In case you don't know, "Son of God" is a spin-off of the successful History Channel mini-series, "The Bible." The movie was filmed at the same time as the show. In fact, it's the extended footage of the Jesus section of the series. But there was a reason all of that footage was cut. If it wasn't good enough for television, how can this possibly be good enough for the cinema?
Well, it's not. This movie is a bore. With an unnecessary 138 minute run-time, the film drags through dialogue delivered at a pace slow enough for the slothful to keep up. Even then the script isn't interesting. The selections of the gospel that get quoted are mercilessly butchered. And that's another thing, if not the most important criticism of a movie of this caliber -- the filmmakers had no respect for the source material.
The story misses on minor and major elements. Anyone with anything better than a felt-board understanding of Sunday school Bible stories will be able to identify the inaccuracies. And they are many: from theology to dialogue to locations to the people involved and the list goes on. If the filmmakers don't care for even simple and easy details, how can we believe that they care about the more complicated matters addressed by the gospel of Jesus Christ? Sadly, they don't.
Truth be told, creators Roma Downey and Mark Burnett are New Age believers. They soak up multiple forms of paganism, mysticism, and spirituality -- like a lot of celebrities do. It doesn't take more than a little bit of Googling to know what any celebrity believes. Yet the American church has been duped into promoting this trite, vapid representation of the Bible to make the Downey/Burnett couplehood a fishing boat-load of cash.
It's no surprise that Joel Osteen, K-Love, T.D. Jakes, and Rick Warren gobbled this thing right up. But Mark Driscoll, Louie Giglio, Focus On the Family, Liberty University, and the Women of Faith conferences should have done their research and known better. "Oh, she was in 'Touched By an Angel' and he made 'Survivor' and they claim to be Christians and God told them to make this! Let's promote the hell out of it!"
The Jesus portrayed in "Son of God" is not the Jesus of the Bible. In the vein of the film being just downright boring, Diogo Morgado puts forth one of the worst depictions of Jesus I've ever seen. He's pretty passionless, as is the rest of the disciples and the attitudes of the crowds who follow him. The climax and resolution of the story don't resonate because the previous hundred minutes of the movie haven't given us any reason to care.
Whether you're arguing from a theological standpoint, or just as a movie-lover, the film is devoid of content. It's worthless. There's nothing redeemable about this film. Save the money, save the time. And for heaven's sake, know your Bible. As long as the church is out there ready to promote anything with the word "God" on it, we're going to get horrible material like this.
