Film Is this what Christians think atheists are like?
I'm not sure what the audience of this film is.
It's certainly not atheists, or at least if it is then it's done a horrible job of understanding atheists and basically spends its entire runtime insulting them. If you want people to convert to your point of view then that's not the way of doing it. The basic premise seems to be that atheists just hate God. As an atheist I can assure you that I do not hate God (he's my favourite fictional villain!), but I have no reason to believe he exists. I didn't suffer some horrible trauma in my youth that would make me turn from the righteous path, I just didn't buy the stories. The guy portrayed here isn't me, or anything remotely close to me or any other living atheist, he's just a straw man who exists to be torn down. The fact that the film feels fit to kill him off even after he has a change of heart should be evidence enough for that.
I'm not sure it's meant for a Christian audience either though, at least not a sane one, because literally nobody in this thing behaves like a normal human being. While the scorn for atheists is quite blatant this film also throws (almost certainly unintentional) insults at Christians too by making them look smug, superior, morally incorruptible, judgemental and all in all extremely unpleasant. All I can say if heaven is full of people like these characters I think I'd rather go to hell, thanks.
No, if this film has any kind of target audience at all then it's for a niche audience of people who live in a bubble that has little or nothing to do with reality. There is nothing here anybody who believes or doesn't could really relate to. Hogwarts feels more real than the place portrayed in this move.
Should you watch it anyway? Maybe. Depends on whether you're into Bile Fascination or not, I guess.
Film Awful propaganda movie, 0 out of 5 stars
GND gets a Zero rating from me. The characters in the movie seemed very bland, all they ever talk about in this movie is religion from Josh to Martin to Professor Radisson to Reverend Dave. The thing is - they never acknowledge that a person's religious beliefs are very personal and you're being kind of to very much a prick if you're judging them for their religion. The main character (Josh) is an absolute hypocrite, he's a Christian supremacist who bashes atheists just like the professor who's an atheist activist who bashes all religions. I wish both the main character and professor died at the end. He cares more about his religion than his GIRLFRIEND! I didn't feel sorry for Josh when she dumped his ass. I wished his girlfriend kicked/killed his ass too.
Josh yelling at the professor "WHY DO YOU HATE GOD??!!! WHY DO YOU HATE HIM?!!" is really immature and the highest point of his hypocrisy - so it's okay to scream, throw a anger tantrum and attack your professor's atheism just because your professor was making snide comments about your Christianity? Dude, at least the professor was keeping a calm voice, you (should) know you're the immature one when you start screaming like a 4-year old baby who doesn't get what he wants Josh. Dave and Jude's only traits are being nice guys who give the characters some hope and sugarcoated talk, both Ayisha and Martin's only traits are hiding their Christian faiths from their oppressive fathers, Amy's only traits are getting bullied by her Bastard Boyfriend and getting cancer, all Reverends Dave and Jude do is pray for Dave's car to start (yeah right, praying is never the answer to anything). For a so-called Christian movie, it seems to be hostile towards the idea of Christian people having family and friends. The movie even tries to make out like Christians in the U.S. are being persecuted and are going through a real hard time living in America.
This movie demonizes atheists such as myself but do Christians even get along together alone? Protestants and Catholics are always out to get each other and are always at war too. Back when America was 95 or 99% Christian, the predominantly Protestant government enacted repugnant immigration laws to keep Irish, Italian Catholics out. The overwhelming majority of atheists such as myself aren't going around shooting people and burning down churches like Devin Patrick Kelly or Stephen Paddock. Christians should be more worried about getting decapitated/beheaded and burned alive for their beliefs by fanatics (mainly from the Middle East) rather than worry about being proven wrong by science and getting their beliefs dismissed as ridiculous fairy tales. GND is one of those type of movies that brainwash stupid people into electing fat ignorant dumbfucks like Donald Trump for US President!
Film Horrible, but watch it
Of course this movie is not good. It has poor plot, flat characters, no link to reality and is blatant propaganda. But it still should be watched because there is a good third of Americans who believe this stuff, so watching a movie like this is useful to understand them. To not be able to understand a third of people around you is a stupid thing when you want to go to politics, sell something controversial, or anything similar. The fact that there was never a single Christian propaganda movie that would give any good arguments proves quite well that there just aren´t any that anybody has thought of so far, so it can also be taken as a Stealth Parody of religious fundamentalism.
Overall, 0/10. But go watch it. You may get a laugh from So Bad, It's Good.
EDIT: Old Shame, left here for posterity and to never forget. Sorry.
Film God is angry. God remains angry. And we have incensed Him.
"Christian movies" have a reputation, but God's Not Dead still managed to be the most painful movie to watch I have ever seen. As a Christian, it hurt spiritually. As a ravenous consumer of fiction, it hurt aesthetically. As a desperate searcher for truth and comprehension in an increasingly confusing world, it made me more cynical. I would list the other relevant categories for pain, but there's a character limit.
While the story is advertised as a debate between an atheist philosophy professor and his Christian student who will demonstrate God's existence, that isn't really what it's about. If it were, it wouldn't be sporadically interrupted by half a dozen other unnecessary subplots that eat up over half the screen time. One of them involves an abusive Muslim father (who obviously wouldn't say God is dead) and his Christian daughter. Another follows two pastors who pray for their car to start so that they can go to Disney World. And another is about a businessman too callous to even pretend to care about his girlfriend's cancer. The common pattern of these stories reveals the true effective message of the film: "Christians" are (ostensibly) good people, everyone else is idiotically evil.
The debates between professor Jeffrey Radisson and his student Josh Wheaton could be called bare-bones, if the bones in question had severe osteoporosis. Radisson, despite being presented as a philosophy professor who's dating a Christian, acts like he's never debated a theist in his life. He and Josh mostly recite quotes from famous people to appeal to authority, and they hardly even elaborate on what was said. Eventually, Josh publicly browbeats Radisson into admitting that a personal tragedy, the death of his mother, made him hate God. Then everyone cheers on Josh. While Josh gets to enjoy a fun concert with Christian Celebrities™, Radisson gets hit by a car. The Disney World pastors convert him before he dies. Then the Christian Celebrities™ tell the viewers to tweet #godsnotdead to their friends so that they too can accept movie tickets into their hearts.
I'd say God's Not Dead was made to preach to the choir, but that would insult most preachers and choirs I've known. It is vindictive, judgmental, lazy, vainglorious, and would probably be most enticing to parents who fear that their children who go to college may turn out to not share their faith and hope. A tale of a Christian student lambasting his atheist professor would naturally appeal to such people, but that deceitful allure makes the movie all the more reprehensible.
This film is artistically, logically, and morally damnable. God's not dead, but Jesus died for this movie's existence.