here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\nBut since I haven\u2019t seen the film (I only meant to comment on the way other people are upset about criticism of the film), I was happy to receive a response to the film from a film writer whose assessments of films I greatly respect.<\/p>\n
He said I could post his note on a condition of anonymity. In the spirit of Transformers, I\u2019ll call him Christianous Prime<\/strong>.<\/p>\nHopefully his comments will restore balance to the Force and bring peace to the galaxy.<\/p>\n
Christianous Prime writes:<\/p>\n
Regarding the quality of \u201cFacing the Giants\u201d: I\u2019ve seen it. It\u2019s not great, but it\u2019s not bad either\u2013 certainly not as bad as Dick Staub makes it out to be, and certainly not as bad as some of the folks posting here have apparently already pre-judged it to be. And I\u2019m not just saying it\u2019s half-decent because the movie is made by Christians or have good motives or any such. I am SO not on that page; that\u2019s one of my biggest pet peeves too, that something must be \u201cgood\u201d because the motives are pure and holy. Nope.<\/p>\n
But \u201cFacing the Giants\u201d is better than any of the Left Behind movies or any of the latest turn-a- Frank Peretti-novel-into-a-movie thing I\u2019ve seen. I know that\u2019s not necessarily saying much. But this is not another God-awful (pun intended) \u201cChristian movie.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, there\u2019s too much sentiment, too much mush, too much predictability. But they got a lot of things right, even better than I\u2019ve seen in many expensive Hollywood productions. Mainly, they nailed the following:<\/p>\n
1) High school football. As a former sportswriter who has been on the sidelines of almost 200 high school football games, I can say they got it right. The coaches. The players. The action.The sideline banter. The locker room. \u201cFriday Night Lights\u201d and \u201cRemember the Titans\u201d got it better, but not exponentially better (despite exponentially bigger budgets). But when it comes to HS football, \u201cFacing the Giants\u201d gets it right, very right.<\/p>\n
2) A Christian school. My wife has taught in one (and my son attended one) for the last eight years. \u201cFTG\u201d got the Christian school atmosphere right. People who don\u2019t know that setting will roll their eyes at some of the things that are said and some of the settings. But they didn\u2019t paint Christian school out to be a warm-and-fuzzy everybody-loves-Jesus-Kum-Ba-Yah sort of place. People bicker. There\u2019s ugly backstabbing and a get-rid-of-the-coach conspiracy from overzealous parents. Yup, that happens in a Christian school too. Seen it myself.<\/p>\n
3) Humor. The problem with most Christian movies is that they take themselves too seriously and don\u2019t know how to laugh at themselves. When\u2019s the last time a \u201cserious\u201d Christian movie evoked even one laugh \u2014 *intentionally,* that is! (The LB movies have provoked plenty of laughs. So did that awful \u201cThe Visitation.\u201d) But \u201cFacing the Giants\u201d has some funny lines and scenes. I laughed out loud at least 10 times during this movie \u2014 more than I have at many big- budget Hollywood films that are trying really hard to make me laugh.<\/p>\n
On the negative side, the acting is B-rate at best. Some of the supporting actors are terrible. And the script is just too darn predictable. One scene actually occurred in a NON-predictable way, and I was happy about that because I hadn\u2019t seen it coming \u2014 and then that got \u201ccorrected\u201d to a predictable outcome just moments later. Aaarrgghh!<\/p>\n
The worst thing is that the movie\u2019s overall message is that that once you get right with God, *everything* will go your way. I would\u2019ve been fine if *some* things, or even *many* things, went right with the lead character after his recommitment to Christ. But everything? Give me a break.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s disappointing about some of the comments on this blog is that it seems that many people have already determined that this movie sucks, based on a couple comments or even on the lame track record of other \u201cChristian movies.\u201d We have every right to be skeptical; I certainly was, and I didn\u2019t have my hopes up for \u201cFacing the Giants\u201d either. But unlike many of the comments I\u2019m reading here, I DID watch the movie with an open mind. I hadn\u2019t prejudged it.<\/p>\n
And I was pleasantly surprised. Not Oscar-worthy surprised. Not tell all my friends about it surprised. And not even shell out $30 to take the family surprised. But I\u2019d at least suggest that people check it out on video.<\/p>\n
Bottom line: I\u2019d give it two stars, broken down like this: 3 stars for the things I lauded above, 1-1.5 stars for the acting, a half-star for the predictable script, saved mostly by a handful of truly humorous lines. All averaging out to about 2 stars for the whole experience.<\/p>\n
People are right to criticize lame Christian movies. I\u2019m right there too. But it appears in this case that many are ready to slam this one before they\u2019ve seen it. That\u2019s just as wrong as the person who says a movie is great because the motives were pure.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve long felt the same way about Christian music. I\u2019m sick of the old \u201cbut they\u2019re doing it for God\u2019s glory\u201d argument, as if that\u2019s enough to give an album 5 stars. Uh-uh. Not me. Our business is not to judge motives, but quality. And I think \u201cFacing the Giants\u201d is better than many of the Christian movies we\u2019ve seen \u2014 which is all the more amazing considering it was done by a church on a $100,000 budget, and not in a \u201creal\u201d studio with a much larger budget.<\/p>\n
Is it a great movie? Nope. Very good? Nope. Good? Hmm, maybe. Somewhat good? You bet. Does it suck? Nope. Was it a waste of my time to watch it? Nope.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the biggest giant this film will face are the preconceived notions from Christian critics and pundits who have already deemed it a lame movie.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
There, now. You see? THAT\u2019S the kind of thing I\u2019m imagining when I dream about good Christian film criticism. Speak with grace, with care, with compassion, but also boldly, with uncompromising passion for excellence and attention to technique.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My comments on the tempest over at Dick Staub\u2019s CultureWatch set off a bit of a tempest here. But since I haven\u2019t seen the film (I only meant to comment on the way other people are upset about criticism of the film), I was happy to receive a response to the film from a film […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1051,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1128,1142,100],"class_list":["post-19102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-christian-entertainment","tag-christianity-on-the-big-screen","tag-facing-the-giants"],"yoast_head":"\n
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