Plot Summary
After Jesus chose a majority of His followers, He began to slowly but surely reveal His nature to the world through public miracles and teachings. Though He mostly ministered in obscurity, His work drew the attention of multiple different spheres of influence: common people, powerful politicians, and power-hungry religious leaders. However, Christ never discriminated in who He chose to follow Him as He broke down social and cultural barriers in order to proclaim His love for all humanity.
Production Quality (2.5 points)
Much like the first half of Season 1, this season’s second half boasts a very high-quality production that both lives within its means and makes the most of what it has. Though camera work can be a bit shaky at times, much like the former half, there are virtually no other production flaws to note here. Video quality and audio quality are both flawless as the camera captures poignant scenes that feel like real life. Sets, locations, and props are incredibly authentic and demonstrate extreme care for historical accuracy and attention to detail. Perhaps the most impactful element of the production is the exquisite soundtrack that is creatively and artistically placed to enhance key moments and to draw the audience into the story’s emotional experiences. Further, editing is seamless and presents a well-crafted plot in a professional manner. In the end, Dallas Jenkins and his very talented creative team have once again showcased their God-given talents in a very responsible manner that has revolutionized Christian entertainment at a time when it was desperately needed.
Plot and Storyline Quality (3 points)
However, there’s still more to say. It’s undeniable that the extreme humanity of The Chosen’s characters are what make the series more than a run-of-the-mill Bible drama. Tyler Thompson and the other writers clearly went great lengths, as prompted by the Holy Spirit, to not only ensure the accurate cultural profiles of the characters but to also make them very flawed and relatable to all audiences, which is something other Biblical productions have been allergic to. The Chosen doesn’t just show the viewers a collection of well-known miracles and stories: the lead-up and fallout of each important event is carefully crafted and woven together with other intriguing subplots. All of this is good enough without even mentioning the way some scenes are presented in artistic manners that are nearly flawless in their presentation. Dialogue and conversations between characters are very deep, meaningful, and even philosophical at times, which is something we rarely see in Christian entertainment. Basically, there are more positive qualities in this section than can be named, which has warranted a separate discussion on how the subplots interlock and interact. In the end, The Chosen creative team has transformed the development of series and characters in Christian entertainment, and there’s no going back from here.
Acting Quality (3 points)
With virtually the same cast from episodes one through four plus others who add more life than there already was, the acting of episodes five through eight does not waver from its previously perfect score. In fact, many of the cast members build off of their roles and become even more comfortable in their characters. Emotions are right on target such that they can be felt by the viewers, and line delivery is basically perfect. This cast is so heavily talented that it’s posing a good problem for Box Office Revolution’s upcoming Actor and Actress of the Year Awards, which is a type of dilemma we have unfortunately never been faced with in our reviewing experience.
Continuity Quality (3 points)
Continuity is where many Christian series completely drop the proverbial ball because the episode are often disconnected and self-contained. However, every episode of The Chosen that has been released so far are somehow able to be both self-consistent as well as connected to the bigger picture, which is an important component of a great series. One way the continuity is best demonstrated in through the use of flashbacks to cover both previously overlooked New Testament stories along with relevant Old Testament accounts, and this latter inclusion is one of the added bonuses of episodes five through eight. Finally, the ending of each episode is epic and demonstrates how much this creative knows what they’re doing and how much they have relied on God to get this project right.
Conclusion
The second half of The Chosen’s first season also receives two x-factor points for presenting the greatest stories of history in the ways they should have been portrayed all along as well as for being re-watchable and binge-able. There’s hardly anything we would want changed about The Chosen at this point except for an even bigger budget to do better things with since Jenkins and the rest have demonstrated an ability to responsibly steward the resources God’s given them. As a side note, we receive no compensation or reward for our reviews and advertising of this series, but we wholeheartedly support its full release and strongly encourage you to both watch Season 1 during this year’s holidays and to share it with as many people as you can. This is first time a season of a Christian series has been critically acclaimed and placed on the Box Office Revolution Hall of Fame. We believe The Chosen has a rare, God-given opportunity to change not only the Christian entertainment world but also Christian culture as a whole because it’s a fresh, high-quality look at well-known stories that are timelessly relevant for all people.
