WITNESSES CRASHES AND BURNS!

[Sledge]

I'm sitting alone in a theater for a 10 am showing of the Witnesses. I'm very excited but sad to see no one else has made this a priority.

Never had a theater showing all to myself. I feel like a prince.

Who the hell goes to the movies at 10:00 on a Friday morning?

We expect a full review of this film, stem.

[Kishkumen]

Don’t leave us hangin’ here, stem!

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

The Rotten Tomatoes website continues to get exactly 1/2 star and 5 star ratings. Literally nothing in between. Here’s a nice review by a Peggy W, who hasn’t reviewed any other films:

My husband and I went to see this movie last night. It was outstanding! The casting, the music, the visuals placed you back into the early 1800's, when there was much religious fervor. For me as a member of the Church of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it helped me place the 3 main witnesses to the Book of Mormon into perspective and clarity. Joseph Smith is also beautifully portrayed. If you get a chance, see it on the big screen. Dan and Deborah Peterson have worked tirelessly to bring it to production.

Is it me, or a lot of ‘first-time reviewers’ showing up to RT and giving this film a 5-star review? Did the Executive Producer or any other types exhort their audiences to do this, you suppose? This doesn’t feel organic to me.

- Doc

[Tom]

The Rotten Tomatoes website continues to get exactly 1/2 star and 5 star ratings. Literally nothing in between. Here’s a nice review by a Peggy W, who hasn’t reviewed any other films:

My husband and I went to see this movie last night. It was outstanding! The casting, the music, the visuals placed you back into the early 1800's, when there was much religious fervor. For me as a member of the Church of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it helped me place the 3 main witnesses to the Book of Mormon into perspective and clarity. Joseph Smith is also beautifully portrayed. If you get a chance, see it on the big screen. Dan and Deborah Peterson have worked tirelessly to bring it to production.

[snipped]

Is it me, or a lot of ‘first-time reviewers’ showing up to RT and giving this film a 5-star review? Did the Executive Producer or any other types exhort their audiences to do this, you suppose? This doesn’t feel organic to me.

- Doc

I noticed a few reviews from some folks who are close to the film: Lincoln H and Deborah P. Is "Daniel P" the Daniel P?

"Witnesses" tells a powerful story with humor, honesty, and emotion. It frankly acknowledges difficult issues such as the advent of plural marriage and the failure of the Kirtland Bank, as well as bruised egos in the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Against a background that mingles friendship, family, and remarkable spiritual manifestations with violent persecution, enormous internal and external stress, interpersonal strife, and even alienation, the continued insistence by Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and David Whitmer that they, with Joseph Smith, had seen an angel and the golden plates and had literally heard the voice of God is deeply impressive. So is the fact that a movie as good and as visually beautiful as this one was created on what was, by Hollywood standards, an extremely modest budget. That's a tribute to Mark Goodman, James Jordan, Russell Richins, and to the wonderful people who worked with them.

Is Allen W" the Allen W.? On the other hand, Louis M is not the Louis M.

I wonder if Richard Dutcher plans to see it. I recall his ambitious plans to make a $12-million Joseph Smith biopic with Val Kilmer in the starring role.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

I just went to Fandango to buy my ticket for tomorrow at the South Jordan Megaplex. I guess I thought with all the hype surrounding this movie I should probably buy my ticket now.

Much to my chagrin, every single seat is still available for all the times I checked. Maybe Saturday isn’t a big movie day here in Utah?

[Tom]

I just went to Fandango to buy my ticket for tomorrow at the South Jordan Megaplex. I guess I thought with all the hype surrounding this movie I should probably buy my ticket now.

Much to my chagrin, every single seat is still available for all the times I checked. Maybe Saturday isn’t a big movie day here in Utah?

I counsel you to buy out the theater and invite members of your stake.

[Shulem]

I counsel you to buy out the theater and invite members of your stake.

And give it 5 STARS no matter what you think of the movie. No need to be honest and say what you really think.

[Tom]

I counsel you to buy out the theater and invite members of your stake.

And give it 5 STARS no matter what you think of the movie. No need to be honest and say what you really think.

And please verify whether the scene depicting Joseph Smith hitting a ruffian upside the head with the golden plates was included in the final version or whether it's part of the comedic outtakes at the end of the film.

[Sledge]

And please verify whether the scene depicting Joseph Smith hitting a ruffian upside the head with the golden plates was included in the final version or whether it's part of the comedic outtakes at the end of the film.

That ruffian was Eber D. Howe.

[dastardly stem]

I feel ill-equipped in reviewing what I saw this morning, but I'll give it a try. I saw it in West Jordan, UT per Scratch's question. I didn't plan on it, nor did I expect to find myself with such an open schedule this morning. I'm but minutes from the theater, and seeing it was playing at the perfect time, fitting in with my schedule, I took the opportunity.

I got my ticket at the door right at about 10 am and sat in an empty theater. As I suggested that made me feel awkward. What do they do with movies when no one shows up? I honestly don't know.

