Religious films have always been a mixed bag. They’re usually never well-received by the audience due to their severe lack of accuracy to the source material, and more often than not, they cause actual riots. However, every once in a while, there comes a religious film that pushes to be very authentic and accurate, and yet in doing so it turns into one of the most boring films to date. Historically, the story of Jesus Christ the Messiah has forever been one of the most intriguing parts of history, yet this toned-down version is nothing short of bland and uncharacteristic.
How to Download Son of God
You can download the film from a digital store. You can also stream it. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice. If you want to see another film about Christ, check out Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004).
The Movie Review
Everyone knows the story of Jesus Christ. The Son of God was born to the Virgin Mother Mary and began his prophetic journey of uniting every Jewish person under a single banner of Christianity over the years of his life through kindness, love, and forgiveness for every action. Jesus’ story is chronicled here by John, one of the four disciples and it is largely inspired by the Gospel of John in particular.
Going in, I thought this film would be much more accurate to the source material, yet it takes a lot of creative liberties. I don’t mind when films take creative liberty, but this time around it’s just boring. It drags through dialogue presented at a speed sluggish enough to annoy a sloth. The random dialogue is just there to keep its excessive 138-minute runtime going. The writing simply lacks intrigue, in particular, the gospel passages that are quoted are brutally mangled.
It does not have a proper point of view, drive, or cohesive plot, moreover it’s visually unappealing. Beginning with Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses, the movie took an eternity to get rolling, and it took an eternity to end. The fact that this is just a redone version of the Bible Show that ran on the History Channel, along with added scenes is what annoys me as well. The production values are terrible, just what you’d anticipate from a TV movie.
The film stars a Portuguese actor as Jesus because, God forbid, a Middle Eastern actor to portray Jesus in a Jesus film, but I guess they were never going for accuracy here anyways. Diogo Morgado plays the titular character of Jesus, and he does a fairly good job. While not particularly clever, it conveys the film’s points. In the final scenes leading up to his eventual crucifixion, he undoubtedly portrays the character convincingly and with great intensity.
I also liked that this version of Jesus is more charming and happy because so many depictions of Jesus make him appear melancholic and stoic. Morgado is a safe pick for the role, but one that doesn’t really break any new ground.
The film’s scale or proportion may not have been “Epic,” but its cinematography most definitely was not. This is something you can expect from a TV movie, their production values are usually never too high level, and if there are no creative people at the helm, you’ll receive a subpar product. That’s what happened here, the film looks this way due to a lack of creativity in its production design. The film is not only badly color graded, but it’s also got zero memorable shots for me to talk about.
Finally, the music is not great either. Sure, there are a few tunes here and there that are supposedly better but I simply cannot remember them despite watching the film two hours ago. It had NO impact on me as a viewer, it did not elevate any sequences from the film nor did it add to the experience by any means whatsoever.
Verdict
The movie has no content, whether you’re arguing from a religious or purely entertainment perspective. I searched frantically for redeeming traits in the Son of God but only managed to leave scratching my head. In all honesty, I recommend skipping this particular telling of Jesus’ narrative in favor of The Last Temptation of Christ, which is a bit riskier and more imaginative. It seems that we will continue to receive badly produced content like this as long as religious organizations are willing to support anything with the term ‘God’ in the title.
