I'm one of the supporters of this movie, so this is not entirely objective. With that caveat, I'll move on. My rating above is 7, but I think it's closer to 6.5.
I may not be as bright as some of the people in the theater; I really didn't notice the "bad wigs" one reviewer referred to. If filmmaker David Helling hadn't seen fit to do the big disclaimer at the beginning of the movie, I wouldn't have noticed a lot of the budgetary shortcuts. Of course the ones that were there were felt in a big way--I'll get to that in a minute.) I thought the costumes were well done and the acting was pretty good. I've always liked the biblical story of Abraham because he was so fallible. It gave me hope for people like me. I also loved the ending with the REAL "only son." The whole moral of the story was that while God asks everything from his followers, he asks everything of himself to. What he spared Abraham, he faced down himself.
There was a lot of literary license taken with this movie--lots of additions to the story that were okay but not great. What frustrated me was that they were made at the expense of other scenes that should've been in the movie but weren't.
We are told about how wealthy and powerful Abraham was but it's hard to imagine any of it. There were more than 300 people in his household. We are shown four. (I know--budget limitations. Maybe they should've taken out the Philistines.) We never see the vast herds and flocks Abraham was supposed to have had, and it's easy enough to use a couple of stock shots of sheep and cows. All we ever see is Abraham and Sarah in the middle of nowhere.
Much is made about the wickedness of Sodom and its bad end, but the "bargaining" between Abraham and God about the fate of the city was omitted. Much is made of Abraham's reluctant warrior days (rescuing Lot) but the character of Melchizedek is omitted. Both of these stories might have brought a little lightness or happiness, or at least relieved a little of the unremitting dreariness of so much of the movie. Even "The Chosen" (which Helling referred to several times) had moments of humor and fun and joy. The only joy in this movie was Isaac's birth.
Sarah was even worse than the biblical version. I don't think my husband had ever realized just how awful she was in her more awful moments.
One other thing. And I say this as someone who was a supporter of the movie: Beginning a movie with a lengthy complaint about lack of funds and ending it with a plea for more funds is not great filmmaking. Remember the movie got its financial support from sending emails. Remember the Chosen got its support from emails and Pay It Forward even before Dallas showed up with his collection plate out. My husband said David reminded him of "Dallas 2.0" with his end-movie plea.
I'm a big fan of the Chosen and well-made Christian films in general, so I do hope that "Jacob" will be made, and I seriously hope David Helling will learn from his mistakes in this movie and provide better pacing and a little use of humor to move the stories forward.
I may not be as bright as some of the people in the theater; I really didn't notice the "bad wigs" one reviewer referred to. If filmmaker David Helling hadn't seen fit to do the big disclaimer at the beginning of the movie, I wouldn't have noticed a lot of the budgetary shortcuts. Of course the ones that were there were felt in a big way--I'll get to that in a minute.) I thought the costumes were well done and the acting was pretty good. I've always liked the biblical story of Abraham because he was so fallible. It gave me hope for people like me. I also loved the ending with the REAL "only son." The whole moral of the story was that while God asks everything from his followers, he asks everything of himself to. What he spared Abraham, he faced down himself.
There was a lot of literary license taken with this movie--lots of additions to the story that were okay but not great. What frustrated me was that they were made at the expense of other scenes that should've been in the movie but weren't.
We are told about how wealthy and powerful Abraham was but it's hard to imagine any of it. There were more than 300 people in his household. We are shown four. (I know--budget limitations. Maybe they should've taken out the Philistines.) We never see the vast herds and flocks Abraham was supposed to have had, and it's easy enough to use a couple of stock shots of sheep and cows. All we ever see is Abraham and Sarah in the middle of nowhere.
Much is made about the wickedness of Sodom and its bad end, but the "bargaining" between Abraham and God about the fate of the city was omitted. Much is made of Abraham's reluctant warrior days (rescuing Lot) but the character of Melchizedek is omitted. Both of these stories might have brought a little lightness or happiness, or at least relieved a little of the unremitting dreariness of so much of the movie. Even "The Chosen" (which Helling referred to several times) had moments of humor and fun and joy. The only joy in this movie was Isaac's birth.
Sarah was even worse than the biblical version. I don't think my husband had ever realized just how awful she was in her more awful moments.
One other thing. And I say this as someone who was a supporter of the movie: Beginning a movie with a lengthy complaint about lack of funds and ending it with a plea for more funds is not great filmmaking. Remember the movie got its financial support from sending emails. Remember the Chosen got its support from emails and Pay It Forward even before Dallas showed up with his collection plate out. My husband said David reminded him of "Dallas 2.0" with his end-movie plea.
I'm a big fan of the Chosen and well-made Christian films in general, so I do hope that "Jacob" will be made, and I seriously hope David Helling will learn from his mistakes in this movie and provide better pacing and a little use of humor to move the stories forward.