Review of God's Not Dead (2014) by Dustin D — 17 Dec 2018

God's Not Dead is basically a movie version of a Chick tract. The characters are laughably over-the-top and one-dimensional, which makes it hilarious. There is no indication Josh is a skilled debater or has above-average intelligence before he gives his presentations on the existence of God, so it is not very believable (unless you assume he was suddenly inspired by the Holy Spirit, which might be the point). The movie assumes atheists are really just mad at God. In this movie's defense, some of the messages are compelling, and they appear to acknowledge the Big Bang and evolution. On the other hand, the other side is presented as a strawman.

The movie fails on so many other levels. There are pointless secondary characters and subplots that don't have anything to do with the main story and have a few loose ends. What was the point of the Rev. Jude character? I guess the movie needed to be longer than 30 minutes. Was Dean Cain driving the car that hit the professor at the end? The story would seem to demand that to tie together the story lines, but this is not clear.

The movie was interesting in that it proved for every category of entertainment, there is a crappier version catering to a built-in, undiscerning Evangelical Christian audience. For example, this movie for movie goers, and Newsboys for rock music.

Oh, and at the end, you're asked to give free promotion for the movie by texting every one of your contacts, "God's Not Dead." The last note comes off as a cynical cash grab.