MACHINE GUN PREACHER (Marc Forster). See listing. Rating: NN
Marc Forster follows the disappointing Quantum Of Solace with this overwrought docudrama about Sam Childers (Gerard Butler), a Pennsylvania biker who found God, cleaned up and devoted himself to building an orphanage in Sudan.
It’s a noble story, but Forster’s clumsy, broad-strokes approach reduces everything to a Hollywood cliché – and yet another movie that uses African suffering as a backdrop for a white man’s redemption.
As Childers’s best friend, Revolutionary Road’s Michael Shannon steals the picture by refusing to buy into Forster’s melodramatic mindset. Just playing the part straight makes him the most interesting thing onscreen.