Machine Gun Preacher

This bizarre story of one man's crusade to save kidnapped children in Sudan through a Christian orphanage is certainly an interesting story. But the film never quite delves deep enough into its protagonist and doesn't quite ring true on an emotional level, despite its heart-wrenching subject matter.

The hype…
Gerard Butler plays the eponymous preacher in this surprising true story of a Pennsylvania biker who emerges from jail, finds God, and heads off to Sudan to battle fighters in the civil war and recapture kidnapped children. Seriously.

The story…
Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) is a biker on the road to nowhere. He's just come out of prison and, much to the dismay of his wife Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) and young daughter Paige, returned to his old friend Donnie (Michael Shannon) and his old habits of drink, drugs and violence.

But when Lynn convinces him to come along to the local church and accept Jesus into his life, things begin to change. He drops the drink, drugs and violence, and soon finds direction from the Big Man himself.

After a missionary gives a talk at the church one Sunday, Sam has a vision - he must build a church, a church which will help fund his own mission to build an orphanage in Sudan. But once he begins this difficult task, he finds himself quickly dragged into a dark and bloody civil war that will test his faith, finances and his loved ones.

The breakdown…
The story of Sam Childers is so exceptional that you'll have trouble believing it's true. His transition from violent biker to born again Christian, to warrior monk is complex, to put it mildly.

This poses certain challenges for director Marc Forster ('The Kite Runner', 'Quantum of Solace'), namely how to at once capture the unique life of Childers and make it grounded, accessible and believable. Unfortunately, Forster just falls short on both counts.

By charting every beat of Childers' story, Forster ends up falling into the trap of the TV-movie: he becomes so obsessed with events, and box-ticking to meet every detail in there, that he fails to capture the essence of what makes the real-life story so captivating.

The violent core of Sam's personality is at first criticised, as he commits awful crimes during his drug-fuelled rampages, and then somehow flipped to being justified during his time in Sudan. Forster, and writer Jason Keller, refuse to delve into his psyche and look for a larger canvas on which to examine his tendency for violence, his loyalty to whatever he takes up (the Church, biker gangs, the Sudanese people) or how he struggles to find full satisfaction in any of them.

Instead, the film is intent on pushing some dubious emotional buttons. Euphoric baptisms, tearful phone calls with neglected families, tearful moments cradling mutilated war victims and a ridiculous post-traumatic stress rant all appear in textbook 'turning points' that only serve to make this true story feel fake, and artless.

Worst of all are the laughable action sequences in which Forster utterly fails to capture any harrowing realism within Sam's military skirmishes with the warring factions in Sudan.

But that's not to say the film is entirely without merit. The story is, in itself, exceptional enough to warrant some interest. And some of the questions it poses about Christian charity, faith in general, and our attitude to global catastrophes in the West are painfully relevant. It's just a shame that they weren't posed better.

The verdict…
The subject matter is exciting and unique, and it asks some important questions. But attempts to combine family drama and action thriller elements overload the film with formulaic, run-of-the-mill scenes and ultimately it fails to fully satisfy.

Rating: 2.5/5

'Machine Gun Preacher' is due to be released in the UK on 2 November. Certificate: 15.