I finally got around to watching Thr3e last night, the film adaptation of Ted Dekker’s novel by Fox Faith.
I wasn’t exactly blown away.
Granted the plot was extremely compressed…I understand that much is lost when losing the narration of the thoughts and emotions of the characters. Still, it left the characters shallow and undefined, left out critical scenes, and added others that nearly destroyed the amazing ending to Dekker’s story. We won’t even discuss the poor quality of special effects.
Why is it that almost anything done with the label of “Christian entertainment” is of such lousy quality? I’m not surprised that this movie was so poor, and the fact that I’m not surprised is a sad commentary in itself. I’m sure I’m a bit oversensitive that the botched story was that of one of my favorite authors. However, the vast majority of artistic endeavors created by artists who openly profess their faith seem to be poor at best. Shouldn’t the opposite be true? Shouldn’t Believers be producing the highest quality art of our day?
Certainly, there are exceptions, and I’m not attempting to apply an overly sweeping generalization to artists of faith. I’m just left sadly disappointed at having such a great story, my first exposure to Dekker, lose so much substance on the screen.
If you haven’t watched it yet, don’t. Read the book. Its worth it.