Overcome [2008] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Colton is a bad boy.  He spray paints churches, defies his passive aggressive parents, makes fun of people for no reason, skips out on work, destroys volleyballs, blends up cell phones, and drinks at parties.  But his drunkenness costs him one night when he and his buddy are driving home drunk and they crash into a fellow student of theirs.  While in the hospital, Colton dies and comes back to life a totally changed man.  He seeks to make amends with Sarah, the girl he crashed into, and tries to help her regain her tennis skills.  The more time they spend together, the more they like each other.

 

Production Quality (0 points)

WisenQuest seems set on generating low quality Christian productions at any cost.  Overcome repeats their usual mistakes, including terrible camera work and low video quality.  Audio quality is also bad, accompanied by a cheesy free soundtrack.  Though outside scenes are a central part of this film, they are executed very poorly—sometimes too bright and other times too dark.  For that matter, sets and locations are very underwhelming and low-effort.  Finally, there is virtually no editing as the production team squeezed everything possible into the runtime to make the movie long enough to be justifiable; more on this will be discussed shortly.  Basically, this is just business as usual for WisenQuest.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Overcome is supposed to be based on the conversion of the Apostle Paul, but the plot has a very weak correlation with the original story.  As previously mentioned, there is very little content to speak of in this plot.  The runtime is padded with tons of childish montages and cheesy awkward conversations.  The dialogue is very staged, thus creating cardboard characters.  Though the writers attempt to take on serious issues of juvenile delinquency, they are ill-equipped to handle them because the issues are portrayed in an immature fashion.  It’s like they’re scared to do anything ‘too controversial’ or ‘too deep’ and thus skate on the surface of everything, never finding any substance.  The ending is anti-climactic and the film is overall yawn-inducing.

Acting Quality (0 points)

Pulling from their usual store of amateur cast members, the Wisenquest team did not see fit to employ any acting coaching.  Some lines are mumbled and most of them come off as overly rehearsed.  Emotions are forced and not believable.  Also, makeup jobs are atrocious.

Conclusion

The team at WisenQuest apparently just decided to spit out some half-hearted ideas in an unprofessional fashion just to contribute to the already-crowded market of wasted Christian films.  With very little content to speak of and a tiny correlation with a Biblical account, Overcome is as forced as a movie comes.  This is called making a movie for the sake of making one.  No thought was put into quality.  This film will just take its place among the myriad of failed Christian films before and after it.

 

Final Rating: 0 out of 10 points

 

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November 21, 2016January 14, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 0 points, 2008, Aaron U. Brown, Amy Ellsworth, B.J. Alexander, Bill Wells, blending up cellphones, Caitlin E.J. Meyer, Cindy Hannigan, Dani Franklin, Daniel Roberts, Elizabeth Crow, Frank Killerton, Greg Gable, Inspirational, Jaycee Lynn, Liosi Fehoko, Mariah Anderson, Matthew Davis, Michael James, RESPECT, Ron Joost, Samuel Potts, spraypainting churches, Stormee Bird, SunWorld Pictures, WisenQuest, zero points 3 Comments

In the Name of God {Name in Vain} [2013] (Movie Review)

Eric Roberts trying to conduct group counseling without screening clients

Plot Summary

When Mason, a troubled foster teen, comes to live with the Lewis family, he thinks that it will be just like all the other foster families he has stayed with.  But unlike the families before them, the Lewis are committed to setting him on the straight and narrow and teaching him RESPECT at all costs.  Even when he vandalizes a hardware store and is sentenced to ‘group’, the Lewis family sticks by him.  In the end, Mason will have to learn about RESPECT in order to move forward in life.

 

Production Quality (.5 point)

If KKO Productions have anything going for them, at least they have figured out how to have clear video quality.  Otherwise, there is little else we can say positive for this film.  Camera work is inconsistent and some scenes are darker than others.  Audio quality is also a tossup, as some lines are indistinguishable while others are too loud.  The soundtrack is cheesy, as usual.  KKO appears to be severely limited in sets and locations, as there are really only three main sets used in this film.  This causes the editing to suffer as well, since many events take place off screen in places where they obviously could not acquire a set.  In short, old news is new news for KKO when it comes to cheaply produced Christian films.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Framing an entire film as a sermon illustration is hardly ever a good idea.  It gives the writers a springboard to shove an obvious message down the viewer’s throat and is generally lazy.  Thus, In the Name of God overuses theological concepts and oversimplifies them by having characters repeat them over and over again.  Rather than showing and demonstrating Christian virtues lived out, they are talked about and impressed upon the audience with no meaningful actions to back them up.  Coupled with this overreach are empty and mindless characters, who are driven by petty and silly dialogue.  None of them seem like real people, just players in an obvious church play designed to teach second graders the Ten Commandments.  The subplots therein are very random and lack continuity, not the mention the fact that they contain highly unrealistic occurrences, such as a small church pastor placing children in foster care and a ‘counselor’ sharing confidential information with random people.  If you want to include such things in your films, please research them first.  As it is, In the Name of God makes a mockery of important issues that could have been presented in a meaningful fashion.  But alas, we can find no real potential with this movie, thus warranting no points for the plot.

Acting Quality (0 points)

As is the usual custom of KKO, otherwise talented actors and actresses are fed lines without any real coaching or guidance.  Most of the scenes in this film seem like they were one-take only.  John Ratzenberger has certainly had much better acting jobs than this one.  Eric Roberts always plays the same weird character, but that’s beside the point.  It seems like the ‘no-name’ cast members have potential that is not being brought out.  Thus, no points can be awarded here.

Conclusion

So apparently this was intended to be a movie series about the Ten Commandments.  Can you imagine ten movies like this one?  If this was supposed to be about the fourth Commandment, it completely went over our heads.  Basically, In the Name of God, or whatever it’s called, is another embarrassing low budget production that carries an in-your-face theological message that is unlikely to convert or inspire anyone.  We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: before making a Christian movie, please make sure you have the funding for what you want to do.  Then please make sure you actually have a plot.  These two things can make such a difference when your movie is completed.  Because seriously, who’s going to watch this garbage?

 

Final Rating: .5 out of 10 points

August 18, 2016January 15, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 1/2 point, 2013, Amanda Martindale, André van Heerden, Damiano Tucci, Danny Roth, Eric Roberts, Garrett Palmer, Inspirational, Jeannette Grout, John Ratzenberger, Kevin Otto, KKO Productions, Marshal Hilton, Mickey Gooch Jr., Norma Burgess, Patrick Davis, Pete Freeland, RESPECT, Robyn Lively, satellite phones, Shayne Pax, Susan Chambers, unethical group counseling 4 Comments