Review of God's Not Dead (2014) by Jonny P — 05 Sep 2014

"God's Not Dead" lies somewhere between low-budget Christian films and normal films. This film's association with "Heaven Is for Real" (based solely on them being released at similar times) gave me a false expectation as far as quality is concerned.

While the acting of Shane Harper and Kevin Sorbo is excellent, many of the other actors were downright bad (particularly the girlfriend and the blogger). That being said, they did not stand in the way of this film's powerful message.

"God's Not Dead" is worth watching solely for the classroom debate scenes and will make you question how much you would risk to stand up for your beliefs. The film could have survived with a few less characters and side stories, but I am really impressed with the connections that are revealed between all of the characters.

A lot of films wait until the end to reveal the complex web of connections, but these writers divulge the associations throughout the story so that we are constantly surprised. Low-budget Christian films are typically cheesy and predictable but, in spite of a few cheesy moments, the script kept me guessing and really shocked me several times.

I applaud the writers for their "big picture" approach to this story, even if some of the dialogue and acting was questionable. This rating reflects the quality of "God's Not Dead" in comparison to the great films of all time, but a film doesn't have to get 10 stars for it to be worth seeing.

You won't want to miss this one.