Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Disturbing yet enthralling

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

From respected film director Marc Forster is this film that we are told is based on true events. In that case it leaves me with a bad feeling as we somehow have to cheer for some kind of cold blooded murderer.Sam Childers is a bike gang member, a drinker, druggie and a criminal who spends time in jail. His wife finds religion and over time so does Childers. He gets into a successful construction business.When he hears a sermon from a missionary from Sudan, Childers is inspired to go there and build an orphanage. He is driven into improving the life of the kids in South Sudan. He soon comes into conflict with Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army that operates from Uganda. Now Kony and his cronies are evil, turning boys into armed soldiers and selling girls into sex slavery.Childers in no time returns to his violent instincts becomes a commander in the Sudan People's Liberation Army fighting against Kony's faction, hence the title Machine Gun Preacher. Gerard Butler is left with a dilemma by the script. Childers is less a preacher and just another guy spraying bullets with a gun and worse still just looks like another white man from the western world here to rescue the black folks of Africa.The film turns into a violent graphic novel rather than a man fighting his conscience. He even neglects his business and family back home for this zealous course he has undertaken.Childers is just another mercenary and a cold blooded one. For his sake let us assume the film is not true because he should be charged with being an unlawful combatant.

If ever there were a true story ripe for cinematic adaptation, this is the one. MACHINE GUN PREACHER tells the true-life story of Sam Childers, a biker turned born-again Christian who travelled to Africa to set up a church, save the children and kill a whole bunch of rebel terrorists in the process.It's a film you have to watch with a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek - after all, this is another spin on Hollywood's favoured 'white saviour' sub-genre - but the narrative is engaging enough for it to work as a movie. There are also strengths in the casting of Gerard Butler as the volatile, foul-mouthed Christian hero, while the supporting cast and African backdrop work well together.The only downside is that they picked Marc Forster to direct, and as anyone who's seen QUANTUM OF SOLACE will tell you, this guy's not terribly skilled behind the camera. Thus his action sequences are acceptable rather than spectacular, and when it's real people being killed it's kind of difficult to cheer the hero on. An interesting film then, but not exactly a favourite.

When ex-biker-gang member Sam Childers (Butler) makes the life-changing decision to go to East Africa to help repair homes destroyed by civil war, he is outraged by the unspeakable horrors faced by the region's vulnerable populace, especially the children. Ignoring the warnings of more experienced aide workers, Sam breaks ground for an orphanage where it's most needed-in the middle of territory controlled by the brutal Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a renegade militia that forces youngsters to become soldiers before they even reach their teens. But for Sam, it is not enough to shelter the LRA's intended victims. Determined to save as many as possible, he leads armed missions deep into enemy territory to retrieve kidnapped children, restoring peace to their lives-and eventually his own.

Sam Childers was a hard core criminal until he becomes very involved with his local church and turns his life upside down towards the better, starting his own business, taking care of his family and getting his life in order. Then he travels to Africa, to build a orphanage for the children of the civil war. The movie deals with many subjects, with the war, the volunteering, the family relationships, the violence, the human passion. And it present them all equally and wonderfully. The human drama and the violence are a little harsh, but the atmosphere of the film wants a darker light. The story is good, even though the lines are not as good, but as it is a true story it can't be something over the top. However the ending is not that good, it feels like it ends suddenly, as if they run out of money and they had to stop shooting. So 4 out of 10, because of the great performances and the strong massage behind the story.