courageous

Courageous is the continuous courageous work of Alex and Stephen Kendrick. I had an opportunity to see a sneak preview at the All Pro Dad’s event held on April 14, 2011 at the Colts’ complex. Leslie and I received tickets from a friend. Since it was my birthday outing with my sweet-heart, I considered it a great way to spend my 47th. I was curious about the project from the first time I heard about it. Curious because the Kendrick films tend to be message films that don’t disguise their agenda, although they have managed to avoid the pitfalls into which many Christian films fall. A majority of Christian films tend to take themselves too seriously and forget the artistic importance of a good motion picture. We tend to excuse these short-comings because as Christians we are so glad to see a movie unafraid to speak the truth and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of us get so frustrated with the poor acting or the lack of cinematic beauty or the total disregard for production design. I must say that of all the Christian films I’ve seen the Kendrick films have something special I cannot describe. Honestly, they are just so-so in many areas: they are often competently written, poorly acted, and the camera work is well... ok. The editing is adequate, however, why do they have such an effect on us? Why do we respond to them? Why do we feel moved by them? I propose this... these films are anointed. I can’t explain it beyond that.

In Courageous the Kendrick brothers raise the quality another level. The story, the acting, cinematography, editing, production design, and music all have improved. The story is about a police officer who is challenged to become a better father following a tragic loss. He asks his buddies to hold him accountable. He shares his commitment to be a better father with his close friends. He challenges them to commitment themselves: a commitment to become better husbands and fathers. As hokey as that sounds it actually is well crafted and you buy it. One way the brothers sell it is by making the protagonist a police officer working a rough neighborhood. His experience working the tough streets causes him to become negative and too busy for his own kids. The percentage of crime is caused in large part by broken families. Broken families can be attributed to a lack of responsible men. As our protagonist recognizes this pattern in his own life, he asks his friends to hold him accountable and challenges them to do the same. They make a pact to become godly men. He writes a pledge for himself to sign. This inspires his friends to follow along. They form an accountability partnership.

Each man discovers his own inadequacy as a husband and as a father. The movie tells all of their stories at the same time. This takes quite a long time, which is my one problem with the movie, but the stories weave nicely with each other. We do like following their individual stories and actually become attached to each character.

The movie has twists that are unpredictable and refreshing. They brought back a lot of the humor that existed in Flywheel and was missing in the subsequent films. There are a lot of funny moments that get you through the serious issues.

The action sequence was taken up a notch from Fireproof with great chase sequences and gun-play. There were scenes that reminded me of The Wire TV show.

It is definitely their best work to date. Well crafted, Courageous will be liked. I believe it is going to start a movement that will sweep the country. Churches will benefit from the movie as a powerful tool to motivate fathers from all walks of life; it is a message that transcends race, culture, and economic demographics. This film reminds me of Promise Keepers as a movement that impacted men. Courageous has the ability to stir men around the country and around the world to commit to being good fathers and husbands.

I applaud Alex Kendrick for crafting a movie that entertains and challenges people to consider Christ as the answer to their problems. He is a great example of a non-compromising Christian filmmaker. The movie comes out September 30th.

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