faith-based films are a topic of heavy conversation these days; there are fervent defenders and detractors of each film in the genre before the movies even see the light of day. the success of films like god's not dead and heaven is for real at the box office opened up the genre in a big way in 2014 and before either of those films came son of god, the tale of jesus recut from the miniseries the bible. the film turns out to actually be better than i was afraid, but it is still a lackluster rendition of the tale which boils what could be an epic story down to a version that could be renamed jesus' greatest hits. technically, this is a rather competent film. the production values are solid and the performances are as good as you can hope for. diogo morgado has the impossible task of interpreting one of the most iconic individuals of all-time and with a script that doesn't give him much room to breathe, but he's okay in the role. the script is in fact the problem, with dialogue that sounds like the made-for-tv film that it is. meanwhile christopher spencer, who directed most of the episodes of the bible that the film consists of, is unable to find any cohesiveness to the story. say what you will about passion of the christ, but it is more than just a series of vignettes that most people can probably recite from memory. son of god tries hard but just isn't up to the task of standing tall as a theatrical effort.