God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness – 1 out of 5
In the past, I’ve ripped pretty hard on God’s Not Dead and God’s Not Dead 2. A part of it has to do with the fact I’m an atheist and these preachy Christian propaganda movies trigger a mocking reaction in me but the biggest reason I came down hard on them is the victim mentality that the films sell. The movies put forward a world that far-right Christians truly believe exists—a world where college professors are forcing their students to deny god and that the government is out to regulate their faith—but, in reality, it just isn’t happening. The way they lean in so hard while actively denying how their religion will create victims by supporting the denial of rights to the LGBTQ+ community, women in general and any Middle Eastern religion is so soaked in hypocrisy it is impossible for me to not openly ridicule this franchise. It is also in this hypocrisy that the films become accidental comedies that are funny without ever having to be riffed on. So, in a strange sense, I enjoy these films because the production is so blind to the reality of the world around them and live in this virtual reality that has been crafted by memes that your conservative Aunt shares on Facebook. With that being said, I was excited to see how the third film; God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, was going to play out—I mean, the 2nd film had a post-credit sequence, for crying out loud. Would this film involve an atheist plot to destroy all bibles in the world? Would the story surround bakeries refusing to bake cakes for straight weddings? Would it be about a lesbian, transgender Wiccan who is elected to president and declares a Purge Night on all Christians? No, instead, this film actually ended up being the most grounded and mature film of the franchise and, to be honest, that sorta disappointed me.
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| Imprisoned for his beliefs...a.k.a. things that conservative aunt I mentioned thinks really happens and brings it up on Facebook. |
After being sent to jail for refusing to turn over his sermons to the government; Reverend Dave Hill (David A. R. White), finds tragedy awaiting him. After his church is vandalized, a fire breaks out and takes the life of both his friend and fellow reverend; Rev. Jude (Benjamin Onyango), but it also claims the life of the story from the previous film that involved the government trying to regulate the churches (that plot element didn't really pay off). Now the college campus where the church has belonged to for ages has decided to demolish the building and replace it with a new student center. Rev. Dave enlists the help of his estranged and non-believing brother; Pearce (John Corbett), and sues the school but his fight and everything he’s lost causes him to question the reasoning for God putting him on this path.
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| You know...God probably could have stopped that explosion but He seems to be against that type of thing. |
Unlike my reviews of the other two films, this review for A Light in Darkness isn’t one where I’m going to be ripping into how accidentally hilarious all its sanctimonious B.S. is. Instead, I’m actually going to give some praise to the film. I know, right? I’m about to praise a film in a franchise that I’ve mocked in the past and only admit to watching so I can make fun of it. Now, at this point you are probably wondering why I’m going to praise a film that I only have a 1 out of 5 to and the reason for this is simple: A Light in Darkness does show that the franchise has matured A LOT but that maturity doesn’t stop the story from being boring. Basically, the writing has improved tremendously but only when it concerns concept and themes but not when it concerns story development and compelling character arcs.
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| The "hero" of the first film. He just has that natural condescending face that reads like he thinks he's smarter than everyone else. |
At first, the film feels like it is once again going the route of having the Big Bad Secular society marginalize the Non-Secular folks as the story revolves around a college campus trying to remove a church from their property. However, that’s all on the surface and is all superficial. All the over-the-top victimhood that existed in the first film, all the poor Christians that were being forced to deny their faith by The Man is gone here. Instead, this film is exploring reconciliation between those of faith and those without faith. Heck, the entire conflict of the film is resolved by an act of compromise and the moral of the story is one of peace between communities. While this emphasis made it hard to make fun of the film (which, I openly admit, I desperately wanted to do), it actually impressed me to see how far this franchise has grown. This is the franchise that had Ray Wise act like the devil as a lawyer, Kevin Sorbo as a college professor instructing his students to deny God or they’ll fail his class and the second film having an atheist have her cancer cured because she found God. These films have never been ones for subtlety and then the third film comes along with a grounded tale full of nuance…it was a little jarring to say the least but kinda appreciated.
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| Don't open, dead inside. God is now throwing zombies at Rev. Dave. He is really testing the hell out of him this time. |
The moment that this is the strongest is with the relationship between Rev. Hill and his brother Pearce. Pearce’s past involved him on his own journey of faith and ultimately leaving the family when he realized the church isn’t where he wants to be. A part of me thought the story was going to involve Pearce ultimately realizing he was “wrong” and his brother convincing him to come back to the flock but where his non-believing brother ends up at the end is open to interpretation by the viewer. That’s a huge step up for this franchise. Along the way, we have some really great moments between these two and the film is pushing the idea that Pearce isn’t motivated by a love of a deity in order to help his brother but instead by a bond of being a family. Granted, this idea needed some more development but, based on this series’ history, this is an incredibly grown up attitude to have.
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| Seriously, I was really surprised how this movie didn't have the brother receive a miracle so he saw the light. |
My feelings on God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness are complicated. On one hand, I appreciate that the film has shown some maturity with its writing and has grown up a lot when compared to the victimhood mentality of the first films but, on the other hand, I liked the accidental comedy that said victimhood creates. I wanted to laugh at this one like I did for the previous two but instead just watched a serviceable film that did a decent (but not entirely thorough) exploration of acceptance and brotherhood crossing borders of belief. The acting is decent, its preachy attitude is at tolerable levels and it surprisingly is never outright boring or dragging with its narrative. I won’t go as far as to say I liked or enjoyed the film because it’s not very entertaining or enthralling to any substantial degree but I am very impressed with how this franchise has grown up…even if not getting the childish “We’re victims” film that I wanted disappoints me.
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