I first found out about Machine Gun Preacher in an add during the Immortals previews, I immediately told myself that I was going to see it. Starring Gerard Butler, he plays Sam Childers, who is a former drug dealing convict on the verge of collapse. The movie starts out with Sam being released from prison for an unknown charge. His girlfriend Lynn picks him up and they head to a homecoming party. Lynn has started working a real job at Freemont market instead of stripping. She says that she found god but Sam doesn't like this. He leaves and goes to a bar that has all his former biker friends. The next 30 minutes of the movie shows the fall of Sam Childers as he shoots heroin and damn near overdoses. After what seems like a routine house robbery to pick up some dope, they pick up a hitchhiker who winds up trying to stab Donnie, Sam's best friend. Sam eventually gets ahold of the situation but instead of throwing the hitchhiker out, he stabs him about 50 times and throws him out of the car. Once this happens, Sam's change begins to happen and god soons turn Sam into a tour de force that changes the lives of thousands.
I'm not sure if this movie was made because of the Kony uprising or vice versa, but Kony is the antagonist of this movie. His rebel army fights Sam constantly throughout the movie and traffics small children to military camps where they are trained to fight for the rebellion. This movie feels like a glorified propaganda poster about raising awareness against Joseph Kony.
Production was about average. Not too many special effects throughout the entire movie. RPG explosions were real and not CGI which was a plus for me. No unrealistic explosions. The editing was fantastic. It was easy to follow the movie and the transitions were smooth with no confusion. The writing was also very good. The acting was top notch and I truly believe that this has become Gerard Butler's best movie under 300. Official runtime was 2 hours and 9 minutes. The movie didn't drag. It always had my attention, and considering that I started the movie after midnight, that says something. The movie was incredibly enjoyable and definitely one that I would recommend for anyone who enjoys a good action/drama movie.
Overall grade of B+ or 8.5/10
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