God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness

God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness is a 2018 American Christian drama film written and directed by Michael Mason. It is the third installment of the God's Not Dead series, following the 2014 film God's Not Dead and its 2016 sequel. It stars David A. R. White, John Corbett, Shane Harper, Benjamin Onyango, Ted McGinley, Jennifer Taylor, Tatum O'Neal, Shwayze and Cissy Houston.[2]

God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMichael Mason
Produced by
Written byMichael Mason
Starring
Music byPancho Burgos-Goizueta
CinematographyBrian Shanley
Edited byJoseph Sandoval
Production
company
Distributed byPure Flix Entertainment
Release date
  • March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$7.4 million[1]

The film follows the trilogy's Christian persecution complex theme,[3] and is loosely based on the story of five pastors in Texas who were issued subpoenas for sermons[4] due to potential violation of the Johnson Amendment.[5] The subpoenas were soon dropped: since 2008 only one of more than 2,000 Christian clergy deliberately challenging the law has been audited, and none punished.[6][5]

Principal photography was completed in Little Rock, Arkansas in December 2017. It was released in the United States on March 30, 2018, and received generally unfavorable reviews from critics. The film made less in its entire theatrical run ($7.4 million) than each of the previous two grossed in their respective domestic opening weekends ($9.7 million and $7.6 million). However, it brought the cumulative gross of the God's Not Dead film series to $96.6 million worldwide.

Plot

After Rev. David Hill is released from prison (as seen in the previous film), controversy is sparked against Dave's St. James Church, which is on college campus grounds. This causes the college to start the process of shutting down the church, much to the dismay of Dave and his friend Jude. When informed of the decision to shut down the church and to replace it with a building to expand the school, Dave and Jude begin the process of suing the college to save St. James. Things get worse when college student Adam Richertson, in protest, tosses a brick into the church, igniting a fire that kills Jude and nearly destroys the church. Dave is forced to come to grips with the loss of his friend. Adam is horrified by his actions and contemplates whether to confess to the crime, leading him to reconnect with his skeptical girlfriend, Keaton.

During the lawsuit against the school, Dave enlists the help of his estranged brother, attorney Pearce Hill, who tries to explain to Dave that it is not a case worth fighting for. Dave refuses to listen to his brother's advice and continues the case into court. After failing to reach a settlement with the college, the trial date is set for the lawsuit. At the same time, Adam sends an anonymous text to Dave, confessing to the church fire, causing a furious Dave to assault him when confronting him. This severely wounds his lawsuit's case and leads to Adam being arrested and charged as a felony case.

After seeking God's help in church through prayer, Dave eventually realizes that his case has only made things worse and that St. James is not the right church for God and his followers. He drops his lawsuit, reaches an out-of-court settlement with the college, and after talking with a repentant Adam and consulting with Jude's family, ultimately asks to have the criminal charges against Adam dropped. Dave then announces to his college protesters that while St. James will be torn down, he will reopen a new church not far from the school.

Cast
  • David A. R. White as Rev. Dave Hill, the Pastor of St. James Church
  • John Corbett as Pearce Hill, Dave Hill's estranged brother who is an atheist
  • Shane Harper as Josh Wheaton, a former college student who stood up to Professor Radisson in the first film, now a campus minister
  • Ted McGinley as Thomas Ellsworth, a lead board member of Hadleigh University.
  • Jennifer Taylor as Meg Harvey, owner of a local soup kitchen who helps Dave persevere
  • Benjamin Onyango as Rev. Jude Mbaye, a Ghanaian minister and Reverend Dave's friend.
  • Tatum O'Neal as Barbara Solomon, a board member of Hadleigh University.
  • Samantha Boscarino as Keaton Young, a student at Hadleigh University
  • Mike Manning as Adam Richertson, Keaton Young's boyfriend
  • Cissy Houston as lead choir vocalist
  • Shwayze as Teo, a friend of Keaton Young at Hadleigh University
  • Gregory Alan Williams as Rev. Roland Dial, a black baptist pastor
  • Jennifer Cipolla as Sydney, one of Keaton Young's friends
  • Newsboys as themselves

