Machine Gun Preacher (2011)
Average Rating: 4.9/10
Reviews Counted: 110
Fresh: 32 | Rotten: 78
There's a complex man at the center of Machine Gun Preacher but the movie is too shapeless and emotionally vacant to bring his story to life.
Average Rating: 4.9/10
Critic Reviews: 31
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 25
There's a complex man at the center of Machine Gun Preacher but the movie is too shapeless and emotionally vacant to bring his story to life.
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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 15,663
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Movie Info
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
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Cast
-
Gerard Butler
Sam Childers -
Michelle Monaghan
Lynn, Lynn Childers -
Kathy Baker
Daisy -
Michael Shannon
Donnie -
Ryann Campos
Paige #1 -
Madeline Carroll
Paige, Paige #2 -
Souleymane Sy Savane
Deng -
Grant R. Krause
Billy/Contractor -
Reavis Graham
Pastor Krause -
Peter Carey
Bill Wallace -
Barbara Coven
Shannon Wallace -
Misty Mills
Biker Chick -
Nicole Sobchack
Bartender -
Sidi Henderson
Shaved Head -
Mike Litaker
Drifter -
Judy Stepanian
Employment Woman -
Peter Tocco
Mechanic -
Inga Wilson
Mrs. Shields -
Bruce Bennett
Paul Relling -
Steve Blackwood
Bank Manager -
Brett Wagner
Ben Hobbes/Biker -
Ava Schroeder
Hobbes Daughter -
Sean Patrick Leonard
Crackhead -
Amanda Carlson
Paige's Friend -
David Whitesell
Customs Officer -
Matthew Boucher
Mover -
Richard Goteri
Pawn Shop Owner -
Claudia Rodgers
Sue/Volunteer -
Scott Westerman
Biker -
Michele DeSelms
Newscaster -
Rhelma Voraritskul
Child Singer -
Janet Miller
Church Pianist -
Paul Lang
Prison Clerk -
Percy Matsemela
Nineteen -
-
Mduduzi Mabaso
Marco -
Fana Mokena
John Carang -
Junior Magale
William -
Abena Ayivor
Betty -
Warona Seane
Rose -
Sophie Ayang
Betty's Helper -
Ruley Madriagi
SPLA Soldier #1 -
Chris Agwai
SPLA Soldier #2 -
Makhaola Ndebele
SPLA Soldier #3 -
Jacob Ayuela
SPLA Dinka Soldier -
Khutso Thobejane
Matak -
Tshepiso Chanke
Cleo -
Nompumelelo Khumalo
Poppy -
Tinah Mnumzana
William's Mother -
Themba Ndaba
William's Father -
Kgosi Modisane
Christopher (12 Years) -
Leonard Mahore
LRA Walking Soldier #1 -
Warren Masemola
LRA Commander -
Festo Ayume Sanya
Village Man #1 -
Anthony Bishop
Dan -
Jerry Mofokeng
Administrator -
Xolile Gama
Adult Rebel #1 -
Masasa Mbangeni
Lipless Woman -
Mandla Gaduka
SPLA Soldier #1 -
Jan Rust Maloney
Doctor #1 -
Marianne Boshof
Doctor #2 -
Robert Kuloba
Male Refugee "Acholi" -
Wandile Molebaste
LRA Commander -
Sphelele Mzimela
LRA Walking Soldier -
Tau Maserumula
LRA Soldier -
Sicelo Sithole
LRA Leader at Bridge -
Wandile Mdandla
Child Rebel #1 at Bridg... -
Sebo Moabelo
Child Rebel #2 at Bridg... -
Dalton Mdaka
Agnete's Driver -
Jabulani Dube
LRA Soldier at Camp -
Ikageng Mogatusi
Sniper -
Motshwane Mabogoane
Riverbed Child #1 -
Lebogang Phoshoko
Riverbed Child #2 -
Kagiso Legoadi
Green Shorts Boy -
Hlelo Nhlapo
Green Shorts Sister -
Neo Qwela
Boy with Soccer Ball #1 -
William Ogbonna
Boy Soccer Ball #2, Boy...
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Machine Gun Preacher Trailer & Photos
All Critics (111) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (79) | DVD (3)
The need to cram in facts and events makes 'Machine Gun Preacher' feel too much like one large and needlessly glossy montage sequence.
Top CriticThe clichés fly like so many spent bullet casings...
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.
Why is it that uplifting movies based on true stories often feel so untrue and fall so flat?
What a surprise. Its grindhouse title notwithstanding, "Machine Gun Preacher" is a genuine drama.
The Lord may work in mysterious ways, but "Machine Gun Preacher" is downright confounding.
With an exploitation-friendly title like Machine Gun Preacher you'd think this movie would be the soul brother of Hobo With A Shotgun. Unfortunately, that is not so.
Despite a competent performance from Butler, Machine Gun Preacher tackles way too much material to present a cohesive onscreen telling of the Sam Childers story.
It raises interesting questions about how much difference one man can make, and the effect Childers' mission has on his marriage makes for some well-performed scenes. Overall though, Machine Gun Preacher seems to forcefully push a very unclear message.
It's an uncomfortable marriage of sentimental genre conventions and real-life tragedy shown with graphic detail. It does bring you inside the main character's internal struggle, but doesn't seem focused enough as it sways into action film territory.
We're given surprisingly little food for thought when it comes to the question of the complicated tensions between Christian faith and violence.
With all the talk of "Kony/KONY 2012" wending its way into the culture, this movie gives a vivid picture of who this villain is and why the world should be doing something about him.
In the end it devolves into something disappointingly ordinary, which, given the proven skills and sensibilities of director Marc Forster ...
The one-note macho man characterization of Childers comes off as a bit boorishly self-righteous.
Butler misfires as a man of God and violence.
O Childers kathgorhthhke gia arketo kseplyma twn praktikwn toy sthn aytobiografia toy, h tainia, eytyxws, arneitai na ton katadikasei kiolas san planemeno barbaro
It is commendable that Gerard Butler, director Marc Foster and writer Jason Keller have tried to bring the issue of child soldiers to as wide an audience as possible - but though its heart may be in the right place, it never finds a steady rhythm.
The film's attempt to tell Childers' story in the context of the bigger horrors being perpetrated in the Sudan feels like an unnecessary burden that Forster's middlebrow approach can't suppo
It's rabble-rousing material, and the final credits, in which we see footage of the real Childers strutting his unedifying stuff, suggest that a documentary would have been the appropriate genre.
Yes, it's yet another story about white people helping poor black folk, but as tales of imperialistic cultural colonialism as spiritual growth go, this one is solid stuff...
Butler, bless him, tries to give us everything here... John Travolta's Wild Hogs, Stallone with a soul, Arnie with a proper mission and Bruce Willis minus the wisecracks, vest and shiny bonce.
Gerard Butler is involving, even charismatic, always plausible as a man of contained and then uncontained violence...
While we admire Childers for his bravery and self-sacrifice, we don't fully understand the reasons for his crusade or see his personal anguish reflected on the screen.
Audience Reviews for Machine Gun Preacher
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Daisy: The only thing necessary for the triumph of an evil is for a good man to do nothing.
Discussion Forum
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