WARNING – THIS IS A REVIEW OF “GOD’S NOT DEAD: WE THE PEOPLE”, AND NOT A REVIEW OF CHRISTIANITY OR RELIGION AS A WHOLE. THE VIEWS OF THE ILM EXPRESSED BY THE FILM FREAK ARE PURELY ON AN ENTERTAINING BASIS, AND NOT AN ATTACK ON ANYONE’S BELIEFS. DO YOUR THING AND BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE, BUT PLEASE LEAVE THE MOVIE ANALYSIS TO ME. THANK YOU
– THE FILM FREAK

Directed By Vance Null

Starring – David A.R White, William Forsythe, Isaiah Washington

The Plot – Reverend Dave (White) is called to defend a group of Christian homeschooling families. He finds himself taken aback by the interference of the government, and believing that their right to educate their own children is a freedom worth fighting for, Reverend Dave is called to Washington DC to testify in a landmark congressional hearing that will determine the future of religious freedom in our country for years to come.

Rated PG for thematic elements, brief violence and a scene involving peril

God’s Not Dead: We The People (Official Trailer) – YouTube

POSITIVES

– White light. Make no mistakes about it, David A.R White is still the shining beacon of this franchise, and one who supplants no shortage of charisma or pride to the forefront of the film. While most of the heavy-handed material he is given does him absolutely no favors in the spirited and occasionally fiery deliveries that he unleashes on his opposition, he is still very much a commanding presence on-screen, and one that this film depends on more than any of the previous trilogy that all included him. Because of such, he’s not only the protagonist of the film, but often times an educational narrator for a few key montage sequences shedding light on a bigger picture. Even more commendable is that White doesn’t crack under the pressure of the arguments being discussed in front of him, instead maintaining himself as the understanding example of God’s image of Christianity, whose pure intentions overexceed the reach of some truly dreadful dialogue he’s asked to turn to wine, frequently.

– Connective tissue. In what feels like the first notable example of continuity within this franchise, we’re given examples of the after effects of the second and third movie, which carries over to some compelling perspectives for this installment. This is particularly evident in White’s Pastor Dave character, who not only receives periodic flashbacks from his fallen friend, Reverend Roland (Played by Gregory Alan Williams), but his actions while in another courtroom that leads to some temporary scarring and internal humiliation when this aspect gets brought to light. This proves that there is at least some attempt at acknowledging the bigger picture in this franchise, even if two particular actors in this one play entirely different characters from what previous films established, serving to consistency as a means of something that has been greatly missing in a series of films that always has to start anew with the momentum and investment that it demands from its audiences.

NEGATIVES

– Cheap production value. Maybe if these films didn’t look like a local news channel putting together a reel to reach out and connect with their community, and instead a gratifying cinematic experience, then maybe I could take them more seriously from the opening shot. Instead, there’s painfully handheld camera work, clumsy edits, and artificial lighting of the most obvious and metaphorical circumstance, creating a presentation that continuously alludes to the dynamic of Pureflix ideology. Maybe in this respect, their smart, considering they spend less, and pull back more from an audience thirsty to praise, but for my money the condemning visuals serve as a distraction to my already limited investment, and revel in the conventionalism brought forth from an entire genre of films that haven’t evolved in over thirty years as a box office attraction.

– Emotionally manipulative. Did you expect anything less in the God’s Not Dead franchise? A title so forcefully oppressive that it uses to strike contradiction into the hearts of atheists everywhere. On the menu for this feature, screenwriter Tommy Blaze, the same man who drove an atheist directly off a bridge in the original film, we are once again presented a small aspect of actual truth that Blaze then turns into a full-fledged panic attack meant to inspire legions of audiences to yell “We’re Not Gonna Take It”. This one centers on the government’s supposed plan to yank homeschoolers out of their homes, and back to school so that they stop learning about the word of God. Unfortunately, only half of this is true in real time. The Government is only intruding on families teaching nothing but the word of God, and ignoring Science, Math, History, and other necessary electives to carve out a full-fledged education. However, the movie won’t tell you this, instead forcing you to believe that these evil snakes in suits want to abolish religion as a whole, and go against the constitution that it holds hand in hand with the bible. It even has time to make a vaccine slight, which drew a few applauses in my auditorium, to my cringe. This material is not only falsified to laughable levels, but it’s also irresponsible because it knows the monsters it’s creating in its audience leaving the theaters, taking the concept of impressionable minds and using it as a basis to strike back over an ideal it clearly doesn’t understand.

