This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Confirm Your Kill
Plot Overview
The zombies have evolved into stratified
layers of dumb to smart called: Homer, Hawking, Beatrice &
Ninja. There's even rumor of an apex predator zombie they call
T–800 that is stronger, smarter
and faster than the rest and harder to kill. T–800s have supposedly grouped together
on the West coast and are heading east. A group of four survivors:
Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Wichita
(Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) have hunkered down
at a dilapidated 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. to make the most of it.
By and by, Wichita & Little Rock split for greener pastures, and Columbus & Tallahassee follow their trail to keep them from trouble. The former two pick up a hippie guy Berkeley (Avan Jogia) and the latter two pick up a dumb blonde Madison (Zoey Deutch.) The two groups augmented by Nevada (Rosario Dawson) from Graceland will eventually join up at a pacifist commune Babylon to make a desperate stand against a zombie horde. While the grass is always greener on the other side, “Home isn't a place; it's the people you're with.”
Ideology
The closest we get to outright Christianity in the movie is Berkeley singing, “Kumbaya” while accompanying himself on the guitar. There are nevertheless applicable spiritual lessons to be gleaned, especially with respect to human sexuality. Madison has stayed safe in a mall for years by locking herself in a freezer. She also keeps herself dolled up to welcome human company should it come along, and when it does she wants to get it on with the guy right away. Having access to the mall's merchandise it's a given she would have found a sex toy to pleasure herself with in the meantime. Otherwise she would have blown a gasket or something. We recall the wisdom of, (Eccl. 7:16) “Be not righteous over much; … : why shouldest thou destroy thyself?” We don't hold it against her for not keeping it bottled up, not being “righteous over much” as it were.
(Eccl. 7:16)
“Neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy
thyself?” Here we have the old problem of not being over restrictive
in selecting potential mates to date. This is especially relevant
after an apocalypse has left available numbers to select from few
and far between, what the movie calls, “circumstance and lack
of options.” There's an uneasiness about Lincoln's eyes when
Wichita & Columbus are sleeping together in the Lincoln bedroom.
The American Civil War left gazillions of widows and a dearth of men.
According to writer William Speidel, “Over 360,000 young men
had died as a result of the Civil War, and there were war widows until
they ran out your ears” (Speidel, 107.) The apostle Paul
dealt with such an issue from the other end with the birth of a new
religion, i.e. Christianity, and
young couples who had formulated their wedding plans before one or
the other of them converted. They wondered what to do about the sudden
religious difference between them. From visionary Maria Valtorta,
631. The Last Teachings before Ascension-Day: (430)
II In the Mosaic religion matrimony is a contract. In the new Christian religion let it be a sacred indissoluble act, on which may the grace of the Lord descend to make of husband and wife two ministers of His in the propagation of the human race. From the very first moments try to advise the consort belonging to the new religion to convert the consort, who is still out of the number of the believers, to enter and become part of it, to avoid those painful divisions of thought, and consequently of peace, that we have noticed also among ourselves. But when it is a question of believers in the Lord, for no reason whatsoever what God united is to be dissolved. And when a consort is Christian and is united to a heathen, / advise that consort to bear his/her cross with patience, meekness and also with strength, to the extent of dying to defend his/her faith, but without leaving the consort whom he/she married with full consent. This is My advice for a more perfect life in the matrimonial state, until it will be possible, with the diffusion of Christianity, to have marriages between believers. Then let the bond be sacred and indissoluble, and the love holy.
The apostle Paul looked
upon mixed marriage as an occasion for a Christian to influence his
or her unbelieving partner, (1Cor. 7:16) “For what knowest thou,
O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou,
O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?” Paul's answer in
addressing some questions of the Corinthians
appears to have been in the present tense, regarding an existing marriage
of a Christian to an unbeliever, but he allows for such influence
on an unbeliever to apply to developing composites as well, (1Cor. 3:21-22) “For all things
are yours; Whether … the world, or … things present,
or things to come; all are your's.” In the early days of
Christianity, there just might not have been enough available believers
from whom to make a suitable match, so a Christian single might
have to select an unbeliever and then try to convert him or her. Wichita's
limited best option was Columbus, but she didn't like his hygiene
habits. She just might have to suck it up and marry him and work with
him on those habits later.
Now with Christianity widely diffused, it's easier to find a Christian to marry, but there may still be special circumstances where it's not, and some people are downright hard to find a match for and may have to settle.
The hippie in the movie was not good marriage material. As for protection from zombies he was a pacifist, didn't bear arms (Tallahassee: “I have nothing against hippies, I just wanna beat the shit out of 'em.”) That's like the situation Paul addresses concerning a widow, (1Cor. 7:39) “she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord.” The pacifist man may marry any suitable mate he finds, but only in his pacifism. That doesn't mean she has to be a pacifist too, only that in marrying her he not stop being one himself. Likewise the Christian.
An oft-repeated rule in communal Babylon is, “No group sex.” That's consistent with Christian thought and practice except in one case of faulty biblical interpretation. Paul tells the Corinthians in his first epistle that a mixed marriage is permissible. He is not going to tell them in second Corinthians it's not. Modern bibles don't use a specific plural ‘ye’ in, (2Cor. 6:14) “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: ...” so modern English speakers making themselves “over wise” co-opt their bibles' more generalized you (or you understood) for a singular application prohibiting individual (mixed) marriages when if Paul were even addressing marriage—he's not—he would have grammatically been addressing group marriage (w/group sex) by using the plural ye. One should rather go to Paul's following rhetorical questions and match (singular) case with, (2Cor. 6:15) “what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?” If a couple is well enough acquainted to consider marriage, then they can ask themselves how that would affect their individual Christian commitments and act accordingly rather then accept some kind of group prohibition that doesn't even apply there.
Production Values
“” (2019) was directed by Ruben Fleischer. Its screenplay was written by Dave Callaham and Rhett Reese. It stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin. Harrelson does his expected great job. All four of them are seasoned zombie survivors by now and have their parts down pat. Zoey Deutch stole some scenes, playing the dumb blonde, which is harder than it looks.
MPAA rated it R for bloody violence, language throughout, some drug and sexual content. It's a nail-biting 99 min. long. Each group of survivors has its own similar but separate set of rules that the adherents have memorized. Whenever a rule is cited it's accompanied by a Greek chorus lighting up the screen.
Review Conclusion w/ Christian Recommendation
The hippie's music really sucked, but figure he had no living competition for miles. The rules seemed reasonable for the circumstances. I really would have liked to see Emma Stone paired with a handsomer, more debonair fellow, but whom? It's nice to have a movie illustrate some biblical meme, but believers settling for unbelieving partners is not a popular theme. People who like biblical illustrations regardless might appreciate it, though. Beyond that, it's hard to find a redeeming virtue, so be prepared. It's good at gore, though, and some of the dark humor was funny.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action packed. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Amazing special effects. Video Occasion: Good Date Movie. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software, print.
Speidel, William C. SONS of the PROFITS, or, There's No Business Like Grow Business! The Seattle Story, 1851–1901. Seattle: Nettle Creek Publishing Co., 1967. Print.
Valtorta, Maria. 631. The Last Teachings before Ascension-Day. in The Gospel as Revealed to Me. Vol. 5. Translated from Italian by Nicandro Picozzi, M.A., D.D. Revised by Patrick McLaughlin, M.A. This 2nd English Edition has now replaced the First English Edition, The Poem of the Man-God. WEB.
bibles.n7nz.org