Review of Courageous (2011) by Kendall I — 12 Mar 2012

I watched this with my church group, and I have to say that it's not as bad as the critics say it to be; that is, if you are in the right mindset.

PLOT:The four best men on the force, Adam Mitchell (Alex Kendrick), Nathan Hayes (Ken Bevel), David Thomson (Ben Davies) and Shane Fuller (Kevin Downes) all have loving families and a strong faith, but when tradgedy befalls Adam's family, all men are thrown into questions of their duties as fathers and strengths of faith. Not to mention, their close friend Javier Martinez (Robert Amaya) is having trouble finding a job and there's a strong drug circulation running around town. Will the four cops learn to be better fathers? Will Javier find a job worth keeping? Will the cops get to the bottom of the drug circulation in town? I'll leave you there. It's a pretty basic plot executed weakly yet unpredictably.

ACTING:This is the low point of the film. Most of the acting was full of weak performances and Hollywood cheese. The shiners in this were Alex Kendrick as Adam, Ken Bevel as Nathan Hayes, and Robert Amaya as Robert Martinez. The worst actors were almost all the minor actors and Kevin Downes as Shane.

SCORE:The score was only made for effect, but I believe it is an improvement from the typical mood scoring from other Christian films.

OTHER CONTENT:I know most (not all) critics aren't impacted by religion, especially Christianity, so they won't care about the message in this. This has a pretty good message though I am not a father. It makes me think of my dad and his issues as a father. The movie itself, aside from its message, is pretty cheesy. The humor comes in as a comic relief as the seriousness builds up afterward. I do give this movie credit for having more unique laughs than the other Christian movies I have seen, but they kind of distract from the central meaning of the film. They are supposed to keep the audience entertained, but it all winds up coming off as a tactic. The times it is serious, it's not half bad and even good, but at other times it ends up being cheesy since it has to be Christian, thus family friendly, and not relate to real life. It still does a pretty good job of being real, but it tries to be so friendly that it feels like Hollywood taking over. I did love the twists it inserted to the movie, however. This isn't a bad film; it just has its moments of cheesiness and Hollywood masking.

OVERALL,an ok Christian movie with a basic yet cheesy and unpredictable plot, weak acting, improved score, unique yet distracting comedy reliefs, lost realism, and unique plot twists.