Machine Gun Preacher Blu-ray Review: Gerard Butler’s African Rambo With A Heart
Gerard Butler shows his soft side in this mindful action movie.
WARNING, SPOILERS
rating: 3.5
Gerard Butler dies. A lot. Most of his movies so far he has not even stood a chance. In 300 he played the king of the guaranteed to die Spartans. In P.S. I Love You, the key plot device was that he was dead. The casting of Butler in a film called Machine Gun Preacher suggests we are getting an African Rambo with the usual mortal outcome, and admittedly at times we do see Butler in a Stallone-style bandana with a semi-automatic, but that is not the crux of this movie. What keeps the film grounded is the fact this is based on a true story and we hope that will be enough to keep Butler alive for the whole running time for once. Machine Gun Preacher is a film of contrasts and one that catches you off guard. Fans of Butler will know to expect largely unforgettable action films that provide a pleasant couple of hours of enjoyment when watching them, but thats it. Butler-esque you could say. This one however lingers in the mind long after the final credits, and it is due largely to those credits, where our last image of the movie is seeing the real Sam Childers in Africa through a series of black & white photos. This is not just a film; it is the real story of a real man who is still on the other side of the world trying to help people. Director Marc Foster (the Kite Runner, Monsters Ball) instils an emotional depth to the film that, clichéd as it may sound, makes you think.
The subject of that thinking is the world created by Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony, he of the current #Kony2012 internet campaign, where children are driven from their homes and killed mercilessly. The statistics of his alleged atrocities are frightening. Some scenes are genuinely disturbing glimpses of the tyranny suffered by the people of Sudan. The knowledge in the back of your mind you are watching a film and not an Oxfam appeal of real children is the only thing that makes these moments barely watchable, with the shots kept fleeting to maintain the films 15 rating. After a quick hint of what is to come in Africa, the film opens with Butlers character Sam Childers, fresh out of prison and despicable in no uncertain terms. We watch as he storms around on his motorbike in self destruct mode, all tattoos, greasy hair, sleeveless leather shirt with Lynryrd Skynryd playing, just in case you werent sure he was the atypical bad-ass biker who aint helping nobody. Such is his vileness you are left wondering how this man can possibly have such a massive change of heart as the PR for the film promises and provide the emotional centre for the audience. 
A seemingly fatal encounter proves a turning point, and he begins his church driven path to redemption in quick time, a number of years flying by as a completely different Childers emerges, one the audience can actually get behind, thankfully. The action moves to Africa where the effect is harrowing and uncomfortable for Childers and us and instantly we forget his past discretions and are willing him on to complete his plans to help the children in Sudan. Here is our first contrast, between biker Childers and budding humanitarian Childers. The change is not exactly slow brewing but understandable for the pacing of the movie. Using his experience in construction he sets out to improve the lives of those whose suffering he has been touched by. The inevitable challenges soon surface, and his faith is tested and eventually he is pushed to his limit. It all gets a bit formulaic in the middle section and we never feel he is going to walk away at the first hurdle, but at least it makes it clear this isnt simply a bad guy becoming the good guy by throwing a bit of money and time at a problem. The third character of Butlers appears in flashes, the machine gun preacher of the title, which is where it does get all a bit Rambo in Africa, albeit so briefly it could have been included just to have something Butler-esque to put in the trailer. The film continues to switch between Africa and America as he becomes more fervent in his preaching and fundraising. These interchanges push the contrast between the Western World and blasé approach to spending compared to the value of that cash in places like Sudan. Similarly the children that form the motivation of the movie are the same children that are strapped into a grenade belt in one scene, and playing on their newly built playground with abandon in the next. Childers toils with problems at home and in Africa, with the pressure of both worlds giving another layer to the humanitarian efforts of people like Childers. There are little victories of course to lighten the mood, but the film has no real conclusion and anyone unaware of the origin of this movie would be left disappointed. In context however, of course it doesnt have an ending. Sam Childers in real life was never going to Rambo up and go and kill Kony single handed. The most viewed videos on Youtube this week will tell you no one has done that yet. So for this film, it is right to conclude it in realistic terms, and you are left with a feeling of admiration for the efforts of our lead character for a job that is still to be finished. It is a film that so easily could have been an extended Red Cross T.V. request for donations but it does much more than that. It has heart and belies its title, which is misguiding when tied with its lead actor and serves to market the film based on preconceptions rather than what is on offer. For mindless action there are plenty of other Butler movies that will give you that. This film provides mindful action and is a story that is well worth telling and watching. 
Machine Gun Preacher is available on Blu-ray from March 19th.