X
- 2011
- PG-13
- TriStar Pictures
- 2 h 10 m
- 2011
- PG-13
- TriStar Pictures
- 2 h 10 m
Summary Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, David Thomson, and Shane Fuller are confident and focused. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. (Affirm Films)
Directed By: Alex Kendrick
Written By: Stephen Kendrick, Alex Kendrick
- 2011
- PG-13
- TriStar Pictures
- 2 h 10 m
- 2011
- PG-13
- TriStar Pictures
- 2 h 10 m
Courageous
42
7.6
Where to Watch
Summary Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, David Thomson, and Shane Fuller are confident and focused. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. (Affirm Films)
Directed By: Alex Kendrick
Written By: Stephen Kendrick, Alex Kendrick
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
42
20% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
50% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
30% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
42
20% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
50% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
30% Negative
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
Moviegoers devoted to faith-based fare will flock to megaplexes for Courageous, easily the most polished production so far from brothers Alex and Stephen Kendrick, the prolific and increasingly accomplished filmmaking pastors at the Sherwood Church of Albany, Ga.
For now, though, Mr. Kendrick will have to settle for being a good enough filmmaker, content to preach to the choir.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 70 User Ratings
7.6
74% Positive
52 Ratings
52 Ratings
11% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
14% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 70 User Ratings
7.6
74% Positive
52 Ratings
52 Ratings
11% Mixed
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
14% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
The Kendrick brothers are not afraid of telling the truth. That is why Courageous is such a good film. It is Honest. Also it has some of the best directing and overall production finesse ever for a budget under $ 4 million.
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How you like Courageous - an overtly Christian-targeted production about four police officers learning lessons about God and family - will likely mirror how you view church: It's either an overlong ordeal filled with talky sermonizing or an uplifting communion with your deity and values.
Even the logos for the companies involved in its making (Sherwood Films and Affirm Films) and distribution (TriStar Pictures) scream that this will be a message from on high.
Courageous, proves a particularly clunky, tunnel-visioned vehicle whose overbearing, overlong script nearly smothers the movie's quibble-free message.
Courageous literally preaches to the converted, delivering ham-fisted messages of responsibility to the most receptive audience possible.
Borderline creepy, Courageous endlessly expounds on the importance of God in men's lives but fails to answer the more pressing question of why religious sagas such as this treat subtlety as a sin.
First--Why so critical of the acting?--how do YOU look on a video in real life? Remember--so called "pro" acting is rehearsed over and over and the script is written for them and the special effects, cameras, etc--there is NOTHING real about most hollywood movies--least of all the acting. I think this acting represented what real people are really like more accurately than most hollywood movies do.
Second--God's message and mission is far too important to leave to the missionaries alone. We must all live it and share it with others-- even Hollywood must do its share--especially to those who scoff and mock. Don't let yourself be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man plants that is what he will harvest. Plant scoffing and mockery of God and you will receive scoffing and mockery from God. Get it?
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This film is long and preachy. The scenes with the promise ring and contract ceremony are creepy. Unless you are a far-right, fundamentalist Christian, this film will leave you a little unnerved and wanting your money back. That being said, it was better than Fireproof, an earlier film produced by Sherwood. Perhaps they will get it right in the next one if they hire an editor and a script writer.
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Courageous, like many of the Kendrick brothers' previous works, is truly only for the converted (myself included in that group, that doesn't mean that I have to like any Christian film that rears its head). I can't help but to say that this movie did impress me, though. The filmmaking is quite impressive, considering its humble origins. The Kendrick brothers have proved that they have come a long way from Flywheel and proudly show off their more developed sound and production values (this is their first film to surpass the million-dollar-budget mark), but that doesn't compensate for most of the rest of the film. While it is an improvement in subtlety and nuance in comparison to Facing the Giants and Fireproof, that does not make it subtle; it is anything, but. The first twenty-so minutes are not bad, but once Adam and his cop pals start discussing religion, it gets weird. The film verges on being, unintentionally and with good intentions, overtly racist. They meant well, but they need a more observing eye in the editing room saying: "Do you think we should have made every single bad-guy black, and the poor characters Mexican?". I believe that this question of unintentional racism could just be over-scrutiny from me, but look over the film again and you might find many plays into stereotypes. Granted, this film succeeds at the actual filming and action a bit more so than I thought it would, I actually enjoyed some of the action when I took it out of the context of the film, but the action may serve two purposes: a metaphor for courage in the home and a ploy to pull in audiences. Once again, this is probably over-analyzing from me, but make note of it. Overall, the message is very powerful, but needs better delivery. Is there any other way to bring out a character's reaction to their daughters' death than through weeping only, I ask? Crying is just fine, but wasn't quite the reaction of depth I had hoped for. All-in-all, if you are a film critic, you will while despise Courageous, a Christian, you will praise it, and if both, you may feel conflicted. This film does need to be seen by the converted to keep the faith, but without any reach to the others, it may defeat the purpose of the message it could have conveyed so well, but I knew it wouldn't be able to.
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Sherwood Pictures' most accomplished film to date, but I found it to be an overly-dramatic bore fest that was 30 minutes too long, making its message less effective.
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Wow... That was painful. So painful infact that I had to create an account so I could tell you of my pain. It started off great ,really had my attention... Then 'screeeech'... movie took a u-turn. Crash and burned. I can overlook average acting if the storyline was good but it was all so corny and predictable with so many stereotypes. The only feel good moment was when I turned it off. If only God could give my 2 hours back.
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Production Company
TriStar Pictures,
Sherwood Pictures,
Provident Films,
Affirm Films,
Alabama Production Group,
Talent One
Release Date Sep 30, 2011
Duration 2 h 10 m
Rating PG-13
Genres
Tagline Honor Begins At Home
Awards
MovieGuide Awards
• 2 Wins & 4 Nominations
