Persecuted

I had expected much more of this film. I've been looking forward to it for months, having read about it in Brad Stine's e-mail newsletter. I had liked it on Facebook, saw all the trailers and news feed updates, and had high expectations. Well, I saw it this afternoon, and left feeling cheated.

I'm an evangelical Christian and a Tea Party conservative. In my mind, it is not outside the realm of possibility that it may one day become illegal to practice my faith. The Bible and the Constitution are both under attack in today's America. So I had hoped that this film would be a great dramatization about how that just might come to pass, because that's what all the hype pointed to. Well, if that's what they tried to make, they failed. Maybe my expectations on that front were too high. But it's not even a particularly good movie.

None of the characters are likable, and there is no time given for any real character development. Those who are supposed to be Christians are hardly shining examples for the faith, not what one would have expected from these producers. Brad Stine's character is particularly odious, and given that he's a Christian comedian, and listed as a co-producer, I have to wonder what he was thinking about. The "bad guys" are pretty much boilerplate. Fred Thompson plays the most sympathetic character, but his effect is diluted because his relationship with the preacher is not explained early enough. (Plus, I couldn't get his reverse-mortgage commercials out of my head!)

The music is ominous from the beginning, never seeming to stop, and the lighting is dark and stark. You can't support a nightmare scenario without first setting up normalcy. This film never does. The plot progression is confusing and portions of the action are not credible. There are some good production values, and I suppose it works on some levels as an action thriller, but I found it largely unsatisfying.

I had read some negative reviews this morning, but figured they were just examples of non-Christians who felt threatened. We've seen that with good films with a Christian message such as "Courageous," "Fireproof," and "October Baby." Turns out that this time, the secular reviewers were unfortunately right on. "Persecuted" is not what it was advertised to be. It is a huge disappointment.

Plot

An evangelist finds himself framed for murder and on the run after he refuses to back a senator's proposition calling for sweeping religious reform.

Cast

A lot of people I'm very disappointed in such as James Remar, Bruce Davison and Dean Stockwell while made by the same sadsack who made the new Christmas anti-cancel culture movie.

Verdict

Lusko's new juvenile Jingle Smells was unintentionally hilarious due to how offensively bad it is, this however is a different creature altogether. You see this is played so incredibly serious, a thriller/drama/melodrama/Christian foolishness.

Set in a world where Christians are persecuted by the big bad government. Yep, they went there. It's not a surprise really considering they generally believe that they are persecuted in real life.

It's a painful watch, full of cliches, bad writing and is more unbelievable than a Scyfy original.

This man needs to stop making movies.

Rants

Some people just NEED to be the victim, you can see it in IMDB reviews where people get offended or feel attacked and you can see it in the world. Men who feel like misandry is actually a thing, straight people who don't understand why straight Pride isn't a thing, Christians who think they can't say merry christmas and they're being persecuted and around and around we go. If you want to be a victim and have no persecutor, make one in your own mind.

Breakdown

Embarrassingly written Concept is ridiculous Director is incompetent on every level.

I hate to bad mouth this movie because somewhere underneath the stupidity and paranoia lies a meaningful cautionary tale and an interesting premise. Still, this thing is so bad and so nonsensical that it defeats its own purpose.

It's just all levels of terrible no matter what the intent or how earnestly they try to present the perils of a big soulless government. The title and a few lines of the film imply Christian prosecution but that subject matter is basically ignored in favor of a crazed anti-government storyline. I can't even call it a plot line because there is no coherent plot or character development.

On a side note, all I could think of watching Bruce Davison was that "Senator Kelly" has taken his mutant hating propaganda to the next level.

Persecuted is a very apt title as watching this religious mumbo jumbo was persecutory! Everything is contrived, even the preachers name. Propaganda reigns supreme, the poor Christian right being marginalised by an increasingly diverse religious society. Right wing conspiracy theorists will love this but it is dreadful from start to finish, even good actors could not save this garbage.Religious freedom features heavily but only appears to support christians! Very slow moving film, plot flaws everywhere and cheap looking, defo looks like a made for TV movie and should be restricted to god channels. Save 90 minutes of your life and give this a miss!!!

I attended a free showing tonight at a friend's church. I already had low expectations for this film, but even those were too high, apparently. This film is more than Right Wing Propaganda. This is a film so forced, it leaves any rational person scratching their heads. The whole film reads like an aborted subplot from the Left Behind series (and I admit I have read all 12 of the core series, even though I thought those seemed forced at times). None of the characters in this are at all relatable except to Christians who believe they are being persecuted by "The Liberal Media" in the United States.

Just perusing the cast list, however, it should be obvious to anyone this is steeped in Hard Right bias (Fred Dalton Thompson and Gretchen Carlson are listed among the cast).

If you want a film about people fleeing from persecution, watch Rambo. If you want a Right Wing film, I'd suggest Atlas Shrugged. But if you want a movie that is horribly plotted, horribly acted, and makes zero sense, this is the movie for you.