One school teacher comes under fire for her spiritual beliefs against a society of politicially correct parents and faculty. Directed by Harold Cronk, “God’s Not Dead 2” is the sequel to 2014’s religious point of view on an attack against God and his truths. In this installment, Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart) is an engaging high school teacher who gets into trouble with her faculty when she offends a couple of people for infusing religious discussion into her everyday lessons. Grace is placed on academic suspension, and decides to take it to court against Principal Kinney (Robin Givens). She hires young, up-and-coming lawyer Tom Endler (Jesse Metcalf) to take on her case, and the two go through a Civil Rights case to save her job and inspire the surrounding community to never back down from their beliefs. Against an arrogantly experienced lawyer (Ray Wise), Tom will have to prove to the community that God is indeed not dead if he and Grace are to come out on top. “God’s Not Dead 2” is rated PG for thematic elements.
“God’s Not Dead 2” is a two hour bore of step-by-step preaching, as well as cheap propoganda tactics that etches its name in awful cinema. The film nails nearly every painful cliche with the religious film genre, while portraying a court-room drama that is anything but compelling.
On such a court case, the battle itself is a ridiculous one. Yes the fight for religious rights are fought for every day, but this kind of case is pretty open and shut when you examine all the facts with even half of your brain. This kind of thing could be examined within ten minutes inside of a mediation room with the student witnesses who were there when this situation occured. To drag this out for two hours is really a challenge, and because the writers know that, the film instead opts for several supporting characters and subplots that have ZERO impact on the main reason we are here. While the court room scenes were laughably bad (I’ll get to more of that later), the film was at its best when it stayed on topic of why we were watching this film in the first place, and not some supporting character who has no emotional stigma to the centerpiece of this film. If you can believe that this case belongs in a captial building courthouse, next you must put up with the material that is being discussed in the case. This case is supposed to revolve around a teacher’s right to religion, yet the film instead opts to discuss why God exists and how it knows this. By proving God exists, we prove Grace is innocent. WHAT? Huh? Even if you believe in God or not, how are the two connected? It’s like saying that as long as God exists we can prove that me failing my 4th grade spelling test was for the best. This kind of logic makes it tough to take anything seriously, and boy does it get worse with the dialogue.
One of the biggest problems with the original “God’s Not Dead” was the messy building of character backstories, and while the sequel does things much better in building its characters, their most important of deliveries often left me laughing unintentionally. The ensemble cast showcase two actors who really brought the most to their characters. Jesse Metcalf is far and away the very best part of this film. With a sinking career in box office bombs, Jesse is smart enough to make the most of every starring role, and his charasmatic charms dragged me back into the compelling territory for the film, even if I was kicking and screaming. The best parts of the film are often when he and Akron native Ray Wise are going back and forth in a big fish Vs little fish matchup of the judicial world. Wise is the other solid performance here. He has always played a snake-like villain so effortlessly satisfying, so it’s no wonder why they cast him as this role. Ray can do so much in a grin that can get under the skin of the audience cheering for the protagonist, and he’s no stranger to making the most of bad dialogue. He might have met his match in this film however. Some of the things out of his mouth had me bursting out in laughter. Even if a lawyer was an atheist, no lawyer would ever utter the words “Were going to prove God’s not dead” to any listening person. The obvious point of making this man and his team as evil as possible comes across in more scenes than one. That is the problem that always drives me nuts in these kind of movies; an atheist will always be evil or die of some horrible disease, and the believer will be chipper and a beautiful ray of innocence.
The production values continue to be cheap for this kind of product. Pureflix hit a homerun with the original “God’s Not Dead” in box office success, and that film has funded hundreds of mini projects where the executives apparently feel like they can get away with half the budget each time. This movie’s editing cuts off many scenes, just as we feel like there is more to be said. It’s also visually has the look of an after school special, complete with budget-cutting methods that the viewer surely will never notice. I’m such an idiot that I never could’ve noticed how a couple of times in the film they repeated the same reaction shots on jurors. I knew this because I couldn’t get my mind to wrap around how the jurors could wear the same clothes for at least five days straight. These jurors also don’t have to be secluded from the public in a hotel room. No no, they are free to engage with every day friends and citizens of their daily lives. I’m sure their viewing of media shows and editorials in newspapers will have no bearing on their verdict. Look, the film is very predictable. I’m sure you can knock out the ending in five minutes. With no surprises and the same panning in shots so the movie can personally talk to the audience at home about why Jesus is alive, the film and the genre feels like they keep repeating the same cycles.
Overall, please don’t waste your time with crud like this. If you want a story centering around beliefs and Jesus, check out “Risen” or “The Young Messiah”. Both are currently playing in theaters, and neither feel like they are ever trying to club the audience over the head with propaganda that doesn’t make sense with any of the comparisons it is trying to make. “God’s Not Dead 2” proves that its title character will always hold a lasting breath in the bodies of his believers. But if this film says anything for that title phrase, God might not be dead, but he’s probably opting for a vacation after this insulting tribute.
3/10