Rule Breakers ★★☆☆☆

Rule Breakers is a film by Angel Studios, which is based in Utah. Maybe you can guess what kind of studio they are. I previously watched the movie Homestead by the studio, and even though I have major issues with the film, I actually thought that Homestead, though it wasn't that great of a film, had a solid story that could have been helped by better dialogue and a bit less Christian propaganda. Rule Breakers, however, was terribly boring, with a story so slow, that I was glad there was no one else in the theater with me, so that I could play on my phone, or get up and do jumping jacks without bothering anyone. Rule Breakers is essentially a sports movie, but instead of sports, it's based on the true story of the all girls robotics team from Afghanistan who almost didn't make it to their first competition due to their US visas being denied. The movie relentlessly bashes the patriarchal culture of Afghanistan which had my Cross-Cultural Studies degree fighting with my Social Work schooling. On the one hand, obviously Afghanistan is a pretty terrible place for women, and it's great to see a real life story of women escaping that. On the other hand, I can't help feeling that Christians making such a movie is still a kind of subtle propaganda trying to convince us, "See? That religion is SO bad to women. Isn't Christianity great by comparison?" I'll admit that I went into the movie with very low standards due to my own negative experience with Christianity, and I'm sure that influenced how I perceived the movie. But still, there was something off about the way the violence of Afghanistan was portrayed. It felt like they were trying to raise the stakes of the movie without affecting the characters' actions or showing them struggling emotionally. The most was when one of the character's father dies, but even then, they don't change any plans at all. Still, in the second half of the movie when the team is finally competing in several robotics competitions, I was definitely rooting for them. I think more than half of this movie could have been deleted, and more time could have been spent on the girls and their character development. 2 out of 5 stars, I'm sorry that I wasted 2 hours on this boring movie.