His Only Son

It is often said that scripture interprets scripture, but most of us are working with incidental fragments from a rather large book. This writer takes one of the toughest messages and manages to assemble the supporting chapters and events without becoming bogged down, overwhelming the novice or boring the expert. I know the story of Abraham and Sarah quite well, and bought tickets with the idea that I would suffer through a low budget interpretation for a good cause, but it was a great show; I walked away feeling like I met the characters and gained new perspectives on the message. Nice segue into the Gospels, great message for young and old, light on the graphic stuff and excellent for conversation after the film.

I desired to see this film. For subject, for Angel Studios . Indeed, with some not reduced expectations .

And I liked it. Maybe , just I loved it for a couple aspects.

It is very difficult to imagine the fair manner to tell this Genesis part. Because it is intense, complicated, dark and hopefull in same measure. So, I saw it without compare with the lines of Old Testament or with my images about characters. And, starting from this start point, easy was to appreciate the effort of actors, the atmosphere and the puzzle of events , not in chronological order but with interesting effort to put in honest form, the familiar facts. And, especially, the dialogue.

At the first sight, it is a film for a precise target. Indeed, Abraham has not one hundred years old and Sara seems too nervous, the young actor for role of Isaac represents not the most impressive option and the encounter with our Lord seems too simple solution.

But not strict accuracy or innovations / useful, in manz senses, must be the significant poinst, I suppose, but the message. And it is clear and loud .So, not being Choosen, it is a decent adaptation , not out of some good appreciations who it high deserves.

I guess I went in to watching this movie with very high expectations from something from Angel Studios, especially after the successful endeavors with The Chosen and the newer movie Sound of Freedom. But soon into this movie you will find yourself doubting why you decided to watch it. I have actually turned it on and off several times as it cannot keep my attention. There are several factors that go into my decision, including poor acting, poor costumes, but most importantly all of the excessive artistic license that is taken in this movie. I know the story of Abram and Sarai very well. And I realize that this biblical story actually points to the coming of our Messiah in Jesus Christ, but Abraham did not realize that at the time and some of the things he says in the movie was never said or at least not given to us in scripture. I'm all for trying to make things more interesting and filling in the gaps, but when you add information as though it was scriptural to do that then I think you're making the wrong steps.

4 stars for being about 40% accurate. Before making the movie, they should have read Genesis first. They got the basics of the story in there, so congrats I guess. However, this was a very dark, dreary and depressing adaptation of events, polluted with fictionalized (even darker) side stories that made no sense. And straying from the true timeline of Genesis, Sarah looked about age 40 and Abraham 50 at the time of Isaacs' birth. Not too impressive as far as miracles go. Did the writers of this story think a 90 and 100 year old Sarah and Abraham respectively was too far fetched (even for God)? And the Abraham and Sarah portrayed in this story looked like filthy Neanderthals with face tattoos and lived like dirt poor vagabonds. The Abraham and Sarah of the Bible were blessed by God, who prospered them with wealth, land, cattle, and many hired servants. Abraham was a patriarch and founder of a great nation. This was a very bleak portrayal of a great man of God and inaccurate, underwhelming vision of what is one of the most powerful stories of faith in the Scriptures.

The movie tries to jump around in the story artistically, but it's confusing even if you know the story. It added elements that don't make any sense nor added anything to the overall narrative. Isaac is probably a homeschool kid of one of the producers, because he's as white as my 2 buttcheeks and is a terrible actor. More unnecessary slow motion than any Zack Snyder movie. You can immediately tell who all the bad guys are because of the black eyeliner. The list of negatives go on and on.

Honestly, it's what you'd expect if you gave that one lady in your church a couple thousand dollars to throw a church play. Definitely trying to ride the coattails of the Chosen, and definitely falls flat.