The racist overtones are too strong in this film. A white man goes to Africa to save their children, because only a white man can do that. He suddenly becomes the leader of the resistance against the guerrilla. And starts bossing around the local government. To him it all seems reasonable because he is a newfound Christian. And has built a new church, because of course you need a church in a children's orphanage. The way religion is inserted into this story seems incredibly forced and artificial.

Back in the American Midwest, he also builds a church, which is supposed to convince us this is a good man. While also being abusive to his wife, a murderer, drug dealer, unsympathetic asshole.

Even if this is based on a true story - Turning this into some kind of hero's tale shows a lack of critical thinking from both the studio and director. There's no attempt of describing how large the resistance is, and the little mention of international effort there is, is completely ridiculed. This movie is glorifying and asshole who only knows one language. the automatic rifle. And forces the reader to accept this man is a hero.

This movie had good chances to be awesome. Butler is an good actor and the plot is very intriguing but it somehow fails anyway. The movie has a profound message and the scenes in Sudan and Uganda feels almost as horrible as they should be. However I do think the director has focused too much on this man's, Sam, anger. I would have like to see more depth to his way to finding God. There is also a lot of jumping in time, too fast to give the movie a solid ground. The overall score is OK but I expected more from this movie. However it is worth seeing, the horrific parts in Sudan and Uganda in this movie are still happening in more places in the world.

Pennsylvanian biker Sam Childers (Gerard Butler) gets out of prison to find his wife Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) as a born again Christian. She had quit stripping and drugs. Sam is angry and refuses to join until one harrowing night. He joins her church. After a close call with a tornado, he starts his own construction company. He goes to Uganda to do missionary work and discovers a horrific war in South Sudan. Joseph Kony is the ruthless leader of the Lord's Resistance Army. Sam sets up a missionary in the war zone saving children from death, slavers, and conscription.

I really like Sam's journey to find religion. It's a very standard Christian film story but it's done very well. The second half has him going back and forth between Africa and America. It does disrupt the flow of the story. There are bits of compelling scenes but the disjointed nature does take its toll. The final ending is not climatic enough. The entire second half needs a certain literary license to configure a more compelling flow. The tension isn't built up properly. Overall, I like Gerard Butler, the standard formula of the first half, and bits of the second half.