By most public acclamation, Richard Dutcher is the father of Mormon movie-making, for better and for worse.

Ever since his seminal "God's Army" appeared on mainstream screens in 2000 and destroyed the notion that "LDS entertainment" was an oxymoron, the floodgates have unleashed a veritable torrent of movies made by Mormons with Mormon themes, from "Charly" to "The Singles Ward" to "The RM" to "The Other Side of Heaven" and on and on. If you fudge just a bit, you could even throw "Napoleon Dynamite" in there.

And now, 5 1/2 years later, Dutcher has come out with "God's Army 2" to make one thing perfectly clear: He's still better than anybody else in the genre. He really is Cecil B. DeMormon.

Or at least I think so. I was a big fan after the first "God's Army," not because it was the greatest movie ever made but because I was impressed that someone finally succeeded in presenting LDS culture without being cheesy or sanitized or both. Now I'm twice as big a fan. I wrote after the original "God's Army" that Dutcher captured the essence of LDS missionary life so well that I found myself back in Gorleston-on-Sea, England, feeling the salt spray of the North Sea on my neck and hearing missionaries state categorically — widely believed but never actually proven — that the flat we lived in once belonged to Engelbert Humperdinck.

"God's Army 2" again took me back to England, but this time to the days I spent as a missionary in London, where I met a man named Jim Wright who drove a red double-decker bus and once fought the Germans in World War II. He wanted to talk about God because he wanted to escape the nightmares that had been haunting him since the war. He was looking for religion first and then — just maybe — Mormonism. He wanted to be baptized in the holy waters but also wanted his cuppa tea.

Jim Wright was like the characters in "God's Army 2," the kind of colorful people who constantly cross a missionary's path and, if they don't make it into the homecoming talk, nonetheless make for good storytelling — if you can find a good storyteller.

That's Dutcher. He uses the whole medium to tell his stories. He nails the speech, the dress, the phrases, the body language, the subtle nuances, the pressures on homesick 19-year-olds sent forth to serve.

The only part he doesn't nail — it's happened in both movies now — is his portrayal of the mission president. He paints him as a behind-the-scenes, almost-subservient role player, whereas in real life an LDS mission president is about as hands-off as Donald Trump — although the presidents do, as Dutcher portrays, tend to have a knack for wearing bad suits.

Otherwise, he is basically spot-on about everything, capturing the details while avoiding the cliches and triteness that tend to permeate the Mormon film landscape he's helped develop. Where other films go for humor by making fun of the culture, Dutcher finds humor in the culture. Where other films preach didactically or self-righteously, notably the sanctimonious "Saints and Soldiers," Dutcher is as direct as a Picasso painting.

That isn't to say everyone will love "God's Army 2." Some people will hate it. Do not take the little kids. It is both inspiring and disturbing, a missionary movie with an edge.

But when's the last time anybody put "edgy" and "missionary movie" together?

Dutcher's so good, let's forgive him for opening the path that made "Charly" possible. Just as long as there isn't a "Charly 2."

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Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.