First off, I will say I am a big fan of The Chosen series. But here's the problem. This was billed as an awesome combination of The Messengers and The Shepherd. As I am familiar with both, I agree, this sounds great. In fact I bought tickets for my whole family thinking this would be a lovely Christmas experience, like going to a living nativity.
Now, the movie itself was great. I would have given it 9 stars. But the rest of the "production" was filler. I don't know if they were trying to give you your money's worth or what. But they didn't need to. In fact, the movie itself was probably 1:30. That's PLENTY. Ok, so for the fillers, I pull my review down to a 6. The music videos on the front end went on for too long. After the 4th one, my family is like "is this all this is?" Guys, I'm losing them. I enjoyed a couple of the videos, but geesh it went on forever. And the dudes at the end singing opera in tuxedoes. I was tapped out. And then, they had to add even ANOTHER one during the rolling credits.
So now you may wonder why I pulled it further all the way down from a 6 to a 1. It was the speeches. First it was Dallas and Amanda telling how excited they are for what we are about to watch. Then it was Dallas telling us, "there will be tears. It really came together nicely." I'm down to a 5. Then there was Amanda before the movie on the Jordan, and one of the writers after the movie at the dead sea. Both of these speeches were completely contrived. So contrived that I cut the last 4 stars.
You know when you listen to a qualified biblical preacher, and he consults the bible, and puts it into words that really touch your heart, and you feel that feeling of awe and amazement, and conviction, and JOY overtakes you, and a tear wells up in your eye? Yeah, it's as if Amanda loves that too, and she covets what the preacher does, and wants to do that to too. But unlike a qualified preacher that frames the word of God with his words, she framed her own contrived words of "awe inspiring" drivel about the molecules of water flowing blah blah blah. And the whole speech was delivered as if the audience was going to get that joyful feeling. But it did not "work". And there's a reason it didn't "work". Because it was contrived. Contrived with that goal, and not simply letting the Truth of God do the work.
The writer's speech after the movie was in a similar vane. At one point, I even felt like I was being hit with a "cold-reading" technique. Something like, "that dark feeling looming over you that you don't know where it comes from, or maybe you do know."....Ok man. Just stop.
Look, I am not writing this to be harsh. Or maybe I am. I was disappointed in how it came across to my guests and had the exact opposite effect I was hoping for. But I am also writing it to be instructive, that perhaps it makes it back to the team. You need to humble it back down. Take yourselves off the screen. It isn't about you, is it? The ride home from Christmas movie night with my family was not, "how lovely was that"....it was, "what the heck were those speeches going on about?". It was a turn-off, to the point of quite honestly overshadowing the lovely movie completely and entirely.
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