MOVIE
REVIEW
Title:
A LONG WAY OFF
Rating:
Starring:
Jason Burkey, Robert
Davi, John Diehl
J
ake Abraham (Jason Burkey Rumors of Wars) is fed up of
working for his father on the family
farm. He dreams of bigger and better
things. So when an opportunity arises, Jake
asks for an early inheritance from his
father, who surprisingly agrees to give it to
him.
Written by:
Jon Macy, Gerald
McGlothlin
Directed by:
Michael Davis, John
Errington
Genre:
Drama
Once he has the money in hand, Jake
leaves the farm and his family behind and
heads for the big city to start a new life for
himself. Once there, he begins to invest in
companies and living large. He buys an
expensive car and an even more expensive
apartment, and begins to hang around with
people who take to Jake… and his money.
Running Time:
105 minutes
MPAA Rating:
PG
Production Company:
Uptone Pictures,
Prodigalfilm, CMD
Distribution
Released by:
Word Films
Reviewed by:
Christian St John
Release Date:
Available Now : DVD & VOD
18 > CHRISTIAN REVIEW
In the beginning things actually look good
for Jake. His investments make him a lot of
money and so he begins to live even larger
and party hard with his new found friends.
But when something happens that makes
his investments worthless, Jake is forced to
rethink his life.
A Long Way Off is based on The Parable of
the Prodigal Son, one of the most famous
stories Jesus told. The riches to rags story is
one that many people can relate to, the
evidence of which can be seen in the
amount of ‘prodigal’ movies that have been
made over the years - off the top of my
head I can think of Prodigal (2011), The
Prodigal (1983), Warrior (2011), Turning Back
(2010), and Wayward: The Prodigal Son
(2014).
The production quality of A Long Way Off is
superb - the cinematography, sound, music
score, editing, and directing are all well
done. The acting is also well done thanks to
some good performances by Jason Burkey,
John Diehl (Stargate), Robert Davi (The
Goonies), and Johanna Jowett (7th Street
Theater) - in fact, the entire cast was good.
The one thing that let the production down
was the screenplay. It’s not that it’s badly
written, I just felt there just wasn’t enough
tension throughout which made the movie
drag on a bit… at least 15 minutes could
have been shaved off the running time.
As far as negative content, there are a few
scenes set in bars and nightclubs, so there is
some drinking shown (people are seen
drunk in a couple of scenes). There is also
some violence - a man gets beaten up and a
man pushes another man. But there really
isn’t a lot if negative content in this movie.
Faith wise, the story sticks pretty close to
the parable Jesus tells in Luke 15:11-32, and
the themes of family, change, love,
forgiveness and mercy \