Poor acting, dodgy timeline ruined it for me
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Machine Gun Preacher
RubySparrow — 12 years ago(December 30, 2013 02:39 PM)
I think Gerard Butler is a great actor and Michelle Monaghan has never particularly impressed nor disppointed, but both came across as forced and unnatural in these roles. Michelle, particularly, was about as convincing as a wolf playing a sheep. The script didn't help.
Also, the timeline made it really hard for me to get into these characters and to find the situation believable. For instance, the movie seems to show him going from bikie drug addict to church, being baptised, and going to Sudan in the space of about a week. There is nothing in the movie, other than the daughter ageing, to show that large amounts of time have passed. I read elsewhere that it was actually SIX years between getting baptised and going to Sudan for the first time! It felt like they were really rushing the plot, and jumping too quickly from bad guy to good guy; U.S to Sudan; building church to building orphanage, etc. -
spookyrat1 — 9 years ago(July 11, 2016 06:54 PM)
Also, the timeline made it really hard for me to get into these characters
Totally agree and said the same on another thread. For an allegedly biographical film, it's almost bizarrely confusing. There are never any dates given. The family appears to go from being homeless and penniless to having a really successful business and a brand new flashy house in the space of literally 15 screen seconds. Then before you can say Kalashnikov, our Sam's in Africa building orphanages and churches. "Rushing the plot" is an understatement.