Machine Gun Preacher (2011)

I've read the book and seen the movie. The book will keep you awake at night and the movie will leave you breathless. It's one thing to read the words because you have to rely on your imagination to form the images from the author's words. Seeing those words accurately portrayed on the screen is incredible.

This is, bar none, Gerard Butler's crowning performance. Sam Childers pulled no punches about himself in the book and Butler truly brought the man to life on the screen. He isn't just an actor playing a part; in this movie it's almost as if he *becomes* Childers. The scene where he returns to retrieve the children he had to leave behind is, IMO, mindblowing. The scene in which he confronts and overcomes his crisis of faith is moving in the extreme.

I won't minimize: This story, in the book and on the screen, is horribly disturbing, and I can't stress that enough. However, it is incredibly powerful, thought-provoking, complex and heart-rending. Once you've seen this movie, you definitely won't forget it.

Honestly, I'd give it ten stars without hesitation...

I've seen the film 6 times in 6 different places all across the country, and I saw it with Sam Childers the first time he saw it. It's an amazing story about a nearly unbelievable journey by a man who went from crazy bad to crazy good, 'cos it takes a little crazy to do what he'd done as a young man and what he's done in Africa over the past decade. Fortunately there is less confrontation with the LRA in the area where the Shekinah Children's Village is near Nimule, South Sudan; and Sam Childers is spreading his feeding programs wider across central and east Africa where they're needed so badly, like in Somalia and Darfur. The book Another Man's War, the feature film Machine Gun Preacher and the upcoming documentary film will touch your heart in some fashion. Gerard Butler does a terrific job portraying both the old and new Sam. The Machine Gun Preacher DVD will be my gift for Christmases and birthdays for the next several years.

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I'm giving 5 stars to the trailer. The trailer advertised limited release. All the money spent to produce this film and then limited release? I live in the country in Texas. I will have to wait and buy the movie to see it. I read the book the movie was based on and then bought more books to share with friends.

I saw a review that said the movie under performed. Of course it would under perform on limited release! Then we're stuck with the garbage Hollywood puts out the rest of the year. Maybe it's just because the word Preacher is in the title.

Frustrated with Hollywood!

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This is one of the tougher movies I've ever tried to rate. It is entirely due to my difficulty in separating the story from the movie.

Here's the scoop. Sam Childers is a bad guy. We meet him as he's getting out of prison. He's a junkie biker. He has no reservations about inflicting serious pain on people. He wants his wife, who has found Jesus and a respectable job, to go back to being a stripper. After a particularly rough bout with drugs he begins to re-examine his life. He goes straight. Finds a job. Builds a church. Starts a construction company. Goes to the Sudan to help out there and finds he genuinely cares about the lives of those people. He's now on a mission.

This is certainly a great story. Here's a guy who's scraping the bottom of the barrel, turns himself around, and becomes a true, moving force in the lives of a tortured people. But I don't know if the movie itself is all that spectacular. The director, Mark Forster, has had some outstanding movies to his credit. He seemed to want to play this one straight, with little razzle dazzle. But it all seemed too familiar. I felt as though I'd seen most of these scenes before in other movies. There was too little here that was fresh. It was all very professional and tight. You could practically set your watch to it it was so evenly paced. Maybe that was the problem. It needed something to shake loose from the normal.

This is by no means a bad movie and it's easy to watch. During the closing credits the viewer is treated to actual footage of Childers and others depicted in the movie. This is a serious plus. Some might take exception to the Jesus thumping, gun toting point of view, but that's how the story goes. It just needed something to take it to the next level.

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I feel very fortunate to be one of the few people who was able to see Machine Gun Preacher in the theater, since it was not shown in very many places!! (For some UNEXPLAINED reason!?!) It was an EXCELLENT movie........very moving, POWERFUL, thought-provoking, and well-acted by everyone.....especially Gerard Butler! He absolutely nailed the character of Sam Childers. He was not a very likeable person in the beginning, as he was just plain no-good....into drugs, crime, etc. After a missionary trip to Africa, his whole focus changed into wanting to save the children from the LRA. It was an AMAZING transformation and one that really should be shared. Although it does have parts that are sad to watch, it IS based on a true story and it does make people aware of the unimaginable atrocities that still occur around the world! I can't wait until it comes out on DVD so that I can watch it again!!

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