Beckman: The Supposed Christian John Wick

Melanie & Melvin summarize Beckman, that weird Christian-marketed movie produced by David A.R. White where he plays a John Wick/Taken-esque assassin. The catch? He’s a recent Christian convert. Does that stop him from killing dozens of people? Tune in to find out!

Topics:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)27-minutes discussing the content of Christian movies, interpreting what they’re communicating, their advertising, and so much more. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
• Beckman feels like a YouTube movie made by YouTubers back in, like, 2011. You could almost see Freddie Wong making something like it with Corridor Digital, except probably more fun. 
• Melvin never watched Beckman even though he’s owned it  since mid-2020. Then, he watched it twice in a row for… reasons. 
• David A.R. White routinely plays pastors in the movies he produces. Melvin finds this to be an odd reoccurrence.
• Gabriel Sabloff shared in the commentary track that he does a hard cut to action in the middle of the first act because he felt audiences would lose interest in the setup. Melvin comments that this is a recurrent problem in which certain director’s lack trust in their audience to patiently engage a movie.
• Beckman keeps calling Tabitha his daughter. One big problem: she’s not his daughter. They’re not even blood related.
• Beckman is too self-serious as a movie to be particularly enjoyable, especially when compared to something like John Wick where the whole franchise is simultaneously “serious” but very aware of its exciting-thrill-ride nature.
• Exploring the wisdom behind applyied violence.

Recommendations:

• Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) (Movie) & Vol. 2 (2004) (Movie)
• Missing (2023) (Movie)

Beckman is Not Rated. It features David A.R. White, William Baldwin, Burt Young, Jeff Fahey, Brighton Sharbino, Kira Reed Lorsch, Danielle Moinet, Jacob Melton, Xander Bailey, Lynette DuPree, Nobuaki Shimamoto, Kevin Downes, and Anna Zielinski. Directed by Gabriel Sabloff. Beckman is available here.

Consider supporting Cinematic Doctrine on Patreon! As a bonus, you can gain access to a once-a-month movie poll where you decide a movie we discuss on the podcast, early unedited episodes of the podcast, and merch!!

Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. Whether it’s a movie, show, game, comic, or novel, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s rich, he’s ready and willing to give it a try! His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!

Cinematic Doctrine is available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and other major podcast apps.