The Genesis Code

I think anyone reading IMDb reviews of this film should be aware that as of this posting, there are 3 reviews. Two of which think the film is awful and one thinks it's wonderful. It's important to note that "wonderful" review was made by someone involved with the film and it's public relations. The username given "markv22" is surely the same person who runs the Genesis Code facebook page with the same name and initial. I'm a Christian who has tried very hard to balance secular and scientific fact with my belief in the Bible and I thought this movie not only panders to the Christian crowd but also does it a great disservice. Anyone with the most rudimentary knowledge of cosmology or even someone with the ability to search wikipedia would know this film's "science" is about as real as episode of Lost in Space. Sure, it throws around names and jargon to make someone without a science background think "Oh, they just mentioned Einstein or Cosmic Background Radiation, this is smart stuff!" but so does any episode of Star Trek and it doesn't make the Federation any more real. Even still, a false premise can still be well-told or entertaining but unfortunately, The Genesis Code is neither. The story is disjointed and scattered and doesn't know if it wants to be an Afterschool Special, science lecture, or propaganda. The dialogue isn't natural at all and the characters are flat and/or stereotypes (the black guy, the Asian girl, and the Jewish kid all have their stereotypical lines or back stories) while the secular school dean is a borderline Nazi. Add to that a story in which the protagonist's mother is on death's bed but we must stop now and have a wacky romp through a museum for what feels like a full act of the film that only seems to try and showcase how much the writer knows and not move the story anywhere but to a stop. The editing and pace drag from one scene to another as if you were being shown a collection of keepsakes to which only the owner has any connection. The positives of this film are how rich it looks on what (I hope) was a small budget. It certainly feels large for this kind of film. The acting is pretty decent as well, considering the dialogue and I think the main cast does a good job with this material. I saw it in its limited release in Michigan and I unless it is further edited (I don't know if this film was in a somewhat test audience stage or what), I couldn't recommend it...to anyone.

This is an excellent movie and I would recommend it to anyone, it was one that challenges the way we think about the very way we were created. I loved the way the film tugged at topics that are rarely discussed in any setting other than a church pew. I liked that it was a film based in a secular world with real life issues that were presented with a Christian viewpoint. I appreciate that this wasn't just another movie at the box office designed to provide us with a cheap laugh, it took real life questions and gave real life answers. When you go to the theater you think its about going to sit there and be entertained for an hour and half, then you get into your car and probably laugh about some parts later but in general it lends nothing to your life, this movie won't be like that! This movie will make you think, make you question what you believe and why you believe it and it will answer the one question that has perplexed humans from day one, where did I come from???

Not Great, Not Bad. Better than most of these type films. My issue is with these reviews that ridicule the Science. If the Science is flawed please explain how. Using "crackerjack" Box and such explains nothing I am curious if you know this for a fact or in typical Liberal fashion you just hate religion and people who have Faith. I personally believe that God and Science are not at odds. The scientist who lead the team that cracked the Human Genome believes in a Creator and his book is called "The language of God". Im not making the argument that there is or is not a God. Just the point that Science does not necessarily disprove a Creator

If you get your science updates from the back of a cereal box, and your ability to discern truth from a Magic 8 Ball, then this movie is for you. Tokenism is running amok as the yarn is presented with the point of view of only the white Christian perspective and those from another cultural background are as flat and two dimensional as the plot and it's unfounded but humorous scientific 'melding". This film will appeal to those who want to believe that they are seeing beyond the Biblical errors, but a true deep thinker will only shake their head and ask for their money back from the theater. If C. Thomas Howell had changed a few lines and scenes, the film would have come across as a parody instead of simply a silly adventure to explain what does not exist. Creationism is not based on science, and well funded propaganda like this to justify the notations of 2000 year old nomads, to fit modern science theory and fact is a wasted effort.

In fact while I really admired what The Genesis Code tried to do, I had a somewhat mixed view on it. For me, while it is not a movie worth a perfect 10, it is nowhere near bad enough to warrant a 1. I thought the production values were quite good, looking almost real at times(with the exception of moments of monotonous photography), and while stereotypes I did find myself sympathising with the lead characters and the priest, particularly Blake. Logan Bartholomew and Kelsey Sanders are very likable in the lead roles with a sweet chemistry and Jerry Zandstra also acquitted himself nicely. There are however a number of things that let The Genesis Code down. The concept was good and really quite ballsy, but the execution of it seemed rather muddled. The script is rather talky and often doesn't seem to know what it's talking about which is likely to confuse people like it did me. Where The Genesis Code is going to cause polarisation(and I can see through the reviews and the useful votes that there is already some going on) is how people are going to find it thought-provoking and how many are going to find that it talks down to them. For me, I can see both sides, I thought there were some decent ideas that later were poorly explored or convoluted in execution. The story is also confused, eventually does get tedious- sadly a lot of the movie does drag on and on- and even manages to short-circuit the initially touching love story to falling flat. Blake's heartache with his mum was actually quite affecting though. Actors like Ernest Borgnine, Louise Fletcher, Lance Henrikssen et al. immediately show some kind of promise, but a number of them only have a couple of lines or have appearances that would class as a walk-on. They're fun to spot and do what they can with what they have, but they deserved much more. In conclusion, a good idea that came across as muddled yet well-intentioned, making it a movie I neither loved or hated. 5/10 Bethany Cox