Pure Flix, the unbiased Christian film studio behind God’s Not Dead and The Case for Christ, takes a stab at making a sword-and-sandal image with Samson. Unfortunately, it fails as each a spiritual movie and an epic style flick. It is a bland, chaste regurgitation of the Hollywood-concocted love story from Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah, sprinkled with moralizing that doesn’t at all times align with the biblical story of Samson.

Samson’s story comes from the Book of Judges within the Old Testament, and is in the end a tragedy about disobeying God and giving in to lust and rage. Before he was born, an angel prophesied to Samson’s mother and father that their son would ship Israel from the Philistines, their oppressors. In the textual content and the film, Samson is completely unlikeable as a result of he chooses to disregard this truth, the recommendation of his household, the plight of his folks, and the wrath of God due to a scorching Philistine lady—not as soon as, however twice. And whereas the Bible makes it clear that that is due to lust, the movie tries to persuade the viewers by way of weak montages that he’s fallen in love with these two-dimensional girls, who’re additionally inexplicably in love with this egocentric, bland beefcake. Instead of presenting Samson as a deeply flawed particular person who was nonetheless capable of redeem himself and serve God, the movie’s narration at first and finish merely sugarcoats him as a “good man” who “fulfilled (God’s) promise”—regardless of Samson failing to truly ship his folks from the Philistines.

Other non-Biblical additions embody the characters of King Balek (Titanic’s Billy Zane) and his son, Prince Rallah (Twilight’s Jackson Rathbone), who are supposed to function extra direct villains than are current within the sparse authentic story. The characters largely make the plot extra convoluted (Rallah needs Samson lifeless greater than something, however decamps to Egypt for 20 years with little rationalization), however Rathbone and Zane do their greatest to offer viewers quite a lot of evil sneers. The remainder of the supporting forged are a mixture of wasted vets and relative newcomers, who’re predominantly white and blue-eyed, sporting numerous bronzer and eyeliner, and trying affected British lilts (all issues Samson regrettably has in frequent with 1949’s Samson and Delilah). The one exception is Taylor James, who performs the titular strongman. He matches the half in additional methods than one, as he’s capable of bust out a killer charming smile in addition to glistening muscular tissues throughout combat scenes. Despite James’ flashes of charisma, the forged round him can’t appear to carry any actual emotion or pressure to the uninspired script and bloated story line.

One factor Pure Flix does impress with is the way in which Samson ups the sport for Christian movie studios, which till this level have caught primarily to modern-day dramas with their theatrical releases. The film, which was filmed in South Africa, contains attractive panorama pictures, gaggles of extras, a combat scene that features each an actual and a puppet lion, and a few surprisingly spectacular battle choreography. While not masterful, it’s actually elevated above a made-for-TV film or a rerun of Kevin Sorbo’s Hercules.

It’s onerous to not evaluate this adaptation of an historical determine with one other film hero sharing the identical launch date: Black Panther. While Marvel’s Black Panther is ready to make historical past and encourage hundreds of thousands as he grapples together with his personal future because the protector of his folks, Samson’s story appears caught prior to now, clinging to anticipated, ineffective cinematic tropes to show watered-down Sunday-school classes as an alternative of claiming something new of worth.