Hit or Miss ? Machine Gun Preacher (2011)

Machine Gun Preacher emerges from the hands of style-chameleon Marc Foster, known from films like Monster’s Ball, Quantum of Solace, Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction, Stay and The Kite Runner.. If some other director has more of a seemingly mixed and inconsistent oeuvre I haven’t heard of them.

The story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing biker tough guy who found God and became a crusader for hundreds of Sudanese children who’ve been forced to become soldiers.

No doubt the synopsis seems intriguing enough, with a hot topic of child soldiers and Childers’ life story is nothing short of miraculous, BUT (you saw it coming) can Gerard Butler act?

If not, MGP will propably succumb to a level of mindless action. If yes, it could be a surprise hit. As much I’d like to wave the Scottish flag and say I think Butler could pull it off, I won’t. Even with the semi-inspiring additions of Kathy Baker and Michael Shannon (who’s really underrated btw!) there seems to be a disconnect in the uplifting message of the story and the classical mindless action.

Opens in the UK on the 4th of November, limited release in the US.

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06 Oct This entry was published on October 6, 2011 at 11:02 am. It’s filed under Hit or Miss ? and tagged Finding Neverland, Gerard Butler, Machine Gun Preacher, Marc Foster, Monster's Ball, Quantum of Solace, Stay, Stranger than Fiction, The Kite Runner. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.

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11 thoughts on “Hit or Miss ? Machine Gun Preacher (2011)”

Niko on October 6, 2011 at 1:39 pm said:

Smells like a good no-brainer but with a rather plastic background story. Butler is a decent actor and it’s rated R, so I might rent it in case of boredom.

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- 5plitreel on October 9, 2011 at 5:40 pm said:
  
  He’s decent in a very particular role, but those roles are usually very limited in range. I think this must’ve been a challenge for him.
  
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Castor on October 7, 2011 at 1:13 am said:

I will give it a rental once it’s available on DVD. The dismal Rotten Tomatoes score (22%) certainly isn’t too reassuring but it should be a watchable, broad-stroke story.

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- 5plitreel on October 9, 2011 at 5:43 pm said:
  
  Too bad. Maybe Coriolanus will be ok?
  
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Scott Lawlor on October 7, 2011 at 8:42 am said:

I have just booked myself on an early screening of this on 1st November. I will let you know what I think then!!

:-)

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- 5plitreel on October 9, 2011 at 5:43 pm said:
  
  Looking forward to it!
  
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Duke on October 10, 2011 at 7:36 am said:

Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss.

Oh, and yeah, miss.

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Andrew on October 19, 2011 at 4:19 pm said:

Butler has a certain gregariousness to him that could lend itself well to a role of this sort, and I’ve heard good things about it from advance press. That said, it’s Butler, and Butler hasn’t been in a good movie since 300, so I remain cautiously interested in this.

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- 5plitreel on October 20, 2011 at 2:31 am said:
  
  More than this, I think he will shine in Coriolanus, when ever that gets out, since that’s very much his forte.
  
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rtm on October 19, 2011 at 5:49 pm said:

Hi Anna, I saw this a few weeks ago, here’s my review: http://wp.me/pxXPC-434

I gave it 4/5 stars for both the story and acting. Yes, Butler can definitely act, but I already knew that before seeing this film.

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- 5plitreel on October 20, 2011 at 2:34 am said:
  
  Nice, will check it out ASAP!
  
  I’m on the fence with Butler..
  
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