Review of Facing the Giants (2006) by Philip S — 27 Dec 2008

Hollywood is brimming today with sex and violence both on-screen and off. On-screen, movie-goers have ben badly in need of something original and truly family friendly for years. Even some "G"-rated movies in the current age are not entirely fit for all young audiences. Thankfully, a church in Georgia has come along and shown Hollywood that a movie can be successful and family friendly at the same time in 'Facing The Giants' (and 'Fireproof).

'Facing The Giants' is aimed more at teen audiences unlike 'Fireproof', which is aimed more at the parents of those teens. That is obviouss through the use of a high school football team as the focus of the movie. That aside, it is a wonderful movie, with an equally wonderful message. That message is simple: "I can do all things through Christ." Sound familiar? Hopefully so. That is the primary message of this movie. It doesn't matter what area of life, and it doesn't matter what time of life. As long as a person has faith in Christ, then anything is possible. God will provide. Even if we don't always get the answers we want, maybe we should stop and think that maybe God has a greater plan for things in the bigger picture.

The use of the smaller Shiloh Christian Academy facing the much larger Giants was a well executed analogy illustrating the battle of David and Goliath. It is also a nice example of how people with everything are not always better than those with far less. Now, the only argument that could be made is in the sports story itself. God does not favor one side over another in any sporting event. So for the coach to say that God had gotten the Eagles all the way to the state championship was a bit incorrect. Not to mention that for a high school team to get away with having anyone over 18 years-old is highly unlikely. And had the story not taken place at a Christian academy, there likely would not have been any possibility of a story.

All of that aside, 'Facing The Giants' is still a wonderful movie. It is a worthwhile, family friendly escape from all of the sex, violence, and unoriginality being shoved down the throats of audiences today. It is a movie that every family should see at least once.