The Genesis Code (2010) Reviews

• Thought Provoking and Entertaining

  tjerzyk2011-01-24

  This movie was a pleasant surprise. Let's get one thing out of the way. It has both quality acting and a driving plot. So, from the aspect of watching an entertaining movie it hits the mark. But, it moves far beyond that. It is difficult to put on the big screen a challenging topic on an issue nearly all of use hold a strong position. This movie will allow you to open your mind to how science and religion are not necessarily in conflict. It is easy to see how many people will either hat or love the movie, because it forces people to think and step out of their comfort zone. As I said, it will allow you to open your mind. The question is how many people will approach with an open mind.

• Thank you! A refreshing and meaningful movie for the rest of us

  greatflicks2011-02-20

  I just saw The Genesis Code this afternoon after a friend told me about it and it's one of my favorite movies of the past year. Anyone knows going in this is not purely for entertainment: the movie has a message that tackles some very difficult life decisions many of us suddenly have to face, and also takes on some very loaded religious/philosophical questions about where we come from. When a movie has a message and tackles big subjects instead of claiming to be pure entertainment, of course it takes a big risk because there are bound to be people who strongly disagree with that message. A recent Gallup poll on God and evolution gave three choices and found 39% of Americans believe humans evolved over millions of years from less advanced forms of life but God guided the process, 40% believe God created human beings pretty much in their present form in the past 10,000 years or so, and 16% believe humans evolved over millions of years and God played no part. Needless to say, an overwhelming majority of the really negative reviews here come either from the 16% who believe God played no part, or else a handful of negative reviews from people who hate the movie because they take the position no "real" Christian could possibly believe that humans evolved over millions of years. The no-God and no-scientific evidence negative reviewers actually have a lot in common - both take a no-compromise position and pretend they can speak for all Christians and all Americans, when they don't. Thankfully we have The Genesis Code which is a movie for the rest of us who don't outright reject the Bible and don't outright reject scientific evidence either. When I take a look at what's available to rent on red box it seems a third of the movies portray a world that offers convenient excuses to shoot at other people. An anthropologist from Mars who studied the U.S. based on our movies would think we get shot at every day on our way to work or checking out at the grocery store, but that cancer was extremely rare and unusual. Do any of these negative reviewers offer similarly scathing reviews of all these other movies for being superficial? Stacks of movies that cheapen human life aren't criticized - the stock answer is hey, if you don't want to watch violence don't rent them. But if someone comes out with just one new and refreshing movie that examines the inescapable pain and hard decisions that can be part of watching a loved one die, or the pressures to compromise your beliefs and ideals and values to advance your career, then people come out firing away with guns blazing. How sad. Well, my answer to the negative reviewers of The Genesis Code is the same answer others offer for the stacks of movies with nothing but cheap violence. Hey, if you don't want to see a movie with Christian viewpoints on life's tragedies and a thought-provoking exploration of how much science and faith both agree on our origins, there's a simple answer: don't watch it! !

• Genesis Code Tries Hard, Falls Hard

  FunkyDuffy2012-05-19

  This film attempts to tell many stories: a chaste college romance, the tale of a son and his dying mother, a young man's struggle with faith, and a specific attempt at a reconciliation of the Big Bang theory with the story of Genesis (one that tries to avoid the pitfalls of other attempts) UNFORTUNATELY, all of these attempts fail. The romance is flat and uninteresting, with no real passion between the leads. This is best exemplified by the horrifyingly-executed kiss towards the end (of course it's there). The dying mother plot is worthy of a lifetime movie. Of course she wakes up from her cancer-coma at the end (I kid you not, cancer-coma.) This being an unabashedly preachy Christian film, the young man finds his faith by the end of it. Speaking of preachy, let's move on to the pet creation philosophy that has bigger holes than the wreck of the Titanic. In addition to requiring a literal interpretation of the bible and young-earth creationism, it completely neglects the concept of an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God. The theory goes on for at least twenty minutes explaining relativity, and attempting to use time dilation to explain why the six days of creation in Genesis are equivalent to the billions of years science tells us have passed since the Big Bang. There are more problems here than I can expound on. As both a senior engineering major at a top 20 university and a devout Christian, I absolutely cannot accept this wholly ham-handed philosophy. AS A FILM, the production is fairly varied in quality. Cinematography is largely monotonous, with 65%+ of shots being of a single individual from the waist up. There is a scene at a karaoke bar where there is NO MUSIC to accompany the singing. Many shots done in front of a green-screen have foreground lighting that doesn't match the background. The effect where a blurry-edged flashback shares the screen with a "thinking" character is used over a dozen times. The writing leaves much to be desired. Casual dialogue has far too many rough spots, and would have benefited from better editing. The female lead is a horrifying, horrifying example of a Mary Sue. One last gripe: there is a horrifying straw man of a liberal/elite/postmodern/New World Order character present that completely misunderstands and misrepresents the pressures of the modern world (as well as completely missing the boat on what postmodernism actually is). It just really ground my gears, and I had to specifically note my deep, deep hatred of it. Despite this, I still found myself, on occasion, feeling like I was watching a real film with real production values. I found myself sympathizing with the characters at times. Despite having to force myself to watch this film at times, I could sometimes go for up to 10 minutes before something came up and made me want to gouge out my prefrontal cortex. I would also like to commend the fact that this movie advocates a personal view of faith; that faith cannot be dictated to us by our peers. Well, as long as that faith is some form of Christianity. (lol, inconsistency) VERDICT: This is a dumb, dumb movie that will make you feel good if you like easy Christianity and don't know too much about science or literature, or don't ask too many questions. Anyone who takes seriously the philosophy proposed in this movie is a fool. Despite this, it has its moments. 3/10

