Review: Machine Gun Preacher
Machine Gun Preacher is based on the real-life story of Sam Childers who found God after a life dedicated to hell-raising and went on to open an orphanage in civil war-torn southern Sudan. Onscreen, Gerard Butler portrays Childers as a hot-tempered, foul-mouthed ex-con biker who, upon his release from prison, discovers his wife Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) has found Jesus. Resuming his life of drug use and violence, it’s not long before Sam too is seeking redemption. Along with starting up his own construction business, his spiritual journey sees him building churches, saving friends and visiting Uganda and Sudan. Upon witnessing first-hand the suffering of Sudanese children he becomes driven to build and run an orphanage in the south.
Machine Gun Preacher: Wait, what's the point here, exactly?
If that sounds like a lot of ground to cover, then Machine Gun Preacher’s biggest problem is becoming clear. All of the above occurs within the first half of the movie whilst the final hour details the struggles faced by Sam in funding and protecting the orphanage as his personal and financial life fall apart. It’s difficult to simply accept Sam’s conversion from sceptical thug to man of God. Exactly how much time passes as Sam’s family moves on from a tornado demolished trailer-park to a spacious rural house is uncertain. Sam’s character, financial circumstances and motivations change rapidly without any time dedicated to how this is actually made possible. Perhaps this is an example of a subprime mortgage in the works. What is even wackier is the contrast between Sam’s story about the Bible his mother replaced his shotgun with and his leadership of the Sudanese freedom fighters in bloody shoot-outs.
The other issue is exactly what Machine Gun Preacher’s message is. While it initially appears to be preaching the saving grace of God, that message is muddled (and understandably so, given the horrific nature of the religiously fuelled civil war) by end of the film and even further so by the footage of the real Sam Childers running alongside the credits. As it becomes ever clearer that Sam is quite sociopathic, the direction of the film wavers wildly. One possible theme here, that it can be quite easy to become what one is fighting against, is more hinted at than properly developed.
Butler’s performance is decent given he is playing such a drastically changing character over the course of the film. However, it’s somewhat disappointing that he didn’t grow out the ridiculous moustache that the actual Childers sports and his accent breaks quite noticeably when he raises his voices. Visually, the film looks authentic but the gruesome depictions of war may be difficult for some to bear. The end credits featuring images and video of Sam Childers, his family, Sudanese fighters and children whilst accompanied by Chris Cornell’s beautiful “The Keeper” is the high-point of the entire affair.
Machine Gun Preacher presents an interesting tale, to be certain, but does so in a terribly messy manner. As is often the case, it would likely be better served by a documentary than a Hollywood feature. Feeling much longer than the two-hour runtime, Machine Gun Preacher fails to ever be truly engaging as it struggles to focus on a point. On multiple levels, Machine Gun Preacher makes for a disappointing viewing experience. There aren’t even any tigers in it. 5.5/10
