‘The Last Supper’ Has Its Moments, But A Reminder Why Faith-Based Films Need Criticism
(REVIEW) Growing up, being a Christian and loving movies was a struggle. All the good movies weren’t Christian, and all the Christian movies weren’t good. When the top choices in Christian film more than a decade ago were “Left Behind,” “Fireproof” and “God’s Not Dead,” your options were limited.
It was during this time that a debate ignited among Christian audiences: How critical should you be of a Christian film? Should you judge it by the standards you would judge other films? One argument was no. After all, the heart of these filmmakers was in the right place. These movies were trying to glorify God.
Over the years. as a film critic, I’ve sometimes been asked to change my reviews so that my criticism wouldn’t prevent people from seeing the movie and being impacted by its message.
This question came to mind while watching the movie “The Last Supper” and reading the passion with which the filmmakers talked about making such a film. The filmmakers clearly had a lot of love for making it, but it is not a good film. And looking at this film — at a time when the faith-based industry has grown — makes me feel validated in trying to hold such movies to a higher standard.
“The Last Supper,” from Pinnacle Peak Pictures, follows Jesus in the last days of his life before his death and resurrection as Peter and Judas both wrestle with His ministry. The film is executive produced by Christian worship artist Chris Thomlin in his first foray into the world of film, produced by Michael Scott (“The Case for Christ”) and includes actors such as Jaime Ward as Jesus, James Faulkner as Caiaphas and Robert Knepper (who starred in “Prison Break”) as Judas.
This film comes out during a very Jesus-crowded Easter season. Two weeks after “The Last Supper” premieres, the fifth season of much-anticipated “The Chosen” (also titled “The Chosen: Last Supper”) releases in theaters. In April, Angel Studios’ animated Jesus film “King of Kings” will be released in time for Easter.
The first question that comes to mind with this movie is “Why?” It’s not only a movie about Jesus when there’s already a deeply popular depiction of Him in film right now (“The Chosen”), but it’s a movie titled “The Last Supper” set to release right when the similarly titled season of “The Chosen” is coming out. Obviously, multiple versions of the same property can come out at the same time. Superman had both “Lois and Clark” and “My Adventures with Superman” out at the same time. But one was a live-action family drama, and the other was an anime. Last year, “Jesus: A Deaf Missions Film” set itself apart from “The Chosen” by being done all in ASL using deaf actors. Would this film have a reason to exist that would justify competing with the other Jesus content out there?
Asked why he wanted to be involved in this film, Tomlin explained: “This is my first time partnering in a film. When I saw this film, I was floored. It’s beautiful. It’s powerful. It’s so well done. It was like God’s word coming to life.”
On what makes this film unique, Scott added, “One of the most powerful things is the paths of two characters: Peter and Judas. How did Judas, who had been walking with Jesus and seeing the miracles for three years, suddenly betray him? Peter was faithful and wanted to protect Jesus. But an hour later, he’s denying him. How did they go from one extreme to the other? You get to experience moments in the film that really bring that to life. You can understand the thought process that might have been happening. I think that’s really unique.”
There is definitely potential in the idea of focusing on the parallels of Peter and Judas and their paths. And there are some other interesting ideas in the film. I like the fact that Peter and Judas are a strong focus here, with scenes centered on the two of them. While “The Chosen” focuses on the psychological reason Judas betrayed Jesus, “The Last Supper” highlights the spiritual side. The film takes very literally and overtly the passage that says Satan “entered” Judas. They depict this as Satan regularly engaging in arguments with Judas, cajoling him and tempting him into betraying Jesus.
Likewise, one scene with Pharisee Caiaphas has him praying to God, asking why He gave Jesus the power to be so magnetic with people rather than him. Playing explicitly with an “Amadeus” motivation for the Pharisee’s hatred of Jesus made for a great scene and could have been developed further.
Unfortunately, the movie is just too badly acted and written to do anything with any of its potential. Everything about it gives the impression of a church pageant you’re glad you didn’t invite any of your friends to. The performances range from awkwardly campy to complete blocks of wood. Knepper plays Judas not far off from Snidely Whiplash of “Dudley Do Right” fame, while the actor who plays Jesus has such little expression on his face or voice it’s almost astonishing. James Faulkner does his best with the material he’s given. The rest of the cast is completely unmemorable.
The film’s story mostly feels like it’s plodding from one scene to the next through the events of Holy Week we’re familiar with without really doing anything different with any of it. The scenes with Peter and Judas don’t really build out or develop the parallels or differences to the degree that it’s clear what — if anything — they’re saying with it. The dialogue ranges from frustratingly on-the-nose to boring, with characters explaining their views and motivations in the blandest way possible. Camerawork and editing are basic and don’t seem like much thought was given to them.
The thing is, this used to be what pretty much every faith-based film was like over a decade ago. But that’s not true anymore. Whether it’s “The Chosen,” “House of David,” “The Unbreakable Boy” or “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” — not all faith-based industry films and shows are great, but most of them are at least decent.
A big part of that is due to the pressure from critics and audiences. Not every genre grows this way. The Hallmark Christmas movie genre has stayed static for pretty much its entire existence. The audience is simply content with what they had. But people have been calling out the quality of faith-based films since they’ve started. Audiences claimed the reason critics didn’t like this movie genre was anti-Christian bias, yet now that such films have started to be better, they’re getting rave reviews.
It’s because Christians refused to settle when we have shows like “The Chosen,” a series that has truly touched people’s lives in a way that even people who aren’t Christians are moved by it. “The Last Supper,” however, is a reminder that Christians don’t have to settle for just good intentions. We can also have great art as well. And if we hold artists to those standards, eventually they will meet them.
“The Last Supper” is in theaters starting March 14.
Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.world, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at josephholmesstudios.com.