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.

I guess I can't call this film "manipulative," because most people read the plot before seeing it, and know it's a Christian movie that's going to promote the religion. Although the appearance of a few old stars and an Ultimate Fighting star in the cast make you wonder to what degree.

The female protagonist looks the part. She has a very wholesome persona. I believe her. The male looks like the quarterback of the football team, not a hockey player. He's too pretty. He looks almost exactly like a young Brat Pack Andrew McCarthy.

You've already read the plot. Two college students meet. One's a hockey star and one's writing for the school paper. She wants to do a bio on the athlete, but he's guarding his privacy. They have a little chemistry, but with both going through life crises simultaneously, they never get around to any real romance.

I didn't believe that part. Just because she is a Christian does not mean she would not kiss, cuddle, and whatever else. They were two gorgeous young folks in the prime of their life. Christians have relationships.

The film is used as a vehicle to either help young folks who are on the fence about their faith, reinforce the faith they already have, or to teach parents, teachers, and clergy how to minister to the "unchurched" or confused.

The central conflict is science vs. religion and the centerpiece is a way too long, yet mildly creative lecture done in a planetarium by a group of physics students who want to reconcile the story of creation with science. Why not just forget the movie, and have the whole thing be a youtube lecture? They would save a lot of money.

No one mentioned that C. Thomas Howell directed. I generally like him. I didn't know he was a Christian. Well, it was too slow and contrived. The actors while good, showed very little emotion. The worst aspect of the film was a role given to Catherine Hicks.She did show emotion and played an extremely awkward role well.

The film makers have contempt for the secular elitists who run the modern universities. So the Hicks character, a PhD academic adviser spews a monologue about the silliness of faith, and how it will block the way to our protagonist finding liberated bliss in the "post modern" world.

Even at liberal schools, which is virtually every one, she would probably get fired for that. The girl just sits and listens and doesn't fight back at all. Was she turning the other cheek? I didn't believe that she would remain silent.

They have the adviser say all the buzz words that characterize the type of liberal that conservative Christians can't stand. She expresses her excitement about serving the "New World Order," joining the "elite," and moral relativity. This scene was painfully forced. Even the dumbest university liberal egghead would have found a more nuanced way to say all that.

My favorite part that made me laugh, was placing a minister, a professor and a hockey player in a shooting range, while they discussed God. They managed to squeeze in God, Guns, Hockey, Weightlifting, Football, and contempt for elite academics in one movie. Ha ha.

The best aspect was the acting. Despite the lack of strong emotion, I did feel their pain at times. There is some genuinely good dialogue, but again I think they would have been better off just doing an interesting and informative youtube video, instead of forcing some contrived plot.

Or someone could do a video about how the early Christian fathers purposely mistranslated Hebrew in order to prove that the Torah was wrong and the Jews are evil. Read the scriptures. Those points are emphasized on every other page.

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???

"If God didn't want us to think, He wouldn't have given us deductive reasoning." The one thing that this film does accomplish that no one can argue is that it makes the viewer think. Personally, I believe the movie is crafted in an extremely intelligent and engaging manner. It's a fine character piece almost interrupted by a scientific/theological presentation. You truly come to care for the characters. Then, everything leading to the debate is put forth in as clear a manner as possible. Unfortunately, the subject itself is not very easy to understand. So, I can see the average viewer tuning out or even their eyes glazing over by the presentation despite the best efforts of film makers to make it relatable and interesting. One really needs to pay attention to follow and if you're going to present this information, you might as well make it complete and near incontrovertible. I applaud the effort if not the actually execution. On a side note, one of my favorite parts of the film was the scenes with the academic adviser. It perfectly illustrates narrow-minded thinking and the often times liberal yet ignorant indoctrination present in too many institutions of "higher" learning. Wonderful presentation and writing in those scenes.

I'm Christian and I'm glad they included all points of view and rationally show positions some individuals do take. This is no "pie in the sky" movie. They legitimately discuss and reflect dissenting views and those that question the complete accuracy of the Bible. Going in to this film, I guess I would've put myself in the place of the lead character. Believing most information but having serious doubts about the factual validity of the book of Genesis. This film mostly changed that perception. One way or the other, it never was really crucial in my relationship with God but it's good to explore all aspects of Divinity and theology.

Paraphrasing another quote I remember from this film, "Those people that question how a person arrives at their personal relationship with God is either arrogant, (ignorant) or blasphemous." If this film adds anything to a person's belief system then more power to them. Why do non-believers and haters have a problem with that and when other people find peace? Could it be that something is lacking in their own life?

This is utter horse ca-ca (I'm terribly sad that Mr Muphy's involved), which tries to make an utter mockery of science.

I wish everyone involved in this were to get seriously ill, and then see what happens to them when praying does nothing to save them. They only option left is the 'evil' science - Ana the wonders of modern medicine, to help save them.

These utterly misguided, uneducated, and thoroughly indoctrinated people see no connection in how far, how destructive their (il)logic is compared with those people who commit horrible acts of murder in the Middle East, all in their claim of doing it for 'their' god.

If you've got children, religion and education are two separate things. The people who make such garbage as this would be laughed at, by ANY religious overseer - Christian, Catholic, etc, even in the Middle Ages!!!

Dumb Iis 'dum', and if anything, this amateurish, homemade piece of garbage shouldn' should be used as an example of how dangerous being uneducated can be.