Production

Principal photography took place in December 2017 around Little Rock, Arkansas.[7] Its exact filming locations were on the University of Central Arkansas and Hendrix College campuses.[8]

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness was released on March 30, 2018, alongside Acrimony and Ready Player One, and was projected to gross $4–6 million from 1,685 theaters in its opening weekend.[9] It ended up debuting to just $2.6 million, finishing 12th at the box office and marking the lowest opening of the series. According to analysis of social media by Relish Mix the film suffered from being the third film of a trilogy and religious audiences saw the film as "a cash grab and not a movie promoting a Christian message anymore", and were more inclined to go to other faith-based films in theaters like I Can Only Imagine and Paul, Apostle of Christ.[10] It fell 58% in its second weekend to $1.1 million, finishing 17th.[11] By the end of its North American run the film grossed a total of $5.5 million, less than other two films grossed simply in their opening weekends ($9.7 million and $7.6 million, respectively).[12]

Critical response

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 10% based on 20 reviews, and an average rating of 3.65/10.[13] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 33 out of 100, based on reviews from 9 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale,[15] though as with the second film, Deadline Hollywood noted that "faith-based films have an easy time gaining an A on CinemaScore".[16]

Josh Terry of the Deseret News gave the film a mixed review, and wrote that it "means well, but it needs to drop the editorializing, streamline its story and let its message stand on its own."[17]

Owen Gleiberman of Variety gave it a positive review and wrote, "It's my observation that critics tend to bash faith-based films a little too reflexively, and this one, taken on its own terms, isn't bad in a TV-movie-fodder-as-parable way." Gleiberman wrote positively about the brotherly relationship at the core of the story, praising Corbett for his performance.[18]

The A.V. Club included the film on its list of the worst of the year.[19]

References
  1. "God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (2018)". The Numbers. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  2. Truitt, Brian (December 19, 2017). "Watch the fiery trailer for the faith-based film 'God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness'". USA Today. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  3. Wilkinson, Alissa (April 3, 2018). "How the Christian movie series God's Not Dead fails to be Christian". Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  4. "Houston withdraws legal demand to see pastors' sermons in gay rights battle". The Guardian. Associated Press. October 17, 2014. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  5. Wilkinson, Alissa (February 2, 2017). "Trump wants to 'totally destroy' a ban on churches endorsing political candidates". Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  6. Board, Editorial (August 5, 2016). "Trump is wrong. Pulpit freedom already exists". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  7. "Pure Flix Announces Theatrical Release Date For GOD'S NOT DEAD: A LIGHT IN DARKNESS" (Press release). Pure Flix. PR Newswire. December 19, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  8. "On Location in Arkansas: God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness". Arkansas Online.
  9. D'Alessandro, Anthony; Tartaglione, Nancy (March 27, 2018). "Steven Spielberg's 'Ready Player One' To Get Its Game On With $140M+ Global Start". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  10. D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 1, 2018). "Audiences Plug Into 'Ready Player One': Steven Spielberg Movie Looking At $53M+ 4-Day Score – Early Sunday Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  11. D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 8, 2018). "'A Quiet Place' Screams To $50M+ Opening; 'Blockers' Breaks Through To $21M+ – Early Sunday Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  12. "God's Not Dead Franchise Box Office History". The Numbers (website).
  13. "God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  14. "God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  15. Brad Brevet (March 31, 2018). "'Ready Player One' Hopes to End March 2018 with a Bang, Not a Whimper". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  16. D'Alessandro, Anthony (April 4, 2016). "Batman V Superman's Knock-Down, Drag-Out Fight with the Box Office: 2nd Weekend At $52M+, -68%". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  17. Terry, Josh (April 2, 2018). "Movie review: Talking heads spoil charitable Christian message of 'A Light in Darkness'". Deseret News.
  18. Gleiberman, Owen (March 29, 2018). "Film Review: 'God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness'". Variety.
  19. "The worst films of 2018". The A. V. Club. December 11, 2018.
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