Thursday, May 4, 2017

Resurrection of Gavin Stone movie review


The Karl and June Morning show on Moody Radio Chicago (90.1 FM in Chicago
) has Juni’s Movies on Fridays (which helps Christians consider hat movies to watch), and co-host Juni Felix invited me to write up a review of the movie, so here it is. It’s not a detailed analysis like my childhood friend Devin Faraci would write, but something to consider, and feel free to comment about.



The Resurrection of Gavin Stone is a movie that stars Brett Dalton (Agent Ward from Marvels’ Agents of SHIELD on ABC), and centers on the former child star gone bad that finds his way to Jesus through community service at a church . Some people might find this ironically relevant, as the key to this plot is a celebrity pretending to be a Christian in order to get a leading role.



Dalton and co-lead Anjelah Johnson-Reyes  are excellent in their roles, extremely real people.   The movie is co-produced by Vertical Films and WWE (YES, the wrestling entertainment company) and includes former wrestler Shawn Michaels as well as character actor DB Sweeney.



I think it’s a fun family film. Gavin Stone’s temptations are not really graphic , and definitely doesn’t glorify the “sinful” lifestyle. But there are plenty of laughs and beautifully shot.



I believe the movie is also a good critique of Christians, showing how we can look goofy to people, or worse, judgmental and can ignore the value in “sinful” people when we focus on just one thing. It doesn’t show Christians as perfect – at all, but hopefully stirs some thoughts about what it means to follow Jesus …and not just for the “unsaved”.  This should spark some great conversations with your family about what is really important in life.



I am kind of disappointed that it only made a little over $2 million (which was approximately its budget). I understand that it’s not a must-see-in-a-theater movie like Marvel movies or the upcoming Wonder Woman film, but it is certainly worth watching.



Oh, and for Chicago people, you will love the little references dropped in here and there. 



Resurrection of Gavin Stone is available digitally, and just released on DVD.