I can’t think of a movie I have anticipated seeing as much as Ted Dekker’s Thr3e. His original novel, which the movie is based on, sold extremely well in when first published. Back then, I interviewed him about his thematic style and the cinematic future of his books. As of this writing, three others are in development with Fox Faith.
 
The Christian market hasn’t seen an author like Ted Dekker, with the possible exception of Frank Paretti—he’s the closest thing we have to Stephen King or Dean Koontz. I suspect he takes offense at the “Christian” writer label, he sees himself as an author who is a Christian and is painting images and stories with that worldview. One would be hard pressed to tell the difference between Dekker and many non-Christian authors.

As a Christian movie, Thr3e is a pleasant surprise. I would have no trouble taking my non-Christian friends to see. But compared to the non-Christian movie market, it isn’t up to par.

In Thr3e, a serial bomber and killer is after a young seminary student named Kevin. With the aid of childhood friend Samantha and policewoman Jennifer Peters, Kevin seeks to solve a murder mystery before those closest to him suffer the consequences. We end up with a mystery suspense thriller. And while there are enough clues to figure everything out on screen, most are shocked by the end. There are only a few very minor changes from book to film. Thr3e shows a promising future for other Dekker novels headed for the big screen.

Unfortunately, as a fan of the book, I was disappointed. While Dekker’s story is great, the movie falls far short in other areas. First is the acting. While Marc Blucas in the lead role of Kevin Parson actually looks a lot like the author Ted Dekker, his performance falls flat. There are a number of subtle ways I was disappointed in his portrayal. I unfortunately can’t mention some of those as it would relate to my past experience and one of the central themes of the movie. It wasn’t just his role though, the majority of the cast was weak and were not very convincing.

There is an exception to this. Several characters are played by actors from Rob Zombie’s  movie The Devil’s Rejects, largely resembling the roles they played in that zombie film. They are as fun on screen in Thr3e as they were in The Devil’s Rejects. Bill Moseley plays Slater and Priscilla Barns plays Belinda Parson. Tom Bower plays Eugene Parson, and Jeffrey Lee Hollis plays Bob Parson. If you haven’t caught my drift yet, the fascinating Parson family was well played in this movie. I would have loved to see the whole movie revolve around this sickly strange and evil family. Outside of the Barnes family, though, most every other character falls short.

The film’s editing and direction were also disappointing. There are frequent choppy sequences and key flashbacks that are confusing. Thankfully, having read the book, I was able to explain things to my wife and son who were watching with me. I could also talk about the disappointing score but will simply say, in the places where we needed background, we didn’t have it, and in the places where there was background, the movie followed too many horror and thriller stereotypes.

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