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where faith and film are intertwined

Adventure

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

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“Are all pirates this stupid?”

It’s been six years since the last installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. (Tell the truth: did you miss it?) Captain Jack Sparrow et al. are back in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales with the same mixture of comedy, adventure, and romance that the series is known for. It also continues with the series themes of relationships between parents and children, and the sacrificial aspects of love.

As usual, Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) serves more as a catalyst than the real focus of the story. This time around the center is Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), the son of Will Turner, who has been cursed to captain the Flying Dutchman, ferrying those who die at sea to the afterlife (vid. PotC: At World’s End), and Carina Smythe (Kaya Scodelario), a young woman with a scientific bent who believes she has a map to the Trident of Poseidon. Each has been condemned to die, as has Captain Jack, but when Jack’s crew rescues him (in typical PotC fashion) the three find themselves together on the search. The Trident is said to give one control of the seas. Jack wants to get his luck back. Henry wants to use the Trident to break the curse on his father. Carina seeks to honor her unknown father who left the book with her as a child.

However, Jack has also inadvertently set free a ship of the undead (including zombie sharks) lead by Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem). Salazar had a goal of ridding the seas of pirates, but then a young Jack Sparrow tricked him into the Devil’s Triangle many years back where the ship was cursed and trapped. Now he wants his revenge. He conscripts Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), Jack’s longtime rival (and sometime ally), to lead him to Jack. As usual, there is a load of swashbuckling and elaborate special effects.

Naturally, Henry and Carina must deal with an attraction they may not have expected. And of course, Jack nudges them towards each other from time to time. The conflict between them grows from the tension between myth and science. Henry is well versed in all the legends of the sea. Carina describes herself as a woman of science. She is an astronomer and a horologist. She thinks her science will get them what they want. Henry knows that the supernatural is where all the answers they need will be found. It is the combination of the two that lead them to the end of their quest. At times each must follow the other’s lead. They must learn, as Henry tells Carina at one point, “You don’t have to understand, just believe.” It is not so much about faith in science or the supernatural at that point—they must believe in each other.

As is often the case in PotC films, this story too includes a sacrifice made out of love. Salvation in this series of films is never “cheap grace”; there is always a price to be paid. The redemption that occurs is always bittersweet.  Of course, in the world of PotC, there is always another story to come which may find a way to break the curses that came before. The sacrifices made are sometimes reversed in this series. In the world of PotC there is death and resurrection. There is damnation, but also a chance for redemption and restoration. Perhaps that is why there is always one more scene after all the credits (and there are lots of credits to sit through to see that scene). That scene tells us there is always another chapter to be written.

Photos courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Don’t Kill It – Demon Runs Rampant

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“And though the world with devils filled, should threaten to undo us.” (Martin Luther, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”)

Many modern people—including many Christians—may be uncomfortable with the worldview of devils and angels that seems to be part of Luther’s hymn. In a world where science continues to expand our knowledge of the world, the supernatural gets pushed aside. Yet many people love horror films that show us a “world with devils filled.” Don’t Kill It certainly has such a world.

In small town Chicory Creek, Mississippi, a series of multiple homicides are taking place. The police chief thinks he can handle it. FBI agent Evelyn Pierce (Kristina Klebe) comes back to the town she grew up in to aid the investigation. Soon thereafter demon hunter Jebediah Woodley (Dolph Lundgren) barges in to tell them they are dealing with the supernatural. Obviously, they think he’s a bit crazy—or involved. But soon it becomes clear that he knows what he’s talking about.

This particular demon sets whoever it inhabits into a murderous fury, killing anyone in sight, until that host is killed. Whoever kills the host becomes the new host carrying on the murder spree. To defeat the demon will mean doing so without killing it—until someone is willing to sacrifice themselves. Jebediah has a history with the demon that goes back to when his father was demon hunting. Evelyn has a history with the town, where when younger she was known as “Evil Evelyn”. But Jebediah thinks that rather than evil, Evelyn may be a descendant of angels. And if the demon manages to connect with her, it would be catastrophic.

This is a film that does not rely on tension to create horror. Rather it loads the screen with carnage. There are several gore-fests as the demon attacks the community. Blood, limbs, and internal organs are plentiful, as are various ways of killing. The difficulty for Jebediah and Evelyn is that soon, someone steps up to kill the current host to try to stop the attack. So in some of the bloodbaths the killer changes every few seconds.

