The Oath

My wife and I went on an overnight trip to the Bentonville temple and had come across an ad for this movie and decided to give it a go; The director had cast some spiritual credibility on himself by saying that he had gone through a near death experience, insinuating that a revelatory experience was what spawned this production.

I had no idea what to expect. I did have a reserved hope that the film would be a higher quality B of M production than other attempts I'd seen.

I didn't even see an attempt to portray a story from the Book of Mormon. This was a purely "made up" speculative story; a fantasy that someone created out of thin air (or maybe from mists of darkness)...

In the Book of Mormon you have a myriad of inspiring TRUE stories that could have been dramatized! Did this producer not think any of those stories were good enough? That his speculative story surpassed those actually in the book? A few examples of stories he could have portrayed that would have been TRUE and a thousand times better, and much more entertaining to boot:

-Nephi and his brothers obtaining the brass plates

• Lehi's family traveling to the promised land (the challenges, the miracles, family drama, the Liahona)

• Abinadi's testimony to King Noah and priests; and Alma's escape and ministry

• Ammon's defense of the King's servants

• Kingmen vs Freemen and Captain Moroni/Pahoran

• The Jaredites

I could go on and on. There are so many amazing stories in the Book of Mormon that it is shockingly disappointing that this producer chose this route. I was horribly disappointed. It feels like a very misguided and selfish direction was taken, with complete disregard for core audience -members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Why did I give it 2 stars instead of 1? Because Billy Zane does a great job as the villain - the only thing I liked about the movie.

I'm directing this at the creator, director, producer, lead actor Darin Scott, because he will clearly read these. I wanted to like this, I was telling all my friends to go see it, then I saw it. Other reviewers have been spot on with their negative assessments, so I'll try to be constructive as well.

1. Darin, it's nice you got into shape for this movie, but apparently the whole movie is just a glamor shot for you.

2. What's with the girl bosses? The sisters don't make sense as characters, and terrible actors.

3. What was the point of having another language spoke a little bit? The ones that speak the Nephite language don't have an accent, except for Billy Zane, who sounds like Mr. Krabs 4. The soundtrack. OMG. It's well done, but it is relentless, it never stops, it's this somber, overbearing sonic landscape that never gives you a break.

5. This story had almost zero to do with Moroni other than burying the plates.

6. Darin, your acting is one note. You use pregnant pauses and slomo for effect. You don't use it constantly.

7. The editing is weird as hell. Things just jump back and forth with no connection. Like, what's with the black dog? That didn't make sense.

8. Training montage? Really? Come on dude. I guess you needed to show the breath holding training to support your escape later, but I think you just want people to see you in a speedo.

Anyone interested in Mormonism, do NOT see this movie. It won't teach you anything. The story is total fiction. This looks like a high school film project. It might have worked as a 15-20 minute short, but if I'd been watching this at home instead of spending $30 at the theater, we would have turned it off. My wife flat out fell asleep and I almost did.

Do better.

I contributed to this movie, was so excited to go and see it! But what a disappointment it was! I was expecting an actual story from the Book of Mormon only to find a fictional made up love story about Moroni that was at some moments literally laughable. I'm embarrassed to say "go and see it." Darin Scot is from my home town in Utah and is also related to me through by mother's side of the family and I wish I could say great job cousin! But it felt like he centered the whole movie around himself and furthering his career instead of on a feature film about a true story from the Book of Mormon. I am very disappointed in a fictionalization about a true person, Moroni, the angel who stands atop of many of our temples. He was all alone for how long, we do not know. To me it is a disgrace to his name to create this type of fictionalized storyline.

I have followed the production process of this film for over a decade. I know the true story it is based loosely from. I bought tickets early and brought friends. We drove nearly 2 hours on opening night to see it in an empty theater. And then I was frustrated with so many things it is hard to say what were the good parts, because even the good stuff was so overdone it took away from the story.

First of all, I don't like author opinions at the beginning. Let me make up my own mind if I think it is good and worthy of praise. From there, the story started far to slow. Nothing to grab your attention. Not enough dialogue to know anything about it. Just leave off the captions all together if they are only used every once in a while. It's not even a recognizable language. There's no need. If this film was meant to tie a story to the Bible, it missed the mark.

There was no character development. Who was Moroni? The backstory of two fueding brothers thousands of years before was referred to several times, but that tells us nothing of the main character. There could have been flashbacks to battle scenes, his earlier family, anything. The woman he meets, who is she and why is she running? She got hit 1 time, but wasn't there more reasons for running away? The girl's sister, what was her name? In fact, you learn almost no one's name but king Aaron, who has a terrible accent that changes constantly. Was he a nephite? How did he become king? What's his problem with Moroni? If king Aaron was hunting Moroni before the girl escaped, there was no way of knowing it.

There was no real plot development either. Was this an oath to his forefathers, to a woman, what? The story made no sense. There was no passing of time or place. I couldn't tell the hunting party was gone more than a few weeks until a pregnant character appeared. No night and day, no seasons, no campsights, no change in scenery the whole time. If Moroni was hiding, why didn't he get further away once he met the girl. If she found him, others would.

There were too many similar scenes, someone sleeping, someone thinking, someone walking, etc. Almost no action or acting. Too many tight closeups. I don't even remember seeing King Aaron at full length the whole time, or the whole hunting party, which appeared to grow and shrink. There were too many scenes with sunlight over Moroni's head. That should be used sparingly. Too many times the music swelled with feeling but I didn't see why. It felt forced. The end was anticlimactic for me. I was relieved it was over.

I left very disappointed and a bit embarrassed I had publicly shared my excitement toward this film.

Someone in the process should have been more honest with the creator and reigned in his enthusiasm for the project until it could have been a better end product.

Like many, I backed this film and would love to see a Book of Mormon story brought to the big screen with broad appeal. I appreciate the director's efforts, and I know he was faced with serious obstacles in delivering this film. That being said, the script really needed some work.

I'll start with a few positives. The costume design, soundtrack, and filming location were all beautiful. That's why the three stars. The cinematography was fine, but there were too many tight shots. At times I had no idea what characters were looking at and kept hoping for a wide shot to give me context.

Unfortunately, one can't recommend a film based on music and visuals. Foremost, I first look for a compelling plot. I would've watched this had it been filmed on an iPhone and accompanied with stock music, if only the characters and plot had real substance.

The Book of Mormon explains next to nothing about this chapter in Moroni's life. But it does seem to be a sad and solitary time for Moroni. For a man who thinks he could die at any moment ("I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life" Moroni 1:3.), a romance was an odd plot to pick. I suppose it could've worked if the characters were fleshed out more. Yes, Moroni was physically alone, but why did he feel alone? What were his flaws, desires, or challenges? These things were either not clear or poorly conveyed, which leaves the character falling flat.

In short, the lackluster characters, shallow plot, some awkward dialogue, and even a couple uncomfortable scenes made me want to walk out of the theater. Maybe it was just me; the room was half full... Though I did count 3 different people checking the time during the movie.