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God's Army 2: States of Grace

Where: Area theaters.

When: Opens today.

Rating: PG-13 for some intense sequences of violence and mature thematic material.

Running time: 128 minutes.

Bottom line: Richard Dutcher returns with a challenge to everything you think you know about Mormon Cinema.

"We can break the rules and keep the commandments," declares Elder Lozano, an LDS missionary in Santa Monica, Calif., during "God's Army 2: States of Grace" - a compelling and hard-hitting drama in which director-writer-editor Richard Dutcher breaks all the rules of the Mormon Cinema genre he singlehandedly launched five years ago.

Like his 2000 film "God's Army," "States of Grace" follows the exploits of LDS missionaries in Los Angeles and features some of the same supporting players. But comparisons end there. Where the first movie was an easygoing, year-in-the life story of a typical missionary experience, this new film is filled with dramatically atypical characters and situations.

Elder Lozano (Ignacio Serricchio) is counting the days to the end of his two-year mission and is a bit disappointed in himself. "I think I'm a better convert than a missionary," he confides to his mission companion, the white-bread Elder Farrell (Lucas Fleischer). Then the elders witness a gang shooting, and Lozano aids a wounded gang member, Carl (Lamont Stephens).

While Farrell is momentarily freaked at seeing Lozano shirtless - revealing gang tattoos and a bullet wound from a previous life - Lozano befriends Carl, who shows an interest in the Book of Mormon. Lozano also tries to help a homeless man (Jo-Sei Ikeda), a former Pentecostal preacher battling the bottle. Meanwhile, Farrell is attracted to a neighbor, Holly (Rachel Emmers), an actress with a troubled backstory.

Dutcher firmly resists the prevailing trends of Mormon Cinema, employing neither the namby-pamby unnamed spirituality of "crossover" LDS films nor the green Jell-O jokes or feel-good pieties of movies made for Utah consumption only. No, Dutcher's characters wear their LDS beliefs proudly, and they deal with the consequences of trying to live up to those beliefs in the real world.

Dutcher also doesn't use his no-name cast or low-budget filmmaking as excuses.

Working again with cinematographer Ken Glassing, Dutcher's shots of sunny Santa Monica contrast neatly with the seriousness of his story. The cast is surprisingly good, particularly Serricchio (a regular on "General Hospital") as the conflicted Lozano.

The fear for "God's Army 2: States of Grace" is that the qualities that make it so powerful - its gritty authenticity and its portrayal of Mormons struggling with their faith - are the things that will alienate the core LDS audience. But for those willing to purge their preconceptions, the rewards will be great.

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Contact Sean P. Means at movies@sltrib.com or 801-257-8602. Send comments about this review to livingeditor@sltrib.com.