God's Not Dead (2014) [Movie Review]

God's Not Dead is, and I bet you couldn't guess this, a movie about the Christian God. The movie primarily follows a student who debates against his atheist teacher about the existence of God, it also has a couple side stories to help solidify the God-ness. The movie currently holds an extremely limited release. But as luck would have it, it was playing in my area, thus I am obligated to see it.

I am not a big fan of Christian movies. They almost always seem fake and as such really pull me out of the movie. But I always still try to go in with an open mind. Now, I didn't know anything about the movie prior to my viewing, other than my speculations from the title, but before the movie started I overheard a conversation that another group of moviegoers were having. This particular group had drove over two hours just to see this movie, because that was the closest theater. That alone struck me with curiosity over this movie.

When the movie started, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of everything. I was definitely expecting quality similar to other low-budget Christian movies, in which you can tell even from the opening scene that the movie is going to suck. Did I mention that this movie was a pleasant surprise to me? I honestly can't say whether or not the filming was done good, or just better than I was expecting, but I will commend it either way.

Watching the debates between the freshman student and the overly knowledgeable professor was quite entertaining. The audience in my theater was laughing and sighing right on cue in every argument.

I actually can't find all that many negatives or this movie. I would not be writing a good review if I left out the fact of realism in this movie. I can't count the number of instances in which I had myself thinking something along the lines of "This would never happen in the real world," but it is after all a movie, so I can look past that.

Another questionable thing is the great number of side stories that never get closure. I think with a movie of this nature, a few unfinished stories could benefit it, but when essentially every story has no resolution, it's difficult to give any acclaim. However, leaving a movie open for discussion is always a nice way to go.

All-in-all, God's Not Dead is not for everyone. It attempts to find more believers in God, but I can't say whether or not it will succeed in it's mission. If it is playing near you, it's far from a bad movie, but don't go out of your way for it.

Rating: 7/10

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