This Is Why There Are No More Good Christian Action Movies Anymore
This is why there are no more good Christian action Movies.
Well, to kick things off I’ll give you three reasons:
Christians desire to create perfect characters with perfect lives, who have no real-life issues.
Christians are afraid of taking on big bad Hollywood.
There are no good villains anymore, like the ones you really hate, the really bad guys.
We are going to talk about all of that in this article, but in no particular order so you will have to read all the way through to hear my conclusions. Hope you like them and comment below :-)
So here’s the deal, Christians have the money, the numbers, abs the desire to see awesome films. Let’s face it after Covid all of us are probably tired is of streaming Netflix and Disney +. If the 3 Star Wars movies are any indication that we are in desperate need of some fresh new content, then I don’t know what is. So if you’re Christian or just somebody who likes good wholesome movies you and I have to ask the question why aren’t there any good Christian action movies?
With that pressing question let’s dive in shall we.
Stop Trying To Create Perfect People with Perfect Lives
You and I all have our action favorites everything from The Patriot, to Gladiator, to Braveheart oh my gosh Braveheart what a masterpiece, God bless Mel Gibson am I right!!!
THEY WILL NEVER TAKE OUR FREEDOM!!!
Now before you go on criticizing say something like “hey wait a minute... not a film you mentioned was a Christian movie“, Heck even Braveheart is questionable in regards to moral continuity. Yes, yes, yes I know but we have to ask ourselves the question why is it that as Christians we love those kinds of movies? Now since you were asking the question, I will go ahead and answer it for you, I hope you will see the wisdom and some amazing comments below.
The truth is each of the heroes within these amazing epic action stories contains a few very simple elements. One each of these heroes was fighting for something greater than himself, two he was driven into circumstances greater than his own personal world that was created out of some sort of tragedy, and finally number three and perhaps one of the biggest reasons we love these movies is each of these movies has an exceptionally strong villain.
I mean think about it, we hate Edward the Longshanks, what a jerk right? And what about the Colonial from “The Patriot”, He shot Benjamin Martin’s son in the back, Who does that? What A-whole!!!
OK enough about that rant, I hope you were beginning to see my point. Each of the heroes from these stories had to overcome tremendous odds, odds which were born out of tragedy. And instead of feeling sorry for themselves, becoming bitter, or playing the blame game, each of these heroes decided to do something to change their current circumstances. It doesn’t mean they were perfect, far from it, heck most of these characters started out with the primary motivation of vengeance. If any of you good Christian followers read the Bible vengeance is not a Godly motivation. Even with their flaws, we love them!!!
Just look at Maximus from the Gladiator, what a badass, excuse my French ladies and gentlemen but it’s true, I’m speaking from a place of flaws and Jesus still loves me, but yes This guy had the worst luck ever!!!
His wife and child get murdered, his best friends betray him, and on top of all of that, he gets sold as a slave to be a gladiator. Now I know you and I think gladiators are awesome, but trust me it’s not the type of job profession that has a great benefits plan. If you were a gladiator you were literally been sentenced to death, kill, or be killed, it is Savage. Yet even in the midst of face seen some of life‘s worst of worst challenges he chooses to live a free life even as a prisoner, who does that remind you of? A.k.a. Jesus and the disciples maybe ... hint, hint nod, nod.
My favorite part of the movie by far is in this link right here!!!
Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus Played by another none other than the talented Joaquin Phoenix, The emperor of all of Rome, the most powerful position in the known world of the time may I add asks Maximus to reveal himself to the world. Boy, just remembering this scene gives me goosebumps.
“My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.”
The Gladiator
I mean come on how can you not fall in love with a character like that, how can you not identify with that?
This leads to my next point good characters and good movies have flaws, why? Because they’re made by humans, by people with issues just like you and me, this makes the characters and heroes relatable to us. There is no such thing as a perfect person, we all know this, so why would we expect anything different from the stories and movies we love. The truth is as a Christian and believer of Jesus Christ, we are saved by unmerited grace, it’s God’s action of love we credit for salvation.
This is why no one will remember the top 10 films that are currently being made on PureFlix. Not trying to bash my co-creators, but until believers get over the religious rhetoric of what to say or not to say, we will remain trapped sharing messages rather than telling good stories.
Messages are important, but it’s who we are that makes the message. Just look at Mel Gibson‘s film “The Patriot”, Benjamin Martin was a man overcome by guilt and shame, and it wasn’t until his son was killed he chose to act. The same can be said for William Wallace, he desired Freedom to live life on his own terms, in its simplest form what he wanted was love, and it wasn’t until love was taken from him he was then forced to act.
Each of these characters at the heart of what makes them unique and special is a person driven by "human and selfish motivation", and it is only until they learn the lessons of self-sacrifice and true love do they begin to operate and live out of purpose greater than themselves.
Where Are The Good Villians At?!?!?!
Finally, the third but possibly not fewer points in regards to why Christian action movies suck right now, is they lack good villains. Where are my Darth Vader‘s at?!? Can I get a witness? We live in an age of political correctness, an age where we have to feel sorry for the villain, why do we do this in our action movies? No one cares about a villain's backstory. All the audience needs to know is that the villain is bad, they are a bad guy they want to stop and kill the good guy or a good girl, that’s it.
Going back to Darth Vader, the guy is a badass, would you mess with them? Absolutely not, unless you are equally a badass and have mastered the faith powers of the force, #HolySpiritAnybody. Where is the Christian version of Star Wars? Where is the CS Lewis’s of our generation, the storytellers who are not afraid to talk about witches, warlocks, and goblins? As an audience we are connected to a desire for power, we as human beings want to feel powerful, but in order to feel powerful we must first come against a powerful adversary, a.k.a. the antagonist.
As Christopher Nolan‘s Joker played by Heath ledger so famously said… “This is what happens when an unstoppable force comes against an immovable object.”
In short, the reason(s) Christian action movies are not that good, is they lack truth. Just by saying that you can’t help but feel a sense of irony. I mean as Christians we are called to be truthful, but it is only until we are truthful and honest with where we are at as people will we then learn to tell stories that truly change society and culture around us.
This is what we are dedicated to, my co-producer Peter Wisen and I are working on producing an epic Christian action film, known as Kristian’s War. It is currently already being distributed as a novel on Amazon. The story is like a modern rendition of Pilgrims' Progress meets AK-47s and special forces, I can’t think of any action film lovers that would not want to see a movie like this.
Look forward to sharing more content like this in the future, please show your support by liking and commenting, and sharing this article. If you wish to know more about Kristian's War and our project to make it into a feature film feel free to click the button below.
This is Jensen, producer, director, passionate storyteller for God’s causes, I cannot wait to connect with you more!!!