God's Not Dead 2,
directed by Harold Cronk
(PG, 121 minutes)
There are some very good things about God's Not Dead 2. From the perspective of a resident of Little Rock, where it was filmed, it makes our city look gorgeous. And while there are a couple of shaky performances, on the whole the level of acting is quite high (keep an eye out for local performers Mallory Hardin Brooks, Natalie Canerday and Candyce Hinkle).
The film's predecessor, 2014's God's Not Dead, dealt with an idealistic Christian college freshman in conflict with a dictatorial philosophy professor played by Kevin Sorbo. In this loose sequel (tied to the first film primarily by the presence of David A.R. White), high school teacher Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart) is faced with the loss of her job after she responds to a student's leading question about the similarities of the teachings of Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
This is a violation of school policy and when Grace refuses to apologize, her superiors throw her to the wolves. It seems that the American Civil Liberties Union is looking for a test case; they want to establish some sort of legal precedent declaring Jesus a fictional figure.
God's Not Dead 2 isn't so much an anti-anti-Christian film as an anti-nuance film. It relies on an unrealistic case not because realistic cases don't exist but because it's much easier to win when you get to make up the other side's arguments. While there are some very interesting moments in God's Not Dead 2 -- like the testimonies of former homicide detective J. Warner Wallace and pastor turned author Rice Broocks, both of whom appear as themselves in the movie -- it's a rigged debate.
Some movies work with more subtlety, trusting audience members to come to their own conclusions. God's Not Dead 2 isn't a debate. It's a pep rally.
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MovieStyle on 08/19/2016