I Saw Courageous

Its kind of funny that we talked about Courageous in DM101 because I have actually been planning on writing about it. I went to Ft. Wayne last weekend and saw the film with a few friends. I went in not knowing what to expect. I have seen Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof, but I was really hoping for something a little different with Courageous. I do admit that I somewhat enjoyed Fireproof but the movie had many flaws I was hoping to see corrected in Courageous.

When the movie started, I immediately took notice to how much better the Kendrick Brothers are with Cameras and other assoicated technology. Several shots from opening scenes, conversations, and action scenes were great and I was extremely surprised, even immpressed. The editing of this film is also a great improvement from Sheerwood Baptist Church's other productions. It was much easier to follow and looked very professional. Courageous was, by far, the darkest film the Kendrick brothers have done and the lighting through the darkest moments was very good. I could tell they gave a lot of care to lighting in this film to portray the tone at any selected moment. I really liked how they handled the score in the film, previously the Kendricks brothers have used a bunch of christian songs from artists like Casting Crowns, MeryMe, and Third Day for the movies' music. I like alot of songs from these artists but in a movie they create somewhat of a cheese factor. In Courageous, there is hardly in music; the rare times it does show up the audience hears piano, string intruments, or horns play a very simple part. While watching the film, I felt this was a much better choice.

Alex and Stephen Kendrick have also improved their writing. The story of this film is actually very engaging by relating to a larger amount of people and roles in society. It is actually laugh out loud funny when the humor throughout the film shows up. The action scenes are handled very well, not over the top but still realistically suspensful. An audience member isn't constantly taken out of the film by terrible dialogue either. As for the acting, I would have to say its the best yet but it still could use work. For me and one of my friends that was at the cinema, one actress really took us out of the story but she only has ten or fifteen minutes in the film so it wasn't extremely bothersome. Storytelling as a whole was done quite well in this one.

The actual plot is what I am most interested in sharing with you guys. As many of you know, the story revovles around four men in the police force and another one whose a construction worker. Basically, we see the five of them struggle with thier faith as well as learn more about a father's duties and responsibilities that have been hidden by the world. As I said before, this is definitelty their darkest film. Tragedy hits early on in the film and the main characters are thrust into many life changing decisions because of it. I know fatherhood is the main theme of the film but I believe there is a very close second that really moved me. It really surfaces in a scene between the central character, Adam Mitchell played by Alex Kendrick, and his pastor. They are in a room together and the pastor asks Adam what he is trying to achieve. Adam tells him he is trying to stop being angry at God. I was almost floored during this scene. I asked myself 'Did Sheerwoood Baptist just make the main character angry with God?!'....WOW. We see throughout the movie how Adam can become very angry. Its not like the greatest freak out ever (if any of you guys have seen those videos) but an audience member can see that even months after he decides to let go of his anger, everything does not become perfect.SPOILER**** In fact, once the movie ends, there are still many issues unsolved and there is not a happy ending. Shocking isn't it. In Facing the Giants and Fireproof, we see the characters get exactly what they wanted from God and everybody and everything is great at the end. In contrast, the characters in Courageous still have many wrongs to right and many difficulties to overcome ****SPOILER OVER.

In my opinion, Courageous was a very good movie. The Kendrick Brothers shot for a much higher goal and raised the bar. And once again, they were able to show the power of a community when it bans together for a huge project like a film. This film doesn't come off as over preachy and I'm praying that it would bring some non-believers to the theaters. Without a doubt, the film has a message worth hearing. I admit I have not included many flaws from the film. It is not because I didn't find any, I just thought we covered the only ones I can think of in class.