While the film creates a world in which demons and angels are real, there certainly isn’t much here for people of faith to see the working of God. The priest in the local church is not only not helpful, he stands in opposition to Jebediah’s work, believing that Evelyn (and Jebediah by association) is an agent of Satan. The priest isn’t so much demon possessed as stupid possessed. Not a very pleasant reflection on God’s people. Indeed, in this story, the demon is not fazed by anything godly, only by the human ingenuity of Jebediah.

In Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” the line about the “world with devils filled” is only a set up for Luther to reflect on the power of God in Christ to defeat those demons. While the film seeks to create a world that allows for the reality of good and evil, it does so without showing us anything that actually represents the power that can defeat evil.

Photos courtesy of DKI Films

Same Kind of Different As Me – Trailer

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Here’s the brand new trailer for Same Kind of Different as Me, starring Renée Zellweger, Jon Voight, Djimon Hounsou, and Greg Kinnear.  It’s the story of an international art dealer who must befriend a dangerous homeless man in order to save his struggling marriage to his wife–a woman whose dreams will lead all three of them on the most remarkable journey of their lives.

This film arrives in theaters February 3, 2017.

Let us know your thoughts below!

The Revenant: Return to the living

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“As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe… keep breathing.”

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant fits all the qualifications of a big film: star-caliber acting from Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, and others; astounding cinematography in gorgeous settings; and a story that seems to be larger than life. The film is “inspired by” the legendary life of Hugh Glass, a 19th Century frontiersman about whom various stories, some likely true, but others apocryphal, arose and were embellished by the newspapers of the day.

Guided by sheer will and the love of his family, Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) must navigate a vicious winter in a relentless pursuit to live and find redemption.The film begins as a trapping expedition lead by Captain Andrew Henry (Domhnall Gleeson) is preparing to return back to civilization. After being attacked by Native Americans, they must make their way back over mountains. Glass (DiCaprio) knows the area and convinces the Captain of the plan to get back over strong objections from John Fitzgerald (Hardy). Along the way Glass is attacked and mauled by a grizzly. Along with Glass’s son, Fitzgerald and a young man volunteer to stay with Glass while the others go on. Soon, however, Fitzgerald kills Glass’s son, and convinces the other man they must leave the dying Glass to his fate. But Glass does not die. Rather he battles through recovering from his injuries and slowly makes his way back where he will have revenge on the man left him for dead and killed his son.

On the superficial level, this journey back is a marvel of the human will to survive. From the time he crawls out of the grave Fitzgerald threw him in, Glass must struggle through each day, each step. He survives not only the grizzly attack that initially injures him, but even more trials along the way: waterfalls, warring Native Americans, starvation, and winter.

But there is also a sense in which this is a journey to humanity. Early on in this Odyssey, it seems that Glass survives by reverting to primal, animal behavior. In press notes, Iñárritu says, “Glass’s story asks the questions: Who are we when we are completely stripped of everything? What are we made of and what are we capable of?” I was struck to the way that he seemed very like the bear that had mauled him: wearing the bear skin, grunting in a similar way, catching and eating raw fish. But there are also events that remind him that there is more to his life than just a will to survive. One of the best of those events is the simple act, along with a Native American companion, of catching snowflakes on his tongue.

One of the strongest emotions that drives him is the memory of his love from his son and wife (who was Native American and killed by soldiers). He frequently dreams of their time together and the things that his wife taught him and his son about overcoming fear and troubles. Those memories and the love they represent were as sustaining for Glass as was the food he caught along the way or the healing provided by a Native American who, like him, had lost everything dear to him.

The interplay between the savagery of nature and the façade of civilization serves to provide insight into what it means to be human. Glass must revert to an animal nature to survive the wilderness, but before he can come back to the world of people, he must be reconnected to something that is beyond the animal aspect of who we are.

Mission:Impossible – Rogue Nation: The Test of Trust

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Ethan Hawke runs on the wing of a plane
Fast fact: Did you know that the Mission:Impossible film series is nearing its 20th birthday?  The first film opened in 1996 and gave Tom Cruise an opportunity to channel his inner spy for moviegoers around the world. Now, nineteen years and four films later, he’s grown quite comfortable in his role as super agent Ethan Hunt. Over that time, there have been four different directors in the series (the last being Disney/Pixar’s Brad Bird in Ghost Protocol) but the premise of each film is the same: there’s a bad guy and Ethan has to help capture him (or her) with the help of his partners in the IMF and futuristic tech.

