The true story of how Sam Childers turned away from a life of drugs, alcohol, and crime after finding God to ultimately become the savior of orphans in Sudan is a compelling, uplifting tale of a man determined to save children at all costs. Unfortunately, the film based on Childers' life - Machine Gun Preacher - doesn't do justice to Childers' journey. Screenwriter Jason Keller has attempted to condense the events leading up to Childers' decision to embrace religion into too neat of a package, and in doing so he's created a film that can best be described as a disjointed mess. Even with a lengthy two hour running time there isn't ample opportunity to lay out Childers' tale, and trying to cram so much backstory in results in a movie that never finds its groove.
The Story
We meet Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) as he's leaving jail, and the first half hour of the film sets him up as a complete and utter jerk. Home for just a matter of minutes, he's already yelling at his wife (Michelle Monaghan) for finding God, quitting her stripping job, and finding employment that doesn't involve sexually exciting men. He scares his young daughter, pays no attention to his mom, and if he had a dog, he'd kick it. He follows that up with a trip to the local bar where he hooks up with his old friend (Michael Shannon), gets drunk, and shoots up heroin. They rob a crack house, pick up a hitchhiking bum, and then things get really savage when Childers beats the crap out of him, knifing the hitchhiking stranger and leaving him for dead on the side of the road.
Attempting to atone for killing a man and unable to figuratively wash the blood from his hands, Childers turns to religion. He then saves his family from a tornado, gets hired on to run a construction crew, starts his own construction business, resurrects the family from the grips of bankruptcy, buys a nice house, and heads off to Africa to do carpentry work for make-shift villages filled with children made orphans by the civil war tearing apart the Sudan. There, he convinces a freedom fighter to take him deeper into the war zone where he discovers his calling - building a shelter for orphan children complete with a church and playground.
The Bottom Line
Keller's screenplay uses a frustratingly scattershot approach to bringing Childers' dramatic story to life on the screen. Sam's snarling at his wife, getting high, committing crimes left and right, and then bam! he's being baptized and building his own church. Then he's flying off on a personal quest to help people in East Africa. Just as quickly, he's back home preaching to his congregation. And because the switch to good guy hasn't been completely thrown, all the while Childers continues to allow anger to dictate his actions. He's ruled by the need to shoot first, ask questions never, and his inability to control his rage is nearly his undoing both at home and in Africa.
The fact Childers never becomes a figure we can wholeheartedly root for is no fault of Gerard Butler's. Butler's best when he tackles projects outside of the romantic comedy genre, and here he demonstrates his ability to grab onto a character for all he's worth - even while the material lets him down. Keller's script only allows us to glimpse the surface of Childers' personality, and we never fully get a true sense of who this ex-drug addict-turned-crusader really is.
There is in fact an incredible story to be told of Childers' life and of his mission to help children in Sudan. Unfortunately, Machine Gun Preacher is not an incredible film but rather one lacking the emotional pull needed to adequately reflect the work Childers has done on behalf of so many who are completely unable to help themselves.
GRADE: C
Machine Gun Preacher was directed by Marc Forster and is rated R for violent content including disturbing images, language, some drug use and a scene of sexuality.
Theatrical Release: September 23, 2011 (limited)
