Movie Review - God's Not Dead 2

   Oh yeah, this is real. If you've read my review on the first God's Not Dead movie (posted in January), then you'll already know what my thoughts are on it. But it ended up turning a decent profit off a minuscule budget, so might as well sequel this stuff up. So how does God's Not Dead 2 measure up against the first? Let's take a look. (And again, it may be helpful for me to point out that I am an Evangelical Protestant.)

   If you didn't already know, God's Not Dead 2 is about an Arkansas high school teacher who is brought to court because she briefly mentioned Jesus' teachings in her history class. So she has to publicly defend her faith against the overbearing establishment lest she loses everything. By the end, viewers will realize that this is pretty much the exact same plot as the first movie. Even a lot of the subplots are the same, right down to the abusive foreign father who disowns his kid, the unmarried woman who's pressured to find a mate by her elderly/infirm parent, reverend Dave suffering various misfortunes and – of course – the Newsboys chillin' out with their friend Amy. It's also a plot that involves a lot of characters from far away places just suddenly showing up unannounced, like Martin's dad (from China) or Reverend Jude (from somewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, they never say where exactly).

   Let's take a minute to talk about this movie's message. God's Not Dead 2 actually does make a slight effort at portraying relatable and sympathetic issues. For example, after fully recovering from her cancer, Amy is left wondering whether she still needs God in her life, etc. Unlike the first movie, this one has a few brief thought-provoking moments in it. It's just too bad that they're mostly relegated to the subplots; the main plot line literally feels like sitting through a sermon. I will acknowledge that the court case in this movie is more interesting and well done than the debate in the last movie, even if it does seem to drag on a bit at times and the logic progresses somewhat slowly. Even so, the movie is still very one-sided with its theme. Just like the previous film, it doesn't present a balanced conversation of its themes and instead remains content playing the “victim card” throughout while also making a few political knocks against organizations like the ACLU. At times God's Not Dead 2 even seems to promote paranoid and alarmist ideas.

   The film is also littered with plot holes. For instance, what was the point of Reverend Dave refusing to take part in the subpoena? Did the intimidating chicken wing dude just forget about it? (Update: Apparently this plot line is resolved in a post-credits scene. That's right, they actually expect you to sit through the credits for this thing!) Also, according to this movie Amy has a niece, which implies that she also has at least one sibling. This contradicts the first movie, in which Amy said that she had no one who cared about her.

   And now for the acting. It's mostly passable. The two leads, Melissa Joan Hart and Jesse Metcalfe, do an alright job. The rest is just so-so. One noticeable difference between this film and the first is that this time around not every non-Christian character is a worthless cretin. No, this time there's only one. He's the militant atheist state prosecutor Pete Kane, played by Ray Wise (what, was Bob Gunton unavailable?).

   As for the production, it's the same as before: unremarkable cinematography, poor sound editing (especially when it comes to background noise in outdoor shots), and possibly recycled footage (we see probably two dozen or so establishing flyover shots of the Arkansas state capitol). Also, there's no Duck Dynasty characters present. Lame!

   In short, God's Not Dead 2 is noticeably better than its predecessor, but that isn't really saying much. Although it has the same plot as before, it does show a bit more of an attempt to humanize its characters and the situations that they're in. On the other hand it remains just as preachy and black-and-white, but even less laughable. If you liked the first God's Not Dead then you're definitely going to like this. If not, then try reading a Bible instead.

Grade: one-and-a-half out of five.