Review of Paul, Apostle of Christ (2018) by Thequietgamer — 28 Sep 2018

Beaten bodies, bloody hands, and corpses burning in the streets. This is a lot darker and more grim in tone than anything else from Affirm Films. The movie draws a parallel between the events of Rome during the reign of Nero and the things that are happening today. The message is to stay strong in your faith when things are spiraling out of control because of those in power. It does so in the form of a character study of Paul during his final days.

As interesting and potentially relevant as this idea could have been, the potential is squandered by how unexciting the material ends up being. The acting is generally pretty good. I just had no reason to care about these characters. Nothing really happens but a bunch of dull conversations in some great looking (for the budget) locations. It's depictions of persecution offer the occasional glimpses of life through shock value. It never pushes the envelope too far though. Most of the more violent displays of torture take place off-screen.

As an analysis of today's current political and social climate that offers an alternative way of combating a system you don't agree with rather than rioting in the streets or acting like a moron on social media, it's somewhat successful. As a source of entertainment however, it fails rather miserably. I applaud the continued effort of trying to make faith-based films subvert expectations by exploring new directions, but this was boring.