The movie finally starts. You know all the previews that they run through. I realized I could have showed up at 10:20, but it's been quite a while since I've been to the movies, I plum forgot that they did those...and so many.

Scene: 1833 MO. David Whitmer is taken from his home in front of his wife, escorted to one of the more contrived scenes where we see a stage, an angry crowd, and a few others kneeling, hands tied behind their backs. Whitmer is forced to his knees and lined up. YOu may recognize this if you've seen the trailer.

A bad guy with a gun yells out, "who is David Whitmer?"
Silence.
The bad guy smacks one of the kneeling beleaguered fellows, inspiring Whitmer to yell out, "I am he".

The guy rushes him and threatens, after asking a few more questions, "renounce the story about the Book of Mormon that you and JOe Smith made up or you shall die", stealing, it seems, a common urban legend about a believer having to face a murderer who proposes one to renounce the faith or die.

Whitmer's brave response comes at the end of the movie. Or if you want to watch the trailer you can see it there.

The scene: 1888 MO. David Whitmer's working in his barn and a reporter approaches. David initially cold and bothered, turns him away, conveniently an old note is near, he opens it and re-reads it. It inspires him to call the reporter back. David recounts the story to the reporter and the movie plays out as he narrates.

Some of the typical events show up. Joseph flees attackers while carrying the plates. Lucy and Martin lose the manuscript. Martin tries to trick Joseph by switching out the stone (Joseph says "it's dark as Egypt..." one of Peterson's favorite lines). The hat? Oh my the hat. It shows Joseph looking into the hat, while holding it as if he's reading a book. No burying his face or closing out the light. He just holds it while reading words as if he's holding a book with two hands. Interesting depiction considering all the play on that.

Martin and Lucy separate and another contrived scene plays out. They are in some sort of court. Lucy wants Joseph to be condemned. Martin's in the audience as Lucy testifies. But she gave Joseph $28 they point out. So, says the judge, of sorts, since Lucy and Martin gave joseph money willingly there is no con here. The court is dismissed and Lucy looks like a fool embarrassed in front of a previously anti-Joseph audience.

Joseph was being called prophet before the Book of Mormon translation, long before the church was organized. Emma, after having lost a baby during pregnancy, yells at him to fix the dead baby, since he is a prophet, bring it back like Peter of old would do. Joseph whines, "I'm no Peter". They hug.

Another scene has Joseph visiting his family and a couple of bad guys show up poking around looking for the plates. Joseph's little brother gets scared as the family prepares to scare them off. Joseph turns to his little bro saying, don't be scared, if you do get scared just yell louder. They burst open the front door, yelling while firing their guns into the air. Joseph smiles with a twinkle in his eye as he looks at his younger brother who smiles back, while the bad guys run off. I don't know how they could have fit in more corny scenes than what they did, but this was a doozy.

Oliver comes on scene. Helps translate, baptizes and gets baptized...everything is going swimmingly. They complete the translation and David Whitmer, who is said to be Oliver's friend, gets all excited and runs home to his girlfriend and hugs her with joy.

ANother scene has David showing up to visit Oliver and Joseph. David W had yet to meet Joseph. Oliver tells David W, we know you rushed on the way...stopped at some place and road hard to get there. David W is taken aback with some wonder how did they know what he was up to. Oliver chimes in, Joseph's stones are for more than just translating--leaving the audience with the impression Joseph was watching David W travel to Pennsylvania through his stone.

Alright I'm going way too play-by-play here....Fast-foward a bit.. Sidney Rigdon comes on board and as soon as he does, Joseph upsets Oliver, David and Martin by elevating him in rank. I mean as briefly and vaguely as they could, they have Oliver confront Joseph on Fanny Alger. I would guess most would not really follow what is being said in this scene, but it's mentioned. And the Kirtland banking scam gets mention. the movie exonerates Joseph for being too generous to run a bank--he and his wife hug as the scene fades with her exclaiming without a doubt he's a prophet.

Hyrum Page gets his revelation. Oliver and others support it. Joseph condemns it. They get upset, thinking he's taking too much power.

David, Oliver and Martin got excoriated in front of everyone by Sidney while Joseph sat approvingly and then Joseph sends them each a noted of excommunication. Martin, as narrator, points out JOseph was very forgiving and was always willing to have them back. Oliver gets rebaptized in 1848 but dies before he joins the body of the saints, the closing notes suggest. Martin rejoins when he was 87. And David never does. But each, it says, spent their days defending the Book of Mormon.

It closes with David W claiming the story was true, to the guy who wanted to kill him. The determined murderer's heart grew 3 sizes that day and he told his followers to let David W go.

I don't know what I expected. I did expect more. Something more interesting and fun. A little smoother. I thought we'd get some better acting. I thought we'd get better characters. They were terrible. Each and every person, with a slight head nod to Lucy Mack Smith. The best part of the movie was the beautiful camera work. The beautiful landscapes scenes and some of the set up scenes were nice. The story was really poorly done. It didn't flow well. It was poorly crafted, it seemed to me. Someone unfamiliar with the story would be lost, I'd think. Most of the little nuggets of information would be missed.

Anyway...my take.