Product Details

• Actors: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan
• Directors: Marc Forster
• Format: AC-3, Color, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen
• Language: English (DTS 5.1)
• Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Relativity Media
• DVD Release Date: June 5, 2012
• Run Time: 129 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (242 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B005FITIF0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #33,359 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Machine Gun Preacher [Blu-ray]" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Machine Gun Preacher takes a fictionalized look at the life of Sam Childers, a down-and-out ex-con who found God and an obsessed new calling: to save the orphaned children of southern Sudan. Gerard Butler plays Childers, whom we first meet as a brutish addict, and the actor's gutsy performance has everything to do with making us follow him through the film's winding, globe-spanning turns. Whether delivering an overheated sermon (you get the idea Childers has replaced one addiction with another) or toting firearms through the dangerous back roads of Africa, Butler presents a forceful creation, one that reminds us that Childers is far from a conventional sympathetic hero. In fact, director Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) is so busy exploring the psychological ambiguities of the character he neglects to give the movie a basic, driving momentum, which might make you wonder what exactly it is you're watching from time to time: inspirational religious fable, action picture, or political drama? Michelle Monaghan (Source Code) does duty as Sam's born-again wife, who must endure the usual domestic hardships related to her husband's frequent absences from home, and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) plays Sam's old biker buddy, reformed to become the world's worst babysitter. In bringing up the horror stories of warfare and atrocity in southern Sudan, the movie has noble ambitions, and its R-rated nature means it doesn't skimp on the terrible details. Still, it tends to fall a little too easily into the format of the white guy saving the African people, an example of the way the movie's various subjects seem, overall, a little undigested. --Robert Horton

Product Description

Gerard Butler (300) delivers a searing performance in this explosive, action-packed story of an inspiring real-life hero. Butler stars as Sam Childers, a drug-dealing criminal who undergoes an astonishing spiritual transformation and makes a life-changing decision to travel to war-torn East Africa. After witnessing unspeakable horrors faced by innocent children, he vows to save them at any cost, including his own safety. Childers begins waging a relentless battle against the territory's renegade militia, leading harrowing missions behind enemy lines to rescue kidnapped orphans and restore peace to their lives - and eventually his own.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

107 of 112 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best movies of 2011 October 18, 2011

By Lovin' Kitties

Format:DVD

I've read the book and seen the movie. The book will keep you awake at night and the movie will leave you breathless. It's one thing to read the words because you have to rely on your imagination to form the images from the author's words. Seeing those words accurately portrayed on the screen is incredible.

This is, bar none, Gerard Butler's crowning performance. Sam Childers pulled no punches about himself in the book and Butler truly brought the man to life on the screen. He isn't just an actor playing a part; in this movie it's almost as if he *becomes* Childers. The scene where he returns to retrieve the children he had to leave behind is, IMO, mindblowing. The scene in which he confronts and overcomes his crisis of faith is moving in the extreme.

I won't minimize: This story, in the book and on the screen, is horribly disturbing, and I can't stress that enough. However, it is incredibly powerful, thought-provoking, complex and heart-rending. Once you've seen this movie, you definitely won't forget it.

Honestly, I'd give it ten stars without hesitation...

47 of 51 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Machine Gun Preacher will touch you in some fashion October 27, 2011

By Script Writer

Format:Blu-ray

I've seen the film 6 times in 6 different places all across the country, and I saw it with Sam Childers the first time he saw it. It's an amazing story about a nearly unbelievable journey by a man who went from crazy bad to crazy good, 'cos it takes a little crazy to do what he'd done as a young man and what he's done in Africa over the past decade. Fortunately there is less confrontation with the LRA in the area where the Shekinah Children's Village is near Nimule, South Sudan; and Sam Childers is spreading his feeding programs wider across central and east Africa where they're needed so badly, like in Somalia and Darfur. The book Another Man's War, the feature film Machine Gun Preacher and the upcoming documentary film will touch your heart in some fashion. Gerard Butler does a terrific job portraying both the old and new Sam. The Machine Gun Preacher DVD will be my gift for Christmases and birthdays for the next several years.

59 of 70 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Why didn't this movie get a broader release? November 19, 2011

By Avalon Newell

Format:DVD

I'm giving 5 stars to the trailer. The trailer advertised limited release. All the money spent to produce this film and then limited release? I live in the country in Texas. I will have to wait and buy the movie to see it. I read the book the movie was based on and then bought more books to share with friends.

I saw a review that said the movie under performed. Of course it would under perform on limited release! Then we're stuck with the garbage Hollywood puts out the rest of the year. Maybe it's just because the word Preacher is in the title.

Frustrated with Hollywood!