GOD'S NOT DEAD 2

Pure Flix

Rated PG

Running Time: 121 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of God's Not Dead 2 from YouTube.



In Pure Flix's God's Not Dead 2, high school teacher Melissa Joan Hart is asked a question about Jesus in class and her response gets her in trouble with the school board and she winds up in court.

In this sequel to God's Not Dead, high school teacher Melissa Joan Hart, who is is a Christian and taking care of her grandfather Pat Boone, is teaching history in class when one of her troubled students, Hayley Orrantia asks a question about Jesus. Hart gives a simple answer - of which high school principal Robin Givens hears about. Now the school board threatens to fire Hart and make an example of her in court, and public defender Jesse Metcalfe must defend her.

I liked this movie better than the first one as it was not an in your face film in the beginning of the film as the first God's Not Dead. The Christian music gave you the feeling of a Christian film in the beginning of the movie. I will admit to tearing up a couple of times during the film as Hart undergoes this burden. I felt it rather sad that Orrantia's atheistic parents Maria Canals-Barrera and Carey Scott - who practically disowned their religious son - were taking the religious issue to court for the publicity of getting Orrantia into an ivy league school, as well as principal Givens controlling Orrantia.

I liked the legal arguments both for and against the religious aspects in the classroom according to the law, the separation of church and state. This was a pretty intense trial film, both with the trial and the protests outside the courts. It is curious on how the media was anti-religion - but as the religious leaders said, there is the silent majority. There was at least one religious argument that was not brought up that I would have liked to see in the movie even though they had the perfect setups. While I am not a lawyer, I have been summoned to jury duty before and had some issues with some of the procedures presented in the movie. Family was also an important theme in this movie, and also had me tearing up at some of the familial relationships.

Several of the stars from the first movie, Trisha LaFache, Paul Kwo, David A.R. White, Benjamin A. Onyango, as well as The Newsboys appeared in this movie. As well as Duck Dynasty's star Sadie Robertson's first feature film. This was former senator and actor Fred Dalton Thompson's final film appearance. I will admit that Kwo's reappearance was the most interesting appearance of the returning actors.

Ernie Hudson was great as the judge and had much more of an acting challenge in this film than in  his more famous Ghostbusters role, and Ray Wise once again played an antagonist - this time as the smarmy prosecution lawyer supposedly doing this for the good of all students.

While The Newsboys were in the movie, God's Not Dead 2 is much more of a trial film for the case of Hart. It is not as much of a Newsboys concert film as the first film was, although there is some Newsboys concert footage.

At the end of the movie the audience applauded and were singing God's Not Dead. During the credits, there was a list of similar trials that had taken place. These went by too fast for me to read them, but I noticed that at least one trial as of 2016 was still ongoing. There was a website shown for support.

A lady who was sitting behind me reached down and wished me God Bless You while she was leaving.

There is an after credits scene at the end of the movie. The lady who was sitting behind me missed the after credits scene as she had left with most of the audience leaving during the credits, although there were a few people still left in the theater to watch this important scene.

Rated PG for some thematic elements. Running time: 121 minutes.

Click below to watch the music video of The Newsboys song God's Not Dead from YouTube.



Pancho
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GOD'S NOT DEAD

Pure Flix Entertainment

Rated PG

Running Time: 113 Minutes

Click below to watch the God's Not Dead movie trailer.



In Pure Flix Entertainment's God's Not Dead, freshman college student Shane Harper must prove to his Philosophy teacher Kevin Sorbo that God's Not Dead.

When Sorbo refuses to waste time in his philosophy class debating about the Big Man in the Sky, Sorbo has his class write down God is Dead. Christian-based Harper can not do that - and Sorbo assigns Harper to defend the antithesis. The class soon becomes a mock-trial about the existence of God.

Based on the book God's Not Dead by Rice Broocks and the song "Like a Lion"  written by Christian artist Daniel Bashta - which became the song "God's Not Dead" for the Christian Band the Newsboys. I liked Harper's struggles in how to deal with defending his beliefs, in his Christianity. It made me think of if I were strong enough to take on such a task to defend my belief in God, and how I would do it if I could.

While some of the film is an over-the-top, in-your-face style of Christianity which bothered me, the blatant anti-Christianity also bothered me. Reporter Trisha LaFache's ambush interviews seemed especially mean-spirited. Things and ideas should be brought into the movie slowly. The small conversations discussing what this was all about were the ones that were the most profound to me. I did like the arguments, both pro and con, of the existence of God - especially the science arguments by Harper of Darwinism and the Big Bang. The list of philosophers used in the movie, most of which I did not make the connection that they were atheists before, drove home the intellectual elitism to me of which the college tenure portrayed. The film also showed how other cultures approach God, some of which felt very stereotyped to me in the movie.

I liked the fact that there were several mentions of the play Death of a Salesman. It is curious how some of the themes in Death of a Salesman actually plays into the movie God's Not Dead.

There was a large cast of characters, which I liked, but I was not exactly happy that all of the characters were connected to each other in some way. I would have preferred groups of characters having their own stories - in which they basically did, but have no connection to each other at all.

Not only is the title of the movie based on the Christian artist band Newsboys song God's Not Dead, the Newsboys have a larger presence in the movie than just a cameo. While the movie is definitely a drama between Harper and Sorbo, the movie is also a concert film for the Newsboys, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Other Christian artists songs are also used as background music in the movie. Cameos from A & E's TV show Duck Dynasty, Willie Robertson and Korie Robertson, made for an interesting appearance. I liked how Robertson explained that everything, money, success, life is temporary - but that Jesus is not.

It is great that both Kevin Sorbo and Dean Cain appear in this movie. Sorbo was up for the role of Superman in the TV series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman - in which Cain got the part, while Sorbo got the role of Hercules in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. It is interesting to note that these heroes play not-so-heroic roles in God's Not Dead. Too bad they did not have any scenes together, but it is nice to know that Sorbo and Cain were in the same movie together.

Because of the college environment, this film should be seen by youth groups and has a definite youth group feeling to it - especially coming from the pastor David A.R. White and his missionary friend Benjamin Ochieng - and about the choices we make. The Free Will. The film reminded me of my college days and of my relationships with my professors. I saw this film at a matinee and the theater was half-full. This is very good for a limited release film on it's opening weekend. The audience was composed of a mixed audience age wise. At the end of the movie, the audience applauded.

Before the closing credits rolled, there was a list of legal cases concerning religious freedom on various schools and colleges. There were a lot more legal cases than I thought there would be. While the list of cases rolled through the screen too fast for me to read them all - I noticed that most of the cases were favorable about religious freedom, with the rest of the cases still pending as of 2014.

It is curious, that as I was waiting in line to get my ticket, there was a couple behind me that were going to see God's Not Dead as well, but one of them was confused about the time - because there was another movie with God in the title that was playing at the same theater there as well, Son of God. How often are there two religious movies released at the same time in mainstream theaters? The trailers showed another religious movie that is coming out around Easter that I also want to see Heaven is for Real. I think that would make the most religious movies in the mainstream theaters that would be out at the same time that I have ever experienced.

It is great to see a contemporary Christian movie dealing with today's issues for once, including mobile cell phone texts, than an historical religious film that is usually shown during the Lenten season. And for a religious movie in limited release for it's opening weekend - God's Not Dead wound up at number 5 at the box office. The Hollywood industry newspaper Variety says that "Faith-based audiences are once again proving to be anything but conservative at the U.S. box office."

Rated PG for violence. Running time: 113 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.