facing discrimination in the US because of their faith. Unfortuately this message is delivered in such a heavy-handed way, that the film turns into a soapbox.
God’s Not Dead 2 tells the story of school teacher Grace Wesley (played by Melissa Joan Hart) who gets hauled before a court after she mentions the words of Jesus, purportedly breaching laws forbidding proselytising in the classroom, when a student asks her a question about the similarities between His teachings and those of Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Jesse Metcalfe stars as lawyer Tom Endler and Melissa Joan Hart as Grace Wesley in God’s Not Dead 2. “The film draws on numerous real-life cases in the US in which Christians have faced restrictions on practicing their faith in the public square (including the bizarre case in Houston where the local authorities demanded pastors submit sermons for review). The problem is that it tries to wrap in so many references to these actual cases that we end up with a script that has far too many strands, leaving many of them unresolved or unexplored.” |
While this is at its essence a courtroom drama (although at times it represents something of a Christian conference gathering when a number of high profile Christian witnesses are allowed to testify about their faith in Wesley’s defence), at the same time, the stories of a number of other people are intertwined with that of Wesley.
There’s the pastor, David (David AR White), who refuses to comply when local authorities demand he submits his sermons for review; there’s the Asian Christian Martin Yip (Paul Kwo) who finds he must choose between God and his family; the news reporter Amy Ryan (Trisha LaFache) who questions her faith after God healed her from cancer; her non-believing lawyer Tom (Jesse Metcalfe), and, of course, the schoolgirl, Brooke Thawley (Hayley Orrantia of The Goldbergs fame) who asked the question which started Grace’s troubles and embarked on her own journey to find Jesus.
The film is inspired by numerous real-life cases in the US in which Christians have faced restrictions on practicing their faith in the public square (including the bizarre case in Houston where the local authorities demanded pastors submit sermons for review). The problem is that it tries reference so many of these actual cases that we end up with a script that has far too many strands, leaving many of them unresolved or unexplored.
And because so many stories need to be told, we don’t really get to know anyone, including Wesley, while the “bad” guys – led by the shoe-obsessed ACLU attorney Peter Kane (played by Ray Wise) – come across as caricatures (not to mention Brooke’s parents who are no more than cardboard cut-outs). Because we don’t get behind the scenes in anyone’s life there’s no real sense of emotional engagement.
There are some well-known names here and the acting is generally solid enough (although there’s far too many, some rather wooden, cameos of high profile Christians – everyone from Christian apologist Lee Strobel to one-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee), but the tone, despite what appears to have been a substantial budget, never really rises above that of a made-for-TV movie. And, as seems to be the trend is US Christian films, there’s a rock band presence – this time it’s the Newsboys who turn the last part of the movie into something of an impromptu rock concert.
There are some serious and important issues raised here – what does religious freedom in the public space in democracies like the US look like?, and is the separation of church and state a good thing or not? – and the film does represent an opportunity to have a discussion about some of these complex issues. But with an overly involved storyline which doesn’t really get to the heart of some of the issues it purports to be about, God’s Not Dead 2 ends up being little more than a lecture about the wrongs being done to Christians in the US rather that what could have been an instructive exploration of the issues.
THREE MORE FILMS…DEPICTING INSPIRING COURTROOM DRAMA
To Kill A Mockingbird (1952) – Sets the bar rather high as it explores issues of racism in the deep south
A Few Good Men (1992) – A military murder case in which Jack Nicholson utters that immortal line – “You can’t handle the truth”
Erin Brockovich (2000) – The based-on-truth story of woman who stands for what is right no matter the cost
