I've always been a fan of Gerard Butler. Most found him
interesting when he starred front and center on both PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and
300. I think he's been good not only in those films but the ones most right off
as being bad like THE BOUNTY HUNTER and THE UGLY TRUTH. It takes a good actor
to make a bad movie enjoyable and Butler has done so. His latest isn't a bad
movie but he does make it one worth watching.
Butler stars as Sam Childers, a biker about to be released
from prison with a drug addiction problem who finds crime the easiest way to
make a living. When he's released he returns home to discover that his wife
Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) has given up her old ways. No longer working as a
stripper, she has a respectable job and has found religion. Unhappy with this
turn of events, Sam heads out to a bar with his friend and cohort Donnie
(Michael Shannon).
On their way home they pick up an Indian hitchhiker who
threatens them with a knife. Sam takes the knife from him, stabs him repeatedly
and tosses the body out of the car.
Reaching home Sam tries to wash the blood off, horrified at
what he has done. With Lynn at his side, she helps him find his way to God.
Sam gets his act completely together. He starts a construction
company and when he hears God talking to him builds a church for people like
himself, outcasts from society who need a place to pray and find help. He
rescues Donnie from the life he was once leading. When he meets a missionary
from Africa talking about the atrocities that are going on there, he decides to
investigate further.
Heading to the Sudan he sees the effects of the war there on
the children of the area. When he gets home he tells Lynn that God has called
on him to build a refuge for these children and sets out to do so. Gathering
any funds and donations he can, Sam does build the church and orphanage. But
the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) who stand against these children and their
families take offense and attack his stockade. Picking up a weapon, Sam joins
his protectors to run them off and a legend is born.
Keeping the orphanage and church open is not an easy task
and Sam is tested time and again for his beliefs. His fighting is rare if at
all but that changes one night. On the way home after rescuing several
children, Sam comes across a number of children stranded by the roadside. Only
able to take so many in his truck, he promises to come back for the rest. By
the time he does so he returns to find nothing more but their charring bodies
burned by the LRA. This sends him over the edge and from then on he carries a
weapon which he uses with more frequency.
There is no real ending to this tale. Based on the true
story of the real Sam Childers his fight carries on. During the closing credits
we get to see footage of the real Sam as he talks about his journey and shows
us the church here at home and in Africa. It is an inspiring story that some
will side with and other condemn. Those who think everything must be done to
save these children will side with Childers. Those who feel you must turn the
other cheek will dismiss it. But once you get into the mind of this man who has
sacrificed so much for so many, you won't have a choice but to admire him for
who he is and what he accomplished.
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