The End of the Spear - Review

Last night, along with 5 others, I went to see The End of the Spear. This is the movie that Evangelical Christendom has been telling pastors to cancel church to go see this movie. (Sounds strikingly similar to "The Passion of the Christ" two years ago).

The movie itself is an abbreviated tale of the missionary Nate Saint, his son Steve Saint and Mincayani, the Indian who killed Nate Saint. From an artistic viewpoint, I would argue that it was not well done. The movie had the feeling that it was rushed, lacking a climax (to the point of feleing anticlimatic), with several other flaws. The first 90 minutes of the movie seemed to build up to the point of where Mincayani would profess Christ as his savior (as he did in life). Instead it skipped that portion of life and went to 1994 where Steve Saint found out that this man killed his father. That moment felt like the climax, but the movie did not stress that as the "rising action" and deceived the audience to suspect something else instead of what it delivered.

To be postive however, the 3 men who were the focus of the movie were developed very well. The supporting actors were there to support and add to the three main characters. I think that the movie would be greatly improved if they would tell us why the missionaries were in Ecuador. The gospel of Jesus Christ was hardly mentioned at all where these people were seen to be there to stop the killing (mainly).

in conclusion: a movie that promised so much, delivered so little. A great moving story, but it missed the opportunity it had to make it brilliant.