The low-budget Christian drama Dispatched is like a movie version of a street preacher. You may have been just going about your daily business, but it grabs you by the shirt collar. It gets right up in your face and declares God’s love for you. This blunt approach to evangelism is not for everybody.
Based on Carl Thomas’s book by the same name, Dispatched tells the true story of a hotheaded cop (Jeff Moore) whose life drastically turns around, when he becomes a Christian. The beginning establishes him as a well-meaning but angry police officer, under investigation for his many temperamental outbursts. One day a colleague invites Carl to a church service led by a charismatic faith healer. There, Carl witnesses what he believes to be the healing of a blind woman. Then the preacher turns to him and heals him of his anger issues, in a transformation so radical it’s only slightly less dramatic. “I felt like a new man,” he said. The next day, he shows up smiling at work and cheerfully handing out Bibles to inmates. “I feel different. I am different,” he tells his wife, stating the obvious. But she’s not having it and actually divorces him over his conversion. However, he ends up remarried to another believer. Carl ends up going in a different direction professionally, as well: he retires as an officer and becomes the leader of a prison ministry.
The entire movie is as earnest and sincere as Carl himself. Its straightforward agenda is to lead viewers to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. The movie is far from subtle in promoting Christianity. At the end, the real Carl Thomas makes a final, impassioned plea to viewers. He tells us that Jesus forgave his sins, changed his heart and saved his soul. “If he did it for me, he’ll do it for you,” says Carl.
Ultimately, the film explains why one individual became a Christian and that’s it. For another person, it does not amount to a good reason to convert. We understand why Carl Thomas turned into a believer. But what basis do we have to do the same? The problem with personal testimony is the “personal” part. No one is going to say, “Carl had this experience so I’m going to accept Jesus, too.” Why wouldn’t God intervene in their own life, like He supposedly did with Carl? In other words, this viewer remains unconvinced.
DVD Details
Home Video Distributor: Burning Bulb Publishing
Available on Blu-ray - November 9, 2020
Screen Formats: 2.39:1
Subtitles: None
Audio: DTS-HD 5.1
Discs: DVD Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A
Supplements:
Commentary:
- None
Special Features:
- None
MPAA Rating: unrated.
Runtime: 86 mins
Director: Gary Lee Vincent
Writer: Jason Campbell
Cast: Jeff Moore, Barry Michael Dailey, Kenny Clemons
Genre: Drama
Tagline: Based on a true story
Memorable Movie Quote: "I'm not buying it."
Distributor: JC Films
Official Site:
Release Date: April 19, 2020
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: November 9, 2020.
Synopsis: Based on a true story, Officer Carl Thomas (Jeff Moore) was fearless at going after the bad guys. But Thomas had a dark side. In Dispatched, learn how God changed the heart of a street-hardened cop into an ambassador of God's love.