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| Dogma (1999) |
Alright, so what is it about this movie that gets the balance absolutely right? It's weird to say this, but it treats the Bible like any other text made for adapting to the screen. It keeps the basic stuff, but makes changes to the story that better suit the story they're telling. Adding in a 13th Apostle, Jesus' siblings, and they're able to explain it all in a way that, again, really suits the story. They're also able to poke fun at the Bible (and religion in general) while not coming across as either too aggressive or too evangelical, which is another tough line to walk. If you're a religious nut, you're probably not going to find loving this movie an easy task, but the movie explains in its first 30 seconds that it's not meant to be taken seriously (in the best way possible, mind) so if after that you're still upset with the liberties this movie takes, you're just hating for the sake of hating. In a weird way, I'd like to see more movies do this. I'm not a particularly religious person, but I was raised Catholic, so I'm seeing both sides here, and I really think more movies should tell stories loosely adapting the Bible like this. Not only is there a lot of potential for jokes and narratives, but there are many divisive issues that are worth discussing as a result, especially today.
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| Matt Damon as Loki and Ben Affleck as Bartleby |
Because, yeah, this is a comedy, but the movie will slow down occasionally to discuss issues relating to religion without really offering an answer, which is honestly the best way to go about it in a theological discussion like this. Faith is something that I would never want to take away from someone, but I can see why people might not have any, and this film approaches this issue from a very intelligent angle. It doesn't pick one side and let it win against the other; it barely picks a side at all. It just raises the issues to let the audience think for themselves about the answers, which at the end of the day really is the central focus of the story. In that sense, this is a really rare thing for a comedy to do, and the fact that it works not only in tandem with the story, but also the jokes, is certainly impressive. And, when the comedy does come in, it's really well done too. Few jokes failed to get at least a smile out of me, and the majority got genuine laughs. It's not a laugh-fest 100% of the time, but it's not trying to be. It's the kind of comedy I really like to see, and even to write, where they'll take breaks and address what's going on with the characters, bring the energy down and get serious for a moment, and then when that moment's had the chance to breath, get back to the laughs. The devil made of s*** tried my patience at first, admittedly, but the pay-off by the end was good, so I can let it slide, so to speak.
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| Linda Fiorentino as Bethany |
This film has a pretty extensive main cast, which would be an issue if not everyone was given enough time to be properly developed on their own terms, but they really are. Like with basically everything else in this movie, the balance was perfect. The central focus is on Bethany, and I really liked her character arc here. A more simple film would have had her journey go from athiest to Catholic when she learned the truth, but this movie takes a different approach. What was it... something along the lines of 'You can be who you were before, and who you need to be'... I don't know, I'm very much paraphrasing there, but that line sums up her journey wonderfully, and it's the type of character arc I wish we'd see more often. Linda Fiorentino does a fine job in the role, I just wish she emoted a little more. Don't get me wrong, when she needs to make a big choice in the emotion or the character, she does well, but in the majority of conversations, she's very one-note, and it did get distracting. The other focus is on Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as the disgraced angels. Angels in general are always interesting characters to develop, as there's a lot you can do with their lore, and the way they're presented here is interesting. This conversation about angels vs humans and why God seems to have more patience with humans is an especially intriguing story to tell, and Affleck delivers that monologue in particular wonderfully. Affleck and Damon do excellent jobs of playing off each other throughout, and they have great chemistry with each other. I like how naturally their characters sort of swap their intentions at around the halfway point, and there were moments that I really felt genuine sympathy for them, despite the things they'd done.
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| Alan Rickman as Metatron |
The supporting cast are all excellent as well. Alan Rickman is, of course, brilliant. He finds that perfect balance between dignified and ridiculous, and, let's be honest, who else would you pick for the voice of God? This is actually the first role I've seen him in that wasn't Severus Snape. I have to say... I really miss him. Anyway, Chris Rock and Salma Hayek do really well here as well. They have their stand-out moments and never do anything to upstage any of the mains, and I especially like how reserved Chris Rock was while still coming across very Chris Rock-ish. Jason Lee does great as Azrael as well. His motivations made complete sense by the end, which I bring up only because I was worried they wouldn't be able to explain away why he was doing what he was doing. But, no, they managed it. But, of course, I can't not mention Jay and Silent Bob here. These are characters that had appeared in some of Kevin Smith's other work in the past, and I was concerned that these established characters would either be given no time to be reintroduced to new audiences here, or would be completely out of place in the world of Gods and demons. But, honestly, without these two, Dogma wouldn't be Dogma. They brought this extra level of humour and much-needed levity to the experience. Especially considering the heavy subject matter and stakes, you need Jason Mewes to say some perfectly delivered nonsense to cut the tension, and you need Kevin Smith's amazing facial expressions to react to the insanity of the story. I really want to check out other things these characters were in now, as I already love them.
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| Jason Mewes as Jay and Kevin Smith as Silent Bob |
And I also love Dogma (1999). Maybe it's just because it's such a unique movie in terms of its subject matter and it pulls it off in a way that was both tasteful but also scathingly satirical... I can't not love a movie that comes together so intelligently. 9/10.
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