• "If God didn't want us to think, He wouldn't have given us deductive reasoning."

  DUKEJBM2011-02-22

  "If God didn't want us to think, He wouldn't have given us deductive reasoning." The one thing that this film does accomplish that no one can argue is that it makes the viewer think. Personally, I believe the movie is crafted in an extremely intelligent and engaging manner. It's a fine character piece almost interrupted by a scientific/theological presentation. You truly come to care for the characters. Then, everything leading to the debate is put forth in as clear a manner as possible. Unfortunately, the subject itself is not very easy to understand. So, I can see the average viewer tuning out or even their eyes glazing over by the presentation despite the best efforts of film makers to make it relatable and interesting. One really needs to pay attention to follow and if you're going to present this information, you might as well make it complete and near incontrovertible. I applaud the effort if not the actually execution. On a side note, one of my favorite parts of the film was the scenes with the academic adviser. It perfectly illustrates narrow-minded thinking and the often times liberal yet ignorant indoctrination present in too many institutions of "higher" learning. Wonderful presentation and writing in those scenes. I'm Christian and I'm glad they included all points of view and rationally show positions some individuals do take. This is no "pie in the sky" movie. They legitimately discuss and reflect dissenting views and those that question the complete accuracy of the Bible. Going in to this film, I guess I would've put myself in the place of the lead character. Believing most information but having serious doubts about the factual validity of the book of Genesis. This film mostly changed that perception. One way or the other, it never was really crucial in my relationship with God but it's good to explore all aspects of Divinity and theology. Paraphrasing another quote I remember from this film, "Those people that question how a person arrives at their personal relationship with God is either arrogant, (ignorant) or blasphemous." If this film adds anything to a person's belief system then more power to them. Why do non-believers and haters have a problem with that and when other people find peace? Could it be that something is lacking in their own life?

• Terrible.

  don-loder692010-12-08

  I think anyone reading IMDb reviews of this film should be aware that as of this posting, there are 3 reviews. Two of which think the film is awful and one thinks it's wonderful. It's important to note that "wonderful" review was made by someone involved with the film and it's public relations. The username given "markv22" is surely the same person who runs the Genesis Code facebook page with the same name and initial. I'm a Christian who has tried very hard to balance secular and scientific fact with my belief in the Bible and I thought this movie not only panders to the Christian crowd but also does it a great disservice. Anyone with the most rudimentary knowledge of cosmology or even someone with the ability to search wikipedia would know this film's "science" is about as real as episode of Lost in Space. Sure, it throws around names and jargon to make someone without a science background think "Oh, they just mentioned Einstein or Cosmic Background Radiation, this is smart stuff!" but so does any episode of Star Trek and it doesn't make the Federation any more real. Even still, a false premise can still be well-told or entertaining but unfortunately, The Genesis Code is neither. The story is disjointed and scattered and doesn't know if it wants to be an Afterschool Special, science lecture, or propaganda. The dialogue isn't natural at all and the characters are flat and/or stereotypes (the black guy, the Asian girl, and the Jewish kid all have their stereotypical lines or back stories) while the secular school dean is a borderline Nazi. Add to that a story in which the protagonist's mother is on death's bed but we must stop now and have a wacky romp through a museum for what feels like a full act of the film that only seems to try and showcase how much the writer knows and not move the story anywhere but to a stop. The editing and pace drag from one scene to another as if you were being shown a collection of keepsakes to which only the owner has any connection. The positives of this film are how rich it looks on what (I hope) was a small budget. It certainly feels large for this kind of film. The acting is pretty decent as well, considering the dialogue and I think the main cast does a good job with this material. I saw it in its limited release in Michigan and I unless it is further edited (I don't know if this film was in a somewhat test audience stage or what), I couldn't recommend it...to anyone.