Soldier of Destiny

Magandang pelikula!

Magandang pelikula!

source: Soldier of Destiny

I feel compelled to write this and warn others how diabolical this film actually is. A blatant attempt to glorify the war in Afganistan through the vision of far right Christian views. It's not only naive but darn right irresponsible. I would say it is no better than an ISIS propaganda film. Distorted politically and racist beyond belief. I can't say I know of any Chritian soldiers but I know for sure soldiers are not the saint's they are portrayed to be in this film. They cuss, drink, play tomfoolery and occasionally actually shoot and kill their enemies unlike this film. I also know for sure that not all Chritians talk in a masculine voice like they do throughout this film. I can only describe it as a low Barry White baritone dubbed drone during any white Chrstian dialogue. Wierdly any person of colour had regular 'none enhanced' voices!?! I mean what the heck, a blatant attempt to further distort the audiences perception of what a white Christian soldier is. Jarhead this is not. It's more akin to Bambi than Rambo. I'm outraged that having a white face may be associated with this dreadful propaganda. Shameful.

This may be one of the worst films I've ever suffered through, second only to August Osage County. When the reviews are suspiciously uncritical and uber-adulatory that should send up red flags (check the amazon comments for this particular crime against celluloid – unintentionally hilarious in their fawning praise). The acting – if in fact it can be called that – even transcends "appalling", most nauseatingly from the Resident Hippy ("actor" Jonathan Pienaar), who effects this glacially-paced quasi-southern drawl throughout his entire screen time which unfortunately was most of the movie. The atrocious dialog was near-inaudible due to the relentless deafening attempt at incidental 'music', etc. I've nothing against Christian-themed 'message' movies (note to HollyWeird and rabid liberals: they have every right to a platform as well vs. being invariably cast as inbred, intolerant Neanderthals) but tend to avoid them and wish I had this one. I want my 90 minutes back. -100/10

I don't have a problem with Christian movies. Some of them are very good quality, some are not. Unfortunately, this one is not. The premise of the movie is pretty good, the acting isn't the worst I've seen, but the voice dubbing makes it difficult to stick with. Also, they must not have had a military consultant because there are so many things wrong with the uniforms, dialog, procedures, etc., of the military part of the film (which is minimal compared to the African part). This alone will keep anyone with a military background from watching it clear through (which seems to be the attempted draw). The most obvious is the title, "Soldier of Destiny." It's not about a Soldier, but a Marine. Unfortunately, I don't think many people will be able to get past the deficiencies of the movie to hear the message.

The cinematography was fantastic, and the concept of the story was excellent. The acting was imperfect, but not unbearably so. But then came the script and implementation. So before I go into detail, I'll cut to the chase, this film is wholly a Christian propaganda piece. Watching this film was the equivalent of going to a Church preaching session in my living room. However, perhaps what made it beyond bad, preaching itself is okay if you know that's what you're getting, is the fact that the vast bulk of the film is dedicated to the story of a guy in Africa, who owns a farm where black Africans have to be "managed" by him to produce crops. This came across as almost a piece trying to justify near slavery, or at very least apartheid era white rule. It seemed to very much be trying to send the message that black Africans need a strong white American Christian to guide them and help them survive. Now, it may well simply be that this came about simply because of the naivety and ignorance of people involved in making this film, it may be that it was wholly unintentional because they didn't no better, but ultimately this is a modern film that belongs in an era that has thankfully long gone. There's harmless propaganda, and then there's this film. A film that's trying to push long discredited and wholly unacceptable ideas- a vision of Christianity that involves white dominance. As such, this is why I can only give this film one star as it wasn't just pushing religious propaganda, but propaganda that has been at the centre of the most shameful aspects of historical Western imperial rule.

I am a Christian and am all for the lords will. I have to say that not everybody should be an actor or director and produce a movie. And this movie proves it!! The pathetic dubbed in audio was awful! The actors were worse than a group of 3 year old performing Gone with the wind at a melodrama in the middle of Bugtussle Kentucky!!! PLEASE LEARN TO ACT before you try to send gods message through a movie. This movie is an embarrassment!!!!! As far as all the idiotic atheist that get on this website to hand out low ratings to Christian movies, I want to say that you do not exist! You are probably just blaming god for the fact that you have made a stupid choice that has had a negative impact on you. I do not believe in atheist and neither does MY GOD!!!

They say when you can't say anything nice you should not say anything at all. Well, what do they know. If there were no people like me, telling people like you that you can avoid pain and suffering by avoiding films like this one, what would you do? You welcome! See that SPOILER checked? Yup. So here it is. He dies. Yeah, big surprise I know. Problem with all religious mumbo jumbo films is that they do not have same impact in 21st century that they had when overall IQ level of humanity was far lower. This crapilicious film is basically about a guy who does not believe in God, then he does, then he dies. If you, like me, do not care (or simply do not believe), then entire thing is exercise in pointlessness.

I picked up this movie by chance and it seems there are no reviews anywhere about it so I gave it a go. What a mistake that was. One of the worst movies I've seen in a long while, it follows 2 marines, one which happens to be strangely overweight until they encounter a accident. After which it briefly follows the life of other said marine. To sum it up quickly, this film is straight up boring. The acting is terrible and the dialogue is incredibly poor and couldn't be further from unrealistic or cheesy. Avoid it if you want to save some time, I can't believe I've just sat through the whole of that.