Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Film

Also opening: Inspiring without sermonizing

By STEVE PERSALL
Published January 19, 2006

End of the Spear (PG-13) is the latest film being directly marketed to Christian churches after similar strategies worked for The Passion of the Christ and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Jim Hanon's movie isn't in their artistic league, but it also isn't a celluloid sermon or religious allegory.

There's Christian inspiration to be found in this fact-based story, but it's muted compared with the violent action and interesting culture clash that secular audiences may appreciate.

End of the Spear is based on the story of five missionaries who lived in Ecuador in 1956 and died there at the hands of an indigenous tribe. The Waodani people were nearly extinct after years of oppression by cannibalistic neighbors; they killed these white visitors in an act of mistaken self-defense. The survivors continued their missionary work, eventually becoming honorary Waodani members.

The focus of the story are two children of this tragedy turned triumph. Steve Saint (Chase Ellison) is the son of the missionary leader, Nate (Chad Allen). Mincayani (Louie Leonardo) was around Steve's age when his sister Dayumae was lost in the jungle during an attack that decimated his tribe. Mincayani now leads the few Waodani survivors, leading to his involvement in the missionary killings a few years later.

Hanon and co-screenwriters Bart Gavigan and Bill Ewing paint the Waodani with the kind of cultural detail that Terrence Malick's The New World applies to American Indians. End of the Spear is obviously a shoestring production, but its Panama locales and credible set designs suggest a higher budget.

The story could be wrapped up tighter, and footage of the real-life Steve and Mincayani sharing experiences in later years indicates that a documentary approach might have been more fascinating. But the film's level-headed approach to spreading the gospel and an unspoken realization that living by it isn't easily suited for everyone is commendable. B-

- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic

The battle between vampires and werewolves rages again in Underworld: Evolution, a sequel to 2003's Underworld, which developed a minor following among horror fans. Expect plenty more gory fights and sexy shots of Kate Beckinsale tightly wrapped in leather, as fans of such entertainment prefer.

Beckinsale returns as Selene, a vampire warrior whose Romeo and Juliet-style romance with the werewolf Michael (Scott Speedman) continues to develop. They also have their fangs full with defeating the evil vampire patriarch Viktor (Bill Nighy), who's plotting a master race blending the deadliest aspects of both supernatural species.

Underworld: Evolution was screened too late for a Weekend review; see Saturday's Page 2B for a review.

- S.P.

[Last modified January 18, 2006, 11:22:07]