Sherparsa
Well, what do we have here: a very well made movie in all respects, totally engaging, "heart wrenching" and all that i could give at least 5 stars to ... but there's a reason i give it only 1 * and no more: if a formerly godless ruffian guy (and her super sexy stripper wife) start hearing voices in their heads that they mistake for that of god's, then why don't they, the man in particular, start fighting for and correcting so many social and political problems in his country instead of going to Sudan, a mostly Muslim nation, where Christianity isn't quite welcome in the first place!? just asking although i don't need an answer for it really!
muvi-fan-73
Haters will hate calling it mercenary over humanitarian, but I ask you if religion proves out to be a way for one to save innocent lives, give them a decent way to live, feed thousand's, should that be judged.The another thing is the bold move,which shows possessing a weapon for defence and not being hesistated a bit to use it, when caught in tyranny. The corrupt needs to be punished in the language they understand.Last but not the least, an enticing movie portraying good will which needs donations for a good cause. To really know about the organisation accepting such humanities, wait till end credits.
alindsay-al
There seems to be more and more true story biopics coming these days and machine gun preacher is another one. The premise of this film sees a gang member/turned Christian attempt to rescue a bunch of kids in the Sudan. I like Gerard butler, he has been in good movies like 300 and bad movies like the bounty hunter. This is probably the best performance he has ever given. His character is so motivated and has so much belief in what he is doing that you really root for him and want him to succeed. But there was also allot of damage to his character as he unravels during the film and butler has some really fantastic power scenes. Michelle Monahan is pretty good in the movie as his wife. She was a pretty strong character I just wished she did more and the same could be said about Michael Shannon's character. I felt the supporting performances were fine but this was butlers movie. The story was really good as you see the lengths that this one man goes to do what he thinks is right. You see him starting to unravel and I think the film depicts him and his character in a very good way. He is a flawed hero and you see that but you want to like his character and get behind him. The script was okay with some really good dramatic dialogue. I just felt the dialogue between him and his family wasn't that good and there was absolutely no humour in this film. The style was pretty good with showing some brutal stuff but I kind of wish it had gone a bit grittier with the whole situation and showed us even more. Overall this was a much better film then I expected and I liked it.
sbutters-38214
I have never seen a movie about a protagonist that was so unsympathetic. He pretty much spent 90% of his life terrorizing everyone in his community and then he stabs some drifter and suddenly he finds Jesus....give me a break. He then magically gives the American dream to his family that he neglected and abused for 90% of his life and suddenly everything is A-okay.He then starts his own church and a mission in Africa. He spends most of his time neglecting his business and church to hide from his problems in Africa. It's like he can't focus on the problems plaguing his community, which obviously has problems, if there is such rampant crime and drug use, which he knows of first hand. Anyways, he gives some warriors of god speech to his church so they can sponsor his little jihad/vacation in Sudan.He also goes to his former boss and pretty much uses the fear of god's wrath to bully him into paying for his little crusade. When his former boss doesn't give him exactly the dollar amount he demands, he storms out of the party his former boss invited him to, like an angry child and throws a temper tantrum at his wife and kids.I also love how he cares so much for these people half way across the globe rather than his own friends and family. He pretty much just ignores his family, browbeats and verbally abuses his daughter when she just asked for some money to get a limo to her prom (even though he took out a freaking loan he has no hope of repaying for his mission in Africa), and leaves his friend to die all so he could run away to Africa and play hero. It's partially his wife's fault because when he wanted to quite (like any person with a brain would after watching their mission burn down and be thrown into a war zone), his idiotic wife tells him to stay there, waste more money and possibly die.In short, it was a movie about a bunch of people with a messiah complex that would rather play savior then actually think for themselves. If these people had even a little bit of a sense of self or logic, then half of the stuff in this movie would not have happened.
AD
