Saw with the wife. Phenomenal cinematography, set and costume design, and suspense-building. Hugh Grant and Chloe East are just excellent. Very promising plot that was underserved by ill-informed, incomplete, and sophomoric arguments against Abrahamic traditions and religion writ large.
Made me think of how insufferable I must have been in my early 20s, when New Atheism was in vogue, and I had killer arguments against faith and religion that were as necessary and delicate and nuanced as a loud fart in a cathedral. Not religious in the least but that me would’ve really loved Grant’s ramblings in this movie.
Thing is, I don’t think the writers would have landed the plane even if they’d consulted an actual academic or theologian and didn’t just rely on a 3-hour YouTube speedrun of the Best of Hitchens and Dawkins.
You can think whatever you’d like about Mormon missionaries and their obligations but it can be dangerous work. I remember two fellas visiting me in 2011. I gave them some water and we chatted. They were much younger than me but had a lot of stories to tell.