As part of his effort to play something besides an ageless mutant with an adamantium-coated skeleton, Hugh Jackman will be headlining the next in a growing line of faith-based films that people enjoy even if they’re really bad. According to Deadline, the success of movies like Heaven Is For Real and God’s Not Dead has paved the way for Apostle Paul, which will be produced under Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Pearl Street banner. Jackman will play Paul, also known as “Saul of Tarsus,” a man blinded by the light of Jesus on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus and whose sight was restored by Ananias. After that, Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth was the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God—although hopefully he gave some props to Ananias as well.
The A.V. Club found both Heaven Is For Real and God’s Not Dead to be undermined by their attempts to appeal to the broadest possible audience of conservative evangelicals by telling them things they already believe, rather than putting primary emphasis on the characters and story. In fact, the phrase “preaching to the choir” was used in both reviews. Being a period piece, at least Apostle Paul has the opportunity to skip the “protecting the faith in liberal America” doldrums and focus on the legend at hand. And surely it can’t be as bad as Left Behind.