Final Rating: 13.5 out of 14 points
Box Office Revolution 
For once there’s not enough good to say. These filmmakers are using the talents and resources Jesus has given them for His glory. This show is a good different.
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Two words that describe this series are “Just Wow”! Finally a production team can effectively pull off a Bible series and actually go above and beyond to keep each episode high quality. Not only so but the more you watch it the better it gets! How anyone can not like this show is beyond me. All in all a wonderful series for all generations!;)
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I’m actually somewhat hesitant to leave a comment on Dallas Jenkins “The Chosen”. I have had a great deal of respect for him ever since “What If?”. He’s one of the best Christian Movie makers in the business today. He knows what needs to be done. But all films, especially film series, have a purpose. The stated purpose was to make a series of films for discussion. Fine. He has done a good job of it. That’s been done before of course, at least in parts. I can’t think of any reason not to do it again. I know that’s not the general opinion of Box Office Revolutionary. If you feel led to do something that’s been done with a new spin, or to do it better; or doing it for a different audience or another generation, than go for it! There are plenty of opportunities to do extra-Biblical character development that always comes along with this sort of project. We all read between the lines, and people that make these sorts of series are required to have thick skins, whether it’s Dallas Jenkins or Richard Rich. People will say; “That wasn’t in the Bible!” Correct; we don’t see Peter and Andrew doing scams in the Bible. There’s also the opposite effect; the film begins to take the place of scripture in our minds; we can remember the scene better than what’s recorded in the Bible. I’ve had people argue points in the Bible because of what Charleston Heston said in “The Ten Commandments”! You may think that funny or childish, but not everyone in the audience is equally mature. These are real issues, and I’m sure they are ones Dallas has thought about. But there is another problem to face in this particular series. If a purpose is ever to be used in a Church, which is bound to happen, these films are going to end up on a big-screen. I’ve yet to show this particular series, but I can tell you from experience that on a 18 to 25′ wide screen like many churches have, there is way too much hand held video. I think one of the worst things that has happened to movies on any kind in my lifetime was the “Blair Witch Project”. Ever since then, hand-held shorts have become acceptable. Oh, I know all about how intimate the shots have become, and the feeling of being in the scene… and I know how camera people are very proud of how steady they are. No. I’ve shown people proud of their hand-held work what it looks like on a 40′ wide screen. It’s humbling. Hand held shots should be 8 seconds or less, and only a few times in a film. Especially in darker scenes. Sure, there are good tools to ‘de-shake’ video today, and they work fairly well, but they do it by cropping, and moving the crop around. Too late; you have less to work with. I know it’s more work, but if the purpose ever includes a big screen, then there has to be less hand-held video. It takes away little and makes the films more useful to a broader group. At least these films are short. Long films with lots of hand-held are more fatiguing for the audience.
Since I’m on my soapbox, and since I’ve shown a few hundred films in churches, I’ll throw out another strong opinion. When only a few people are watching a film, sound isn’t a big deal. When you get a group of 75 people or more watching a film, someone, probably someone old like me, will say; “What did he say? Turn it up!” Compound it with accents used in this film. Did you ever notice how high the audio level in a real theater is? That’s why. Now here Dallas has done a great job; there is no strong music track that should have been ducked under the dialog that ends up being turned up with the rest of the audio defeating the entire purpose. The sound was set up so that you can make it plain for all. Music is great, just not mixed with dialog much. Of course, a separate dialog track works too, if the sound person knows how to turn up the dialog alone. Here that isn’t necessary.
All in all, a very good series for this generation.
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What happened to “bore”?
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Long way around to say you liked it.
The storyline was good. The dialogue clear and understandable. I found some of the scenes dark but not impossible to watch clearly. In the end, it was an admirable approach to presenting an important figure who changed the way people saw religion.
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