Genre: Biography, drama
Director: Marc Forster
Plot: Based on the true story of Sam Childers, a reformed criminal who found God and dedicated his life to defending helpless children in Sudan.
The gist: Biographies can be a tricky genre to tackle, especially when certain liberties need to be taken. Now, I don't know if there were any such thing for this film, but the story of Sam Childers is important enough to be made into a movie so that the world can learn more about him.
Unfortunately the film that Marc Forster made isn't as solid as it should be. The key problem is the fact that Childers' crusade is still ongoing, so the story doesn't have a satisfactory conclusion. The only thing that Forster can do is highlight the Sudanese civil war and the children that suffer there, interwoven with Childers' personal battle as he fights to save as many kids as he can.
To that end, Gerard Butler does a fine job as Childers, balancing the act between preaching at his church and launching rockets at the LRA. Butler is the glue that holds this movie together.
The good: Butler is great. Michelle Monaghan is also good as his wife Lynn, projecting frustration whenever he gives more attention to his crusade than his own family.
The bad: The unsatisfactory ending. Michael Shannon is underused as Childers' troubled buddy. And I don't know about you, but Childers' transformation from drug dealer to born again Christian was way too easy. But then again, this film is more about the fight for Sudan.
Verdict: It's a decent biography of a determined and kind man, but I wish there was more to it than just that. (2.5/5)
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