Facing the Giants - 2006

Struggling in both his personal and professional life, Coach Grant Taylor (Kendrick) turns to his Christian faith for guidance. This was an entertaining film with both strengths and weaknesses. Any movie produced by a small film company certainly faces many challenges, the least of which is the pool of actors to choose from. Performances ranged from just Ok to good, but for the most part were better than is often found in other films of this type. Filming was fairly good with some great football sequences that rival many bigger productions I've seen. Its biggest weakness, however, was probably the misconception you might gain from its main theme. Its focus, that our Heavenly Father will strengthen us during difficult times, was basically a good message. However, the film seems to promote the idea that if we'll just be good that all our dreams will come true. In my own life, I've certainly discovered trials do not magically disappear, even when I'm doing my very best to "be good". Surprisingly, sometimes those very trials became my greatest blessings because of what they teach me. On the other hand, almost every good miracle that happened in this film, I have either experienced myself or witnessed happening to someone I know: from the new truck, to the change in job status, to a pregnancy in the face of all medical facts to the contrary! I've just never seen that many miracles happen all to the same person! :-) Because I've certainly had my own miraculous wonders, I could look past the overzealous portrayal of these same types of events in the film. Perhaps the real message is simply that we can all turn to Him when times are tough to receive the strength we need. Even with its weaknesses we found the film enjoyable. ***