For years now, I’ve covered religious or religious-adjacent pieces of media on this day, and for 2025 I’ve chosen something unique. A film from a series that’s known to be hateful, arrogant, ignorant, and deceptive, it stands out from among the rest by being surprisingly different in a lot of way. Granted, it’s still flawed in some aspects, but this movie is a giant improvement when compared to the ones before it, and the ones after it if you want to be technical. It took chances in many places, and actually succeeds in them as well. So, grab some candy from your Easter basket, read some of your Psalms (If you believe), and take a look at my review for God’s Not Dead: A Light In Darkness. Can I get an amen!?
Story
Taken from the DVD Case:
“After a deadly fire rips through St. James Church, Hadleigh University leaders use the tragedy to push the congregation off campus, forcing the church to defend it’s rights and bringing together estranged brothers for a reunion that opens old wounds and forces them to address the issues that pulled them apart.”
Let’s get this out of the way: the God’s Not Dead franchise has a persecution complex throughout each & every film, and A Light In Darkness is no exception to this. However, what makes it more bearable in this movie is that it’s nowhere near as frequent as what you’d see in the prior two GND features. It’s more well-timed & properly used when compared to the previous two films, and strangely is more convincing that what was before it. It’s still a Christian persecution complex, and as such is about as subtle as a broken foot, but it’s much more believable and tolerable in A Light In Darkness than any other God’s Not Dead movie!
Good Aspects
One other positive aspect to A Light In Darkness’s is the reduced cast of characters. In the first two features, you have a massive host of characters, not to mention an equally massive amount of storylines. In this film, the cast is heavily reduced, and in turn makes the storytelling much more focused. There are still things that start up & never go anywhere, but it’s definitely not as frequent as how bad it could be in GND 1 & 2.
This in turn brings us to the characters, and holy crap are they an improvement in this film! Granted, the acting still isn’t the best, but there’s so much more effort put into the performances that it makes them much more believable. David A.R. White, who plays Reverend Dave in this and the prior GND movies, is now the lead in A Light In Darkness’s story, and he was the only likable character from the prior 2. He goes through quite a lot during GND 3's run time, and by the end is almost a different man. His brother, played by John Corbett, is a lawyer in Chicago who has nothing to do with God in any way, and unlike Dean Cane’s similar role in the first GND, John’s character is instantly likable. White & Corbett work surprisingly well together, and their characters together are incredibly believable as brothers. Some others lack a little when it comes to personality, but overall it surprises me at how much more believable everybody is when you compare them to what came before.....and what unfortunately came after.
Finally, and this is perhaps the best thing about A Light In Darkness, is that the subject matter in this movie is...truly...Christian! Apart from the persecution complex, the things that the film brings us is quite shocking when you see how vapid all of the others are in terms of topics it speaks about. In this feature, we have actual conversations between Atheism & those with faith, redemption, remorse, forgiveness, reasons why people would want to leave the church (Young people especially), and more. If any of you have even seen a few scenes from the prior God’s Not Dead films and the ones after, then you know that they’re the farthest thing from Christian, so to see a Pureflix film approach any of these subjects is something that will make you do a double take.
Okay Aspects
Though improved in may ways over the first two, A Light In Darkness’s acting still is not the best. Improved from the first & second movie most definitely, but it is still wooden & weak in places. The story, like I said earlier, is greatly improved than what we got in the first two films, but some storylines either don’t properly finish, or seem silly. Finally, there’s the special effects: though there’s just a bit in one part towards the beginning, you can easily tell it’s cheap CGI. Outside of that, these are the only things that can be considered okay. As for what’s bad......
Bad Aspects
For starters, the persecution complex from the first two God’s Not Dead movies is back! Again, it’s not as bad here as it was in the first two films, but it’s still very obvious and apparent when it pops up. It doesn’t help the fact that in the first time we seen the news, it just so happens to be called The Lion’s Den, and one of the hosts just so happens to be a spokesman for the NRA (Don’t know if they still are). The Newsboys also make a comeback, and while I don’t think they’re the most obnoxious Christian band out there, I do find them to be somewhat annoying, on account of them trying too hard in the scenes where they appear. There are some other things that are bad in A Light In Darkness, but as I’m typing this I can’t recall them. However.....
What really weighs A Light In Darkness down, is simply the fact that it’s related to one of the most hated film franchises in existence. The things that this movie is trying to do, and succeeds at in many respects, is somewhat tarnished by the fact that the two features before it, and the two after, are some of the most un-Christian pieces of media out there! Full of lies, misdirection, deception, and hatred, God’s Not Dead 1 to 2 and 4 to 5 are just evil, and because of that somewhat ruins the good that A Light In Darkness manages to accomplish! You know that it bombed in theaters because the hardcore audience, when many of them called A Light In Darkness a cashgrab that doesn’t promote a Christian message. Think about that for a second.
Overall Impression & Rating
A Light In Darkness is really surprising! Sure, it still has the guilt complex from God’s Not Dead 1 & 2, not to mention some of the faults from the previous 2 features, but there was far more effort and ambition put into this movie than what they did before. It’s a far more competent story, with perhaps the best characters that have been made for this franchise, and it’s a far more CHRISTIAN & HUMAN film than any other God’s Not Dead movie, or anything else that Pureflix has created. I’m not saying that A Light In Darkness is a cinematic masterpiece by any stretch, but it’s a surprisingly beautiful diamond in the rough if you decide to watch it. Give it a chance whenever you can!
A Light In Darkness gets 5 out of 10 at it’s worst, and a 7.5 out of 10 at it’s best.
And that was my review for God’s Not Dead 3. Maybe not a cinematic masterpiece, but a massive improvement over the prior two movies that keep it partially chained down. Even if you don’t like it, I have a feeling that you won’t hate it as strongly when compared to GND 1 & 2. So, with this holiday in the rearview mirror tomorrow, I got one more look at King Diamond this month. See you all on the 31st!
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If you’d like to see another take on the movie, and one that has some facts I didn’t put in my review, then click on the link below:
God's Not Dead 3: A Light in Darkness (The Cinema Snob)
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