Persecuted (2014)

So much average

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Captivating movie !

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

James Remar was constantly accused of doing scandalous things by Kim Catrel in SATC. In Persecuted, the stakes are higher and his accusers are far more vicious than Samantha following him in a wig while papering his neighborhood. The score is absolutely revetting and it really should have a sound track. In addition, the sound design really added to the visual effects. Loations were beautiful and made a strong case for some of the emotional twists and turns. This film took a very entertaining look at a possible "what if" outcome from the very real current political and religious tensions we have going on in todays world. It's wonderful to see late Fred Thompson do great work.

Implausibly ridiculous!Persecuted is a film that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and its storyline could not nor would not ever happen in reality; but it has not stopped filmmaker Daniel Lusko from writing and directing the story to pander to the fears of the far political and religious right. This is yet another film made by a "Christian" filmmaker who wants to purport that he and others like him are being "persecuted" for their beliefs … seemingly forgetting what actual persecution is (I'd say ask Christ about it but He died from actual persecution).The real kicker to the story: the "villains" of Persecuted are people merely seeking tolerance for all religion! It is an organization that seeks the approval of a revered Christian evangelist named John Luther (James Remar – Django Unchainced) to go ahead and begin worldwide operations with some sort of assistance from the US government (because that'd happen!). One seeking the vocal support of Luther is a US Senator (Bruce Davison – X-Men), who becomes downright frustrated when Luther speaks his conscious and says he cannot approve of a group that would place Christians at the same table as leaders from other world religions. Tolerance!? What are these despicable bastards thinking?!The US Senator and some of Luther's own cohorts are so upset with his lack of cooperation, they decide to frame him for the murder of a young and innocent teenage girl! They get the girl killed but they are unable to capture/arrest Luther who proves to be a rather wily one. The damage to his name has been done, though … as everyone simply believes John Luther would just KILL this girl … just because. The world has turned against John Luther!The entire film is a cat-n-mouse chase between Luther and those after him. As Luther has God on his side and government = bad, there aren't a whole lot of surprises as the film advances.As the film culminates in a ridiculous stand-off, I was not able to shake the thought that the film's primary villains are people who seek tolerance and understanding of others so that there would be NO MORE religious war and leaders from all religions would respect one another enough to listen to others. TOLERANCE is the real villainy in Persecuted! Wrap your head around that one! This is frightening and I guess it is the world that some want.Yoda got this one completely wrong: "Fear is the path to the dark side … fear leads to anger … anger leads to hate … hate leads to suffering." Who knew it all actually stems from TOLERANCE?

"Freedom is fragile and costly and must be defended by work and by faith and even by blood." John Luther (Remar) is one of the premiere evangelists in the country and his opinions and values are widely respected. Senator Donald Harrison is championing a bill that deals with sweeping religious reform and he needs Luther's backing. When he refuses the Senator frames him for a murder and ruins his name. Now Luther must not only find who did this and why but he must also clear his name. My practice of not watching trailers before the movie has both good and bad points. The good points are that I don't know what to expect and any twists given away in the trailer are surprises to me. The bad thing about it is that I have certain expectations based solely on the poster or cover of the case. Most of the time it works in my favor. This is one exception. I was expecting a movie like Red State where there is an evil preacher. Without getting too political or religious I have to say the irony in this movie was very in your face. As for the movie itself this is yet again another movie where the idea is much better than the actual movie. This started off tense and interesting but quickly fell flat and uninspired. The best way to watch this movie is to watch the first 15 minutes and the last 5. Everything else is generic and flat. Overall, a movie that started off with so much promise but I quickly lost interest in and struggled to finish. I give this a C.

Persecuted: John Luther, is an evangelist of a worldwide ministry! He is being set up to take a fall, because he will not agree to the agenda of a senator's proposition of uniting of the one world religion! I was really looking forward to this movie! It had all the markings of being a great end time Christian thriller! However the movie lacked in building the characters from the beginning to the end! This made it difficult to follow the story line and understand the plot! The movie was 91 min long! Had they made it longer and spent the time to develop the characters, I think it would have turned out better! I'd give it 6 out of 10 stars!