Destiny Road (Movie Review)

Destiny Road (film) - Wikipedia

Plot Summary

The lives of three people may all take different turns, but one way or another, they are destined to meet up with each other. A young couple who met in church, a successful megachurch pastor, and a poor boy from the slums may not have much in common, but they all have common lessons to learn. Will they find their true purposes before it’s too late?

Production Quality (2 points)

For the most part, the production of Destiny Road is acceptable, including good video quality and camera work. Sets, props, and locations are also fine, but the audio is quite uneven throughout the film. Sometimes, it’s too quiet, and other times, there are obvious overdubs. However, there aren’t that many notable issues to note here save for the poor editing, which can be explained away by the sheet amount of content included in this movie. Thus, this section earns an above-average score.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

Destiny Road, from start to finish, is determined to be full of confusing interlocking subplots, which causes the film to try to cover too much ground in one creation. As such, it may have been better suited as a series or as several movies, especially since there is plenty of potential to note here, including characters that are realistic at times, authentic looks at secret problems within ministries that put on shows for their congregations, and believable sequences of dialogue that demonstrate church fakeness, expose soft legalism, and establish relatable character backstories. However, narration absolutely decimates any hope of having better characters as it sometimes unnecessarily covers up conversations and just never stops. Besides this, there’s tons and tons of scenes that show many things happening all at once and include far too many concepts shoved into one screenplay. Additionally, there are very bizarre, creepy, and trippy content that’s very much out of place for the rest of the narrative and may frighten some audiences. In the end, it all leads to a confusingly vague ending that’s hard to grasp and leave the viewer feeling lost. Therefore, despite some potential, Destiny Road mostly gets in its own way.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

As a whole, the acting of this film is average since it’s sometimes unsure and sometimes acceptable. In parts, line and emotional delivery are fine while in other portions, they’re not. Nonetheless, there are plenty of good parts to balance out the bad. Therefore, this section earns an middle-of-the-road score.

Conclusion

Despite being based off of source material, Destiny Road hurts its cause by crowding itself out and overwhelming the audience with too much content to focus on. In doing this, it falls in line with with so many other screenplays that have something to offer yet ruin their chance in one fashion or another. Perhaps, one day, as we see a possible increase in writing quality among Christian entertainment, we’ll no longer have unfinished disppointments like this one.

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 10 points

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Brother’s Keeper [2015] (Movie Review)

 

Plot Summary

Andy and Pete Goodwynn are twin brothers and always have each other’s back, even when they do not see eye to eye on things.  However, when one of them is falsely accused by a powerful man in town who can have whatever he wants, neither twin brother knows what to do.  Though it seems like there will never be justice, little do they know that they will be challenged to grow closer to God as a result of the adversity they face.

 

Production Quality (2.5 points)

It is clear that a lot of work was done in Brother’s Keeper to have a professional production.  Video quality, camera work, and audio quality are all what they should be.  The soundtrack is very engaging and interesting.  Sets, locations, and props are all appropriate and realistic for the time period.  There are really no glaring errors to point out here.  The only caveat to raise pertains to some minor editing issues, since a large amount of content is being handled here.  But on the whole, this is nearly a model production and one we should see more of in the days to come.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

The storyline of Brother’s Keeper is one of the most interesting yet most frustrating plots to witness.  It depicts an unfortunately realistic corrupt small-town premise filled with believable characters that each have their own flaws.  The plot writers were not afraid to be real in their depiction of people and thus have crafted some good dialogue here.  However, despite this plot’s many positives, it is hamstrung by a very disjointed structure that includes large and seemingly unnecessary plot holes and time jumps.  The portions that are chosen to be time jumps really make no sense as to why they couldn’t have been included.  Due to the other plot elements, one would think that the story could have more continuity.  Yet nonetheless, this is an interesting story that is at least worth a watch.

Acting Quality (2 points)

This is a relatively professional cast, and it even has an excellent villain cast for Ray Wise.  There are only minor errors to speak of here, mostly pertaining to some overdone emotions.  However, there are plenty of good moments to highlight, and line delivery is on point.  Though there are some small areas for improvement, this is a great example of good casting and coaching.

Conclusion

Due to the scope of this idea, the movie either needed to be split into two parts or it needed to be made into a miniseries.  There is enough content and character development here to sustain at least a two-part miniseries or movie.  Even though this film falls short of the Hall of Fame, there are plenty of positive elements in it that can be applied to other films, such as a non-typical, complex storyline, as well as professional production, casting, and coaching.  It will be interesting to see if this creative team makes anything else in the future.

 

Final Rating: 6 out of 10 points