First, the good news: That formula doesn’t change in the most recent entry to the franchise, Rogue Nation.  There’s a new director in town—Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, Jack Reacher)—and he’s ready to unleash his vision of world espionage and subterfuge. Those two facts alone are enough to make Rogue Nation a must-see film but McQuarrie also adds a few additional elements that elevate it to summer blockbuster status.

In this episode, McQuarrie kicks off the film with what most directors would call their ‘money shot’—Ethan Hunt holding onto the side of an Airbus 400 as it takes off with a huge shipment of VX nerve gas (and yes, Cruise did the stunt himself). Mistakes have been made by IMF as of late, so CIA Director Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin in his best role in ages) has the US Senate shut down the program and bring the agents home. There’s only one problem: Hunt is MIA, the victim of an unfortunate incident at a record store in London orchestrated by the creepy leader of the evil Syndicate, Solomon Lane (Sean Harris). In fact, music is the theme of the next set piece as Hunt attempts to prevent the Chancellor of Austria from being assassinated at an opera. (Incidentally, the scene even features a bass flute being used for something other than playing music.) There, Hunt learns that he’s considered rogue and is being hunted by the CIA and the Syndicate . . . and maybe the lady who saved him earlier, Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). The goal is to get his buddies in the dissolved IMF—Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Dunn (Simon Pegg), and Stickell (Ving Rhames)—on his side while attempting to stave off another potential assassination.

Ethan Hawke searches for an underwater portal
Of course, the M:I franchise is known for its tech and set pieces, and this episode does not disappoint. One of the most harrowing sequences is an underwater foray that will leave audiences breathless for a few minutes. But there’s also a white-knuckle motorcycle chase through the freeways of Morocco and a conclusion scene that will delight as well.  Of course, there’s going to be a mask at some point—I’ll let you guess when it happens. It’s a good bit of fun and a fantastic way to spend a few hours in an air-conditioned theater.

As Agent Hunt, Cruise tackles his role with the usual verve you’ve come to expect from him. In this episode, he finds himself in a bunch of precarious situations yet shows the determination, leadership, and resourcefulness that will keep him alive for another day. However, Ferguson threatens to completely upstage him in her role as Ilsa, a disavowed agent whose talents and skills make her the strongest female lead in an action film since Charlize Theron in Mad Max:Fury Road. You wouldn’t want to mess with her—trust me. Pegg does a nice job as the techie Benji Dunn and provides some nice humor, while Renner’s character doesn’t really get going until the second half of the film.

Ethan Hawke and Ilsa Faust team up
One of the main themes of Mission:Impossible – Rogue Nation is a simple question that many of us have a difficult time answering: Who can you trust? In a spy film, you know there’s going to be a good amount of double and triple crossing, and this is no exception to that rule. Ilsa makes herself out to be any of three different options, further compounding the difficulty Hunt and his team face.  Does he accept her help, knowing that she may or may not take him out in a moment’s notice? Or does he take her out instead?

When it comes to faith, each person must make a similar decision as Hunt—will they trust God (who stays the same yesterday, today, and forever—see Hebrews 13:8) or the world? In this case, consistency is a great thing, and only God can provide that on a day-in, day-out basis. All the world can offer is a shaky hope of stability and peace that gets violated by the time the national news comes on (or you check your Facebook feed, whichever comes first).

In addition, there is a second theme worth discussing in the character of Ilsa. She seems to be conflicted about what she’s supposed to do—specifically, how to fulfill her role(s).  As she spends more time with Ethan, that conflict increases and reveals itself in a meeting with Atlee (Simon McBurney) along the banks of the Thames River. She eventually has to make a decision that will affect her life going forward. This sounds eerily like a decision we all have to make at one time or another—what are we going to do with our lives?  If not answered, we become paralyzed and sit idle as the world passes us by. But if we’re going to run the race, we should run it as to finish the race (see 1 Corinthians 9:24), not simply make it to the first water stop.  God helps us in this area by providing situations, individuals, and the Bible to guide us in our individual decisions. It’s not easy—there are struggles involved. Still, our trust in God’s plan—and Jesus’ death and resurrection—will lead us to the finish line (Philippians 3:12-14). It brings all the questions and doubts of life into elements of faith and trust that make us what we need to be for the Lord—right here, right now.  A person doesn’t need high-tech tools to make that happen.

That’s something Ethan Hunt and his IMF crew would be impressed with.