– Horrendous acting. The dialogue is awful on its own accord, but it’s made even worse by these community theater actors who just missed out on being table 19 on an Applebees Grille commercial. Part of the problem is there’s no commitment to the registries they entail, often times quite literally feeling like they’re reading from a script instead of making the lines feel like their own, in the most naturalistic manner possible. But the bigger problem is none of them even remotely exude the kind of personality that even stands on the same street corner as White’s Pastor Dave, creating a noticeable lack of interest each time the film is forced to deviate away from him. No one is worse than the other, with regards to lasting impact within the devastation, but if there was one scene-stealer among the herd, it would have to be bitch judge Jeanine Pirro, who plays (What else?) a bitch judge in this movie, speaking volumes to the kind of dimensions and against the grain casting we’re forced to endure in 91 minutes of film that run 90 minutes too long.

– Conveyor belt predictability. Each of these films maintains a detectably redundant formula of cliches used as a check-off list for aspects that we have to attain by film’s end, and this is certainly no exception. This has led me to almost audibly shout out certain scenes when I see the air of familiarity that constitutes their arrival, like a car crash scene in this film, that not only articulates with an unusually wide angle lens to a scene taking place almost internally inside of the car, but also one that chooses that of all scenes for two characters to text each other. Aside from this, there has to be a disbeliever or disbelievers who are somehow proven wrong by film’s end, and renounce their claim as evil Satan-dwelling worshippers ready to take in Kirk Cameron as their lord and savior. Finally, a collection of scene-halting sequence montages where instead of our characters talking to themselves, they’re spoon-feedingly talking to us the audience, even to the point of looking directly into the camera. Believe me, there’s plenty more tropes that make up this meandering mess, but if I discuss them all here, I won’t make it to “God’s Not Dead 32: Electric Boogaloo”, so instead I will just say that if you’ve seen one of these movies, you’ve seen them all, and will be gift-wrapped for therapy, like I see myself in the next decade.

– Swelling relief. These long-winded diatribes and piss-your-pants moments of inspiration would be nothing if it weren’t for the collection of musical compositions manufactured from composer Pancho Burgos-Goizueta (Great name) that quite literally force you to clap with joy as the volume rises to ear-shattering registries. The level of their artificiality feels too shallow for a “Full House” episode, during the climax of the every episode forgiveness scene, repeating with uninspiring melodrama with no semblance of spontaneity or nuance to its appeal, and the dampness of its heavy-handed enveloping leaves very little interpretation for an audience who the movie feels are too stupid to feel sad during a scene when a little boy cries about his father who died while serving in Afghanistan. Even worse is the lyrical titular track, which I’ve heard throughout four different films now, creating an earworm so annoying that I’ve chosen to listen to Nickelback just to get it out of my head, and anyone who knows me knows that’s some serious shit.

– This or that. In these movies, you either fit into one of two shells. If you’re a believer, you’re soft-spoken, kind, and even sacrificing in moments when even the audience knows it’s a bad idea. If you’re an atheist, or contradictor to the aforementioned group, you’re evil to the core, spout lines that sound ridiculous even for a drunk uncle Republican uncle at a Democratic wedding, and can’t support any of the arguments you place against your opposition. This is what we’re working with in the God’s Not Dead Extended Universe (Kill me), because the multitude of characters and ensuing subplots don’t receive enough screen time to even attain credible characterization, so instead they’re condensed to a variety of people emulating the same outlines, which would be easier to convey in a single solitary character. Just once, I want to see an articulate antagonist to this film. Call it my dying wish after breathing in the kind of toxic smoke distributed by the south pole of its writer.

– Ending? Considering the film takes ample time to sift through these legions of characters and corresponding conflicts, the pay-off to each of them falls flat in a climax that abruptly ends before resolution is distributed to a single one of them. Normally, I would think that the movie ran out of budget to finish shooting these sequences, or cut them to keep their designated run time, but the credits come, and the movie just sort of turns itself back on while they’re running, and summarizes each of the subplots briefly in a way that completely removes any tension from their build. This not only creates a feeling of insignificant afterthoughts to each of their corresponding troubles, but also proves that it was never interested in any of their plights, and instead only cared about selling the audience a bill of goods that it can’t afford in a resolution of a verdict in sequence that would be too far fetched even for these movies. Instead, it’s an egg on the face to anyone forced to endure its starvation, and one that will inevitably bring those same people back for a fifth film, titled “God’s Not Dead, but this horse sure is”.

My Grade: 2/10 or F-