"Dogma" is a 1999 adventure comedy directed by Kevin Smith starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
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All in all, Kevin Smith's fourth directorial work ascends to comically celestial heights with hilariously decorated wings by combining doctrinal theology and dark humour to a weird yet fascinating road trip comedy that, despite its general silliness and a predictable plot, displays an extreme intelligence and knowledge about its sophisticated subject matter, and thanks to likable characters, effective side-blows and a script with love for detail, it becomes a strangely enjoyable and meticulous twist on the biblical movie genre that knows to mock as well as respect the themes it deals with.
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After the previous film has been nothing short of a total catastrophe, I really hoped that Kevin Smith's next film would be much less offensive, insulting and uncomfortable to watch. Well, it is in fact much less awkward to watch, but I cannot really deny that it is less insulting to some, for it is an absolutely dark comedy about religion, Christian teaching and Armageddon. However, unlike his last feature, this one surprisingly displays a lot of intelligence, knowledge and, most importantly, respect towards the subject matter it deals with. What is this film even? Well, I cannot fully describe what it actually is supposed to be, but if I had to summarize it, I would say that this is the result of what would happen if you combined biblical spectacularity and comic book extravaganza to weird genre mix. Given that the writer-director is a professed fan of comics and was apparently raised a Catholic, it is no wonder that he seems to have comprehension about both aspects - unlike with his previous project. The result of this experimental undertaking is a naughty but nonetheless fascinating road trip movie that entertains with its basic premise as well as its dark humour. It displays a lot of respect towards religion and biblical values, but at the same time doesn't hesitate to point out the stupidity of some other aspects. Like, the main character, who turns out to be the last descendant of Jesus Christ is working at an abortion clinic that is constantly besieged by devout Catholics, and in another scene, it is revealed by one character that Jesus Christ himself was black and not white as everybody says. What makes it all so effective is that it exactly hits a sore point of many believers, and reportedly, it was successful, as the movie was later on protested against by the same people. However, since I am not really religious and can take dark humour, I had no problem at all with what is shown in here, quite the contrary, it was extremely fascinating. As mentioned above, Smith seems to know a lot about doctrine theology and hence knows to invent as well as to stage characters from the matter like superheroes. Next to the previously mentioned descendant of Christ, Bethany, we have the angel Metatron (brilliantly portrayed by Alan Rickman), the thirteenth apostle Rufus (who was never mentioned because he was black), a muse living on earth as a stripper, the mischievous Azrael, the two renegade angles Loki and Bartleby and, last but not least, two prophets - Jay and Silent Bob. Wait, what? Yes, exactly! Next to all the bible inspired characters you have your two favourite drug-dealing stoners accompanying the group with their abilities. Seriously, never ever have fictional characters been totally out of place and right were they belong at the same time. Together, they embark on an adventure to stop the boys from "Good Will Hunting", I mean, the two fallen angels from experiencing indulgence, thus proving that God is not infallible and inadvertently destroying existence itself. In the course of the film, Smith doesn't hesitate from calling attention to some valid points about the bible, for example why angels have no free will and humans do despite being his first creation, or that God in fact might be female or even that Jesus was no only child. There are so many ideas and legitimate discussions about it, that it is downright thought provoking, but even if it is mostly a great idea and a well-executed film, there is still one thing about it that bugs me a little. Most of the time, it shows the characters having sophisticated conversations about the total hilariousness of it, and once again it is so wittily written that it downright amazes me, but at the same time it affects the experience tremendously. Kevin Smith's love for detail and intention to satirize the whole subject results in a certain kind of uneventfulness. Like, the importance of each character is thoroughly explained and they are well-designed from start to finish, but considering how they are introduced, they all do comparatively little. They travel from Chicago to Jersey, arrive there and stop the angles - there isn't actually happening much more. It is kind of predictable, straightforward and proceeds without any major complications. I am not going to deny the ingeniousness behind it all, because it is seriously impressive, but at the same time the plot comes up short. In the end, it however tuns out to be an extremely enjoyable and intelligent experience. The characters are loveable, the cast is probably the most outstanding Smith was ever able to assemble, and the satire is wonderfully constructed. Also, Alanis Morissette plays God herself. How can you not love that idea? Weird, yet meticulously crafted and strangely fascinating.
