The Oath

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.

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've never took it upon myself to write a movie review until after seeing this film. I didn't even have an account on imdb and made one just to write this.

The trailer and the little messages by the director (and main character) before and after the film seem to have nothing to do with the movie. In his messages he is talking about how the film is about the book of mormon love, peace, christ, and that it can change peoples lives. So that's what I expected when I sat down in the theatre.

Instead, I was utterly disappointed and confused. The show was not about christ and barely mentioned things from the book of mormon. It was a strange love story with a lot of strange components. Like neither the way they kept switching from whatever ancient language and english made no sense, and I don't know why the girl was speaking broken english at first (which the actress did pretty bad at).

Also so many scenes seemed to just be the director/main character trying to show off his muscles. Why is he curling the golden plated and the camera zoomed in on his biceps? Why was there a random part of him doing pull ups on a tree? Very weird.

Just everything about this movie was horrendous, it felt like watching a roughy draft/failed project.

The Room. Samurai Cop. The Oath. These three films stand in a class of their own.

No matter which way you look at this, it's very amateur. Right off the bat, it was obvious the editing was very shoddy, and there is hideously overdone color correction throughout the entire thing. Besides some drone footage, the camera work is very bland, and there is a frustrating lack of deep focus shots, leaving any scenery just a blur in the background. The worst thing is it's irredeemably boring. Almost nothing happens, and scene to scene things are repetitive. The camera doesn't do anything interesting, and neither do the characters. The writing is as weak as the editing. It was very forced and cringey, and more than once I groaned audibly from something akin to physical pain. Lastly, and I mean no offense to the guy, but I was getting tired of seeing Darin Scott's face; he just doesn't have the charisma to justify that amount of screen time (or the number of thirst traps he wrote in for himself...).

I'm happy that the guy got to make his movie in the exact same way I'm happy for Tommy Wiseau.

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.