Movie Review

The Gospel (2005)

Reviewed by Scott Brown | Oct 12, 2005

Scott Brown

Scott Brown writes the Hit List for EW and is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio -- he has the tote bag to prove it

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EW's GRADE

B-

Details Release Date: Oct 07, 2005; Rated: PG; Length: 105 Minutes; Genre: Drama; With: Clifton Powell

$THE \'GOSPEL\' ACCORDING TO EW Not quite a hallelujah, but definitely worth an amen The Gospel, Boris Kodjoe$

Image credit: The Gospel: Guy D'alema

THE 'GOSPEL' ACCORDING TO EW Not quite a hallelujah, but definitely worth an amen

The raison d'être of a movie like The Gospel is the hero's prostration before God...and how do you grade that? Like art or porn, you know it when you see it, you dig it or you don't. But it's the earthly drama preceding the evangelical money shot that distinguishes this near-musical about a newly minted R&B star (Boris Kodjoe) drawn back into his estranged father's Atlanta ministry. It's a rich portrait of a church in transition, and while the climactic come-to-Jesus is never in doubt, The Wire's lupine Idris Elba, as the hungry successor to the ailing pastor, threatens to turn this into a complex picture, even as The Gospel falls predictably to its knees with a satisfying thud.

Originally posted Oct 12, 2005 Published in issue #846 Oct 21, 2005 Order article reprints

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Movie Review The Gospel

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