I hate it when Bible movies don't follow said source, with few exceptions like The Last Temptation of Christ. However, this is based on one chapter of the Bible-1 Samuel 17, with a few surrounding events. Because of this, and thanks to a disclaimer in the beginning, I let it go and let this interpretation tell itself. The movie is pretty close anyways. I mean, compared to the Orson Welles or Veggie Tales version it's fair. It's no Ben-Hur but it's still enjoyable.

This film essentially begins with the prophet "Samuel" (John Knox) wandering through the desert in search of a young man who is destined to become the next King of Israel. Needless to say, after passing over all of his brothers he finds "David" (Matt Berberi) tending his father's flock and after a bit of conversation anoints him as the heir apparent to "Saul" (Rodger Halston). So far so good. Unfortunately, the film goes totally off the rails after this as Samuel now takes it upon himself to train David for an extended period of time for combat. Not only that but he also convinces 4 other young men to assist as well. To that end, the actual combat with "Goliath" (Michael Foster) is of a very short duration and--other than possibly the presence of Devin Brooke (as "Michal")--is the only thing of any interest as the rest of the film was exceedingly boring. That being said, this is one of those pictures which I cannot recommend to anybody and I have rated it according.

This movie was better than some of the interpretations of David and Goliath I've seen; however, it still was a far cry from the actual biblical story. I wondered if all the producers took from the narrative was the names!

Regardless, the quality of the movie was very good. High resolution, good CG, wonderful scenery, and an okay job on the costume designs. My favorite part was when Goliath came onto the scene. The guy who played him was huge and convincing as Goliath. I like the interpretation of David as a masculine man and not a pubescent boy. One of the problems I've always had with a David portrayal is that he's portrayed as young boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. This David was masculine and manly. I mean, if we're going with the biblical narrative, David took out animals to protect his father's sheep. That's not a thin, skinny pale boy. Plus, David lived in warm climate and was a Jew. Chances are, he's at least tanned with dark hair.

But I digress.

All in all, I watched the movie fully aware there was a lot of creative tampering with the biblical narrative BUT I did like the action scenes.