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.

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.

If you want to look at this movie on a technical level, I encourage you to move past this review and read the many other lengthy entries. I agree with most of the ones I have read personally. I really seek only to criticize the film on terms of its faithfulness to it's stated mission and the source material it is said to be based on.

To be frank, this is not a Book of Mormon film. While it claims inspiration from the events and people recorded therein, it does very little to communicate the message of the Book of Mormon. This film did not deserve to be associated with scripture and had very little reason to. This film could have substituted characters and places for others of similar but fictitious nature and the movie would have faired much better.

The romance was totally unnecessary and it totally sidelined the importance of the "message" of the film. In spite of being a faith-based film, it was devoid of anything spiritually-minded. God and Jesus are only mentioned in passing dialogue, not the central focus of the film. This film should have shouldered the purpose of showing "unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever-And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations..."

If you are going to dramatize any portion of scripture, respect the purpose of the scriptures. These plain and precious things are precious pearls, and to make a film like this and claim association is to trample them under your feet and turn and rend the very men and women who devoted their lives to bringing truth to the earth.

Nice try, Darin Scott, you have my respect, but never do something like this again.

I really want a good film adaptation of the Book of Mormon. I REALLY want to see one. Because this film is... not that.

On a technical level it's not terrible. I mean, the cinematography, blocking, and editing usually make things more confusing. And a lot of the visual effects are things I recognized as nearly-unmodified stock assets from After Effects. But moment to moment it doesn't look bad.

It's clear Darin thought he was making a powerful movie. After all, it wears its influences on its sleeve (especially the ending, ripping off Braveheart and Gladiator back to back). SO many slow shots of Darin staring wistfully into the sunset.

But everything just feels a little too, well, ego driven. The whole story and everything in it only exists to make the main character look like a chad. And, like, freedom stuff.

Ultimately, for all the times the main character mentions God or Jesus Christ, the movie feels strangely devoid of any real spirituality. It's never clear what "the oath" is meant to refer to, or what the plates mean to him, or how he is in any way a prophet. He's just... a guy with big arms and massive main-character syndrome.

The Book of Mormon deserves so much better than this.

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.