by Lucinda Witherspoon Joyner

Created on: January 19, 2009

Saving God staring Ving Rhames, Dean McDermontt, and Ricardo Chavira is a story of redemption and reformation. Ving Rhames stars as Armstrong Cain, a reformed murderer who has just gotten out of prison after a fifteen year sentence. He has become a man of God while locked up and has returned to his old neighborhood to pastor his late father's church, which has been closed for some time. On his first day of trying to view his old church, Armstrong breaks up a fight between a young drug dealer and another thug who was trying to muscle in on the boy's selling spot in front of the church. He ends up befriending the boy to the point of bringing the young man to Jesus and convincing him to give up his drug dealing ways. Then while trying to refurbish his father's rundown church and rebuild the congregation, Armstrong finds out his old friend, a pastor of a rich mega-ministry, wants to buy his father's old church for what seems like selfish reasons. Armstrong soon has run-ins with the young drug dealer's supplier, some old parishioners of his father's church, and his parole officer, which eventually shows that God can heal, reform, and save even the hardest of hearts.

To me this movie was a bit corny even though the basic premise was good. Ving Rhames would not have been my first choice to play a convicted felon turned pastor and his performance came off as a little unbelievable. Sure Mr. Rhames can play a thug or a man who receives salvation but I wasn't convinced with his portrayal of a pastor who happened to be a murderer who was just let out of jail. He always wore his elder's collar, which most preachers I know do not do, and called everyone brother or sister. I don't know about anyone else, but if I had someone that huge trying to lead me to Christ I probably wouldn't be saved right now (unless there was a mighty move of God during the time). Some of the other characters' performances seemed strained and slightly far-fetched and the only person really acting was the young brother who played the drug dealer (after he got saved though, his acting seemed a little forced).

In real life, I think Armstrong probably would have been sent back to prison for consorting with a know drug dealer and getting into a major beef with that drug dealer's supplier, Blaze. The loss of one of the characters in the film came as a shock but, all in all, this movie didn't seem to be one that would give anyone much excitement. The underlying story, that God can forgive and redeem even the worst of people and will use whomever He chooses to do so, is great but the acting did not live up to that premise. I only give the movie two out of five stars.

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