Inbox: Christian Movie Reviews

I have been asked from time to time about recommendations for Christian movies, what review sites to trust and the like. The answer is very simple – none of them are to be trusted and I can't recommend any that I know of.

I do use them but only on a statistical level. They are helpful for counting obscenities and reporting occasions of skin and exposed body parts. Beyond that, I find them mostly worthless – sometimes overtly erroneous in their judgments.

For all their talk of worldview being employed, I find all too often the reviewers simply echo Right-wing assumptions which are often ridiculous and sometimes even laughable. The other day I was listening to Issues Etc. reviewing Sound of Freedom and found myself rather put off. The reviewer danced around the credibility issues surrounding Tim Ballard as well as the deranged views of Jim Caviezel. The end result was that (according to the reviewer) the questions raised by the media are due to Left-wing bias – but that's simply not true, or at the very least doesn't tell the whole story. Additionally, the Christian audience should now about the real life Ballard as well as Caviezel's belief in some of the most extreme QAnon theories – including the extraction of adrenachrome from kidnapped children in order for elites to formulate an elixir of youth – which the reviewer deliberately obscured. These are not people the Christian community should be supporting. I'm speaking not only of Ballard and Caviezel – but the people at LPR's Issues Etc.

The end result of the review was misleading to say the least.

All too often the various review sites express concern – that is, parents should be concerned – because a character might express a negative view about capitalism or perhaps the banking industry. In other cases parents are warned because a character might express less-than-patriotic views – or maybe that's even the tenor of the whole movie, and therefore it should be considered anti-Christian, or so we are led to believe.

Contrary to Evangelical assumptions, such a 'worldview' does not in fact reflect a Christian or Biblical worldview and as such their comments are just as misleading and dangerous as views that are explicitly anti-Christian. They are promoting syncretism, along with various idolatries, heresies, and often an explicit rejection of New Testament ethics – though in their blindness they cannot see it.

Of course on the flip-side more could be said about the sorts of movies they tend to endorse and believe to be expressive of Christian values. Often these movies are problematic and sometimes highly so.

It's a sad state of affairs when Christians are so concerned that the American military is properly reverenced – it is in reality evidence of idolatry and a sign of a growing apostasy. Being handed over is what also comes to mind.

I take great exception to movies that portray mammonism and militarism as moral goods – and then this offense is further magnified when Christians take up this mantle and celebrate it, thinking such messaging to be Christian. I won't mince words. Such are false teachers and they are myriad.

The additional commentary and reflection also expressed in these 'reviews' is often short-sighted, less than helpful, and at worst lame. Sometimes the individual reviews left by non-affiliated visitors to the websites are in fact more insightful.

At times there seems to be a basic failure to understand that a non-Christian movie is not going to communicate Christian messages and in fact cannot do so. This does not necessarily invalidate every aspect of the movie, its viewpoint, or message but this stark reality must be understood when it is evaluated by Christian thinkers.

Not everything partaken of has to be redeemable or cast in redemptive terms but we understand the plight of lost man in light of the Fall – through regenerate eyes. We can gain some empathy with lost man in his lostness even while rejecting whatever message the filmmakers wish to communicate.

In some cases this will testify to the futility and fallenness of this world, its flawed philosophies, and its inconsistencies in the realms of ethics and epistemology. There's a value in that. That very 'lostness' drives one once again toward the inescapable dilemma of nihilism – with the only hope remaining found in Divine revelation. But it is far more troubling to find movies endorsed that are little more than expressions of baptized worldliness – everyone getting excited because someone mentioned God or a family was seen praying. One thinks of The Waltons and the sham Christianity portrayed on that show – which is still celebrated by many in the Evangelical community. Don't misunderstand me, I liked the show and it has some value but the Christian aspects are often the worst part about it.

For those committed to a Thomistic/Natural Law or Christendom-type social order and its accompanying 'worldview', then all secular expressions can only be subversive. In which case, why review the movies at all? They should all be rejected unless explicitly Christian. They can't help themselves but as it is with the arts, history, and politics – they often miss the mark.

But for those who reject this false 'Christendom' paradigm imposed on the religion of the New Testament, such cinematic reflections (assuming they can be watched, for many cannot) offer opportunities for epistemological and apologetic engagement even if the hope or meaning they would offer (if they offer it) must be reckoned as mere futility – even delusion.

As such, the myriad Evangelical websites that provide movie reviews have little if anything to offer apart from an accounting of potential obscenity. When it comes to actual contemplation of the messages contained therein – I find their commentaries wanting, superficial, and often misleading.