It is an overblown, histrionic, cluttered and a nowhere near well enough developed mess, the erstwhile humanitarian a one-note caricature I knew little more about at the end than I did at the beginning.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jan 27, 2012

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 4, 2011

Gerard Butler is involving, even charismatic, always plausible as a man of contained and then uncontained violence...

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 4, 2011

Despite the most worthy intentions, Childers cannot single-handedly save Sudan and Butler cannot save this movie.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 3, 2011

While the film might be biographically accurate, it isn't artistically satisfying: real people are inexplicable in a way that characters in films shouldn't be, and consequently, he feels half-finished.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 2, 2011

Overly preachy and overly long. A missed opportunity.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 2, 2011

The need to cram in facts and events makes 'Machine Gun Preacher' feel too much like one large and needlessly glossy montage sequence.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 1, 2011

It's gratifying to see Butler giving a proper acting role the old college try.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 1, 2011

Even during this biopic's most absurd moments, Gerard Butler is terrific, conveying gentle and brutal equally well.

| Oct 9, 2011

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 8, 2011

Despite its gut-wrenching honesty vis--vis lunacy, religion, and the tricky intersection thereof, Machine Gun Preacher is ultimately undone by its chaotic tone.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 7, 2011

In telling a true story, ambiguity can be an asset; but instead of mapping a middle course, director Marc Foster veers between two kinds of falsehoods.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 7, 2011

The clichs fly like so many spent bullet casings...

| Oct 6, 2011

What looks on the surface to be yet another inspiring story of one man's salvation turns out to be instead both an examination of modern atrocity and a rethinking of the burden/beauty of belief.

| Original Score: B | Sep 30, 2011

Why is it that uplifting movies based on true stories often feel so untrue and fall so flat?

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 30, 2011

The Lord may work in mysterious ways, but "Machine Gun Preacher" is downright confounding.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Sep 30, 2011

Somewhere in the middle of this 127-minute film, the energy drops out, and Forster never quite gets it back.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 29, 2011

Sam's duality ought to make for some interesting storytelling and a fascinating, conflicted character. But Forster and Butler overplay that conflict, turning "Preacher" into a portrait of goodwill gone amok.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 29, 2011

"Machine Gun Preacher'' is crude and ham-handed from its ridiculous title on down, but it still gets to some interesting places.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 29, 2011

Childers' deeds are presented simply as heroic. By the end of Machine Gun Preacher, its title character has become a cartoon.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 29, 2011