Gospel, The (DVD)

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Shades of "The Preacher's Wife," there's a look-to-the-future villain who's so egocentric that his picture appears on billboards and TV commercials. The Bishop bypassed his old friend to select young Rev. Charles Frank (Idris Elba, "The Wire") as his successor. And of course Rev. Frank has dreams of grandeur for a bigger, better church with himself beamed big as God on big screens behind him as he speaks. There's also a love interest and dating rivalry. Just as the angel character in "The Preacher's Wife" was drawn to the wife of the minister he was to help, David is drawn to a woman ("American Idol" star Tamyra Gray)with a child whose husband (Dwayne Boyd) wants them to get back together. But again, the storyline is so familiar and the narrative so hurried and compressed that it feels unbelievably neat and tidy. But the music? It's positively wonderful. Can I hear an "Amen"?

Of the performances, Gooding's and Nona Gaye's, as the wife of the power-hungry reverend, are the best. They make the most of the time they're on-camera and manage to convey a degree of complexity that the others aren't able to manage. The other characters seem nearly as cardboard as some of the exterior scenes that look so unnatural we suspect green screens were clumsily used. There's an amateurish quality to the camerawork that can seem annoying, and I'm not talking about a hand-held effect. I'm talking about the way shots are framed and the way that light seems to be playing the cinematographer, instead of the other way around.

Video: Though the film is mastered in High Definition and presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, the exteriors look funny at times, as if a film of background were inserted behind characters in a studio, and a grainy, gauzy film at that. Other times, light washes things out. The interiors are considerably sharper, with more consistently vivid colors.

Audio: By contrast, the audio is pretty crisp, especially the side-speaker and rear-speaker action. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 has pretty natural separation of sounds, and a decent balance of treble and bass. Subtitles are in English only.

Extras: A brief making-of featurette seems a half-hearted marketing attempt, with not much in the way of behind-the-scenes insights. Same, really, with the commentary by director Rob Hardy and producer Will Packer, who mostly talk about why Gospel and salute friends and performers. It's average at best. Rounding out the extras are a few deleted scenes and extended musical performances (hooray for the latter!), and a photo montage.

Bottom Line: "The Gospel" isn't a bad film—certainly not as awful as deliberately preachy films like "The Omega Code" or "Megiddo"—but there's nothing original about it. Believers feel that Gospel music has a saving power, and that may be true. It certainly saves this film. I shudder to think what it would have been like to watch this without the music.

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