15 Years Later, Gerard Butler's Gritty Action Sleeper Hit Is Taking Over Streaming

Published Sep 1, 2026, 9:43 PM EDT Liam Gaughan is a film and TV writer at Collider. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for ten years. Between relentlessly adding new titles to his watchlist and attending as many screenings as he can, Liam is always watching new movies and television shows. In addition to reviewing, writing, and commentating on both new and old releases, Liam has interviewed talent such as Mark Wahlberg, Jesse Plemons, Sam Mendes, Billy Eichner, Dylan O'Brien, Luke Wilson, and B.J. Novak. Liam aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in Allentown, PA. Though he doesn't have the major name recognition of some of his peers, Gerard Butler is one of the most successful action stars working today, having consistently starred in solid, mid-budget genre films for over two decades. The role of a contemporary action star who is not tied to a superhero franchise is increasingly rare — but it’s also not an identity that should box Butler in, considering his other talents. Butler is a classically trained actor who has experience on the stage and working with auteur filmmakers, so it would be misleading to claim that he’s limited to action roles. This unique combination of skills is what made Butler the perfect actor to star in Machine Gun Preacher, an action thriller based on a true story of faith and redemption. Machine Gun Preacher could have been a generic revenge thriller if another action star was cast instead, but it also could have been a saccharine faith-based drama if not for the genre elements. In his hands, it's neither; it’s one of Butler’s greatest performances, because it feels like a role that he specifically was best suited to play. Machine Gun Preacher is based on the true story of Sam Childers, a former gang member and alcoholic from Philadelphia who is released from prison, only to realize that his wife Lynn (Michelle Monaghan) has become a regular churchgoer and made a complete conversion to Christianity while he was away. Although Childers is initially not interested in applying himself to faith, he is shaken by an experience in which he nearly kills a vagrant in a street fight, which makes him feel as if there was divine intervention. Childers then became involved in a series of missions to South Sudan where he fought alongside the Sudan People's Liberation Army to protect women and children who were under threat from Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army. It’s an unbelievable story that asked Butler to be more vulnerable than he had ever been before, and the bravery of his performance is enough to overcome some of the film’s flaws. Fans who are interested in checking it out can watch it on Pluto TV, where it is streaming free, or on Paramount+, where it has been among the top 10 most-streamed films for weeks. ‘Machine Gun Preacher’ Is a Redemptive Character Study Butler's inherent charisma has made him a great heroic lead for blockbuster films, so Machine Gun Preacher offered him a challenge: Childers begins the story as a harmful, destructive person who has committed crimes, shown no interest in Lynn’s faith, and is set down a path in which he will make the same mistakes that he did before getting incarcerated. Although there are some subtle allusions to a tragic past, the idea best communicated by the film is that he lacks purpose; Childers didn’t become a gang member because he is an inherently cruel person, but because he was never taught that he had potential, and didn’t see any opportunity in which he could have a profound impact on others. What’s interesting is that Childers only skeptically accepts the idea of faith as a guiding force in his life, but does not get the incentive that he needs until visiting the Sudan. Machine Gun Preacher walks a tricky line in showing what involvement in an international conflict looks like, but the film appropriately conveys a sense of hopelessness for the people of Sudan who believe that they are being forgotten about. At first, Childers is so incentivized by the violence that he has seen committed that he uses his role in Sudan as a means to take down war criminals — but he finds greater purpose in being able to rebuild communities and protect families. His role is to assist the people of Sudan by listening to them. The film is also keen to call out America’s foreign policy, noting that indifference has resulted in a significant amount of lives lost. ‘Machine Gun Preacher’ Has One of Gerard Butler’s Best Performances Machine Gun Preacher was directed by Marc Forster, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker who has led many actors to give award-winning performances. Butler nails the conflict within Childers, who becomes so obsessed with returning to the Sudan that he feels guilty when he is at home, and even lashes out at his family. It’s an affecting portrayal of mental health, and one that is made stronger thanks to the terrific supporting performance by Monaghan. While this easily could have been a generic, thankless “supportive wife” role, Lynn is a critical character because she is the one that understands that Childers is capable of more than what he sees in front of him. Machine Gun Preacher was not without its controversies, as the real Childers came under fire for some of his questionable actions, some of which suggested that he wasn’t as heroic as initial reports may have made it seem. Yet, Machine Gun Preacher is a harrowing thriller that works as its own standalone character study, and the fact that it doesn’t exactly follow all of the facts isn’t an issue. There are plenty of all-time great biopics that mislead and even outright lie to the viewers about what happened, and Machine Gun Preacher attempted to be fairly honest with the limited facts that were available at the time it went into production. While it had an unsuccessful award season run after debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011, Machine Gun Preacher is worth seeking out because it is such an anomaly within Butler’s body of work. Machine Gun Preacher Release Date September 23, 2011 Runtime 129 minutes Cast Richard Goteri Gun Shop Owner