There is a delightful moment in the musical Guys and Dolls when the heroine has to confess to the leader of a Gospel mission that she has only managed to get a group of “sinners” to a religious meeting by engaging in a bet.
To her surprise, the leader greets the news with enthusiasm, seeing it as “fighting fire with fire.”
Similarly, the producers of Samson, the latest screen version of the Biblical Samson and Delilah story, seem to see it as a religious response to all the secular action hero movies so popular today. Despite their clearly good intentions, however, the film is not likely to result in widespread religious conversion.
This is not to say that it doesn’t try to hit many of the notes for an action-hero film. Its plot, already familiar to many, has all the right elements: a muscular hero who engages in a series of battles, winning against overwhelming odds; a seductive temptress; a power-hungry and really nasty villain; and impressive scenery – all presented with the accompaniment of a soaring orchestral score.
However, the problems lie in the handling of all this. The film starts off well enough with an exuberant light-heartedness and continues with an alternation of action, clashes with the leader of the enemy, and romantic scenes.
Throughout it all, Samson is the reluctant leader who is fated to free his people. At the same time, there are plot elements which will surprise anyone who has read the biblical account, including a protagonist who questions whether he is the right man for the job – though this is true to the comic-book form.
Similarly, the Philistines are given a nasty king and an even more nasty prince, determined to oppress the Hebrews and destroy Samson.
With the film containing so much that should make it a box office success, it too often gets it wrong.
It’s true that our hero, while not wearing an impressive bodysuit like most action heroes, sheds his dreary tunics often enough to reveal a physique quite up to standard; and, true to the source, he kills a lion with his bare hands and successfully engages in a number of combats. Of course, instead of fighting aliens, he fights hordes of Philistines.
However, Samson’s victories seem to be made possible only because his opponents obligingly line up, waiting their turn to be bashed over the head – with the jawbone of an ass in the most comically outre mass killing since the climax of Kill Bill 1.
A scene in which Samson sets fire to the Philistines’ crops by attaching fire to the tails of foxes is so mismanaged that it looks as though Samson himself is running through the vegetables.
Even the climactic scenes of his seduction by Delilah, his revelation of the source of his strength, and his blinding and his capture are given little weight; and since he is never put to work turning a grindstone, one gets the impression that Samson had no time at all to grow his hair back before finally vanquishing his enemies.
In other words, the film will do little to reinforce the religious fervour of believers. It may contain many of the original events, but it is not likely to impress either Jews or Christians.
As to non-believers who may view the film solely as yet another action story, it will probably seem as inept as the old Steve Reeves Hercules movies.
While it does aim at presenting the clichés, it simply lacks the energy and the impressiveness of the genre. Its story of the good guys versus the bad guys lacks clarity since no background information is presented. Symbolic references including pieces of silver and Samson being presented as a Christ figure, scourged and carrying a cross, are clearly not going to be appreciated.
While the dialogue manages to avoid the ponderous solemnity of the stupendously dull 1949 Cecil B. DeMille version, its curious mixture of the familiar and pious references to God never manages to sound convincing. In large measure this is because director Bruce Macdonald has done little to get any subtlety out of any performance; the actors simply lack conviction.
Taylor James as Samson has the right muscles, but his hero lacks any charisma; Billy Zane as the ruler of the Philistines does little but rant ineffectually, while Jackson Rathbone as his ruthless evil-plotting son appears to be weak rather than wily.
While, then, one can applaud the sincere efforts of the producers of the film to provide something more uplifting than the regular movie fare, its underlying aim to promote religious belief is unsuccessful.
Samson might have the potential to be a religious response to secular action hero films, but in reality it is just another unimpressive sword and sandals pot-boiler. If one is going to fight fire with fire, one had better make sure that one has all the necessary fuel.
