Disciples in the Moonlight

I wanted to like this and decided to ignore the many bad reviews. The idea that Christianity may someday be outlawed is not far-fetched in today's world and all over the world people are being policed for their viewpoints and speech so the basis for this movie is solid. Problem is the writing and directing are a huge letdown. This movie is more than 2 hours long and doesn't really get going in any type of action till about 1 hour and 16 minutes in. That first hour is hard to get through and I struggled to stay awake. The people who made this knew how to bring on the emotions but there isn't much in the way of thrills, suspense or action considering it's about a group of people risking their lives to get bibles across state lines. I see the effort was there but ultimately it's a failure as a compelling movie. The 4 stars is being kind of generous.

Before anyone thinks I am anti-Christian when they read my review, I can say I am the most devout Christian of the faith. However, filmmakers are not making films that truly celebrate Christianity to the level it deserves. Most of the actors were believable but the story became more and more disinteresting. Most of the world does not hate Christianity. The problem is the hypocrites. Billy Graham was the true example of a faithful Christian but his son Franklin is a hypocrite. Dr. Graham spoke repeatedly about Franklin's struggles to actually practice what he preached but was never a faithful practicing Christian. Unfortunately, there was no point to this movie. A wasted effort.

The same people who like to censor, ban, and burn all kinds of books they don't like are now producing self-indulgent fantasy propaganda where they are the victims of actions they do to others in real life. And while it promotes itself as a "Christian story," this doesn't have anything to do with Christianity or the actual teachings of Jesus. This was made following a twisted idea of religiosity tied to political groups that continues to sell the idea to evangelicals that they are persecuted martyrs in order to create among them this sense of fear and entitlement to discriminate and persecute others that are not evangelicals, the same way they think they are treated. The hypocrisy is astounding.

As for the technical aspect, the "movie" is laughable but without being funny. It looks horrible, as if it was made by people who knew nothing about directing, lighting, acting, or editing and only had the concern, not to make anything of artistic value, but to spread their intended propaganda to justify the money they received from their donor and to grift a few bucks from a few evangelicals.

Barring The Emoji Movie, this is the worst thing I've seen in a theater.

Brett Varvel cannot act, always making the same constipated expression regardless of the emotion he's supposed to convey. The directing feels like a sitcom, with repetitive shot reverse shots and the same establishing shots used repeatedly across four bland, suburban sets. Occasionally, when the Christians are evading the evil secular government, we're treated to shadowy shots of forests and fields so dark you can't tell who's who or where they're going. The editing is a mix of mind-numbingly simple sequencing and incoherent transitions, all overseen by the leading actor himself, which at least makes it clear who to laugh at. Even if you believe being an American Christian makes you an oppressed minority, you'll have a hard time taking any of this corny film seriously.

There's obviously someone being paid or who has a stake in this film giving the rave 10 star reviews because the film is unfortunately worthless... which is putting it nicely. The plot initially sounds interesting but once you actually watch the movie you realize most of the scenes are quite predictable with no real twist or surprises with the exception of the ending The script appears to be written by someone who's very arrogant and conceited. What surprises me most about this film is it's cast of Myles Clohessy and Baylee Toney. Primarily because both engaged in adultery with each other in real life (while Myles was still married to his now ex-wife Jhessica A. And were supposed to believe they're truly trying to ensure the bible lives on? Do they even know what the bible says about committing adultery?