I saw "Courageous" a few nights back.
This is a Christian produced film from the same outfit that made "Fireproof" and "Facing The Giants." I have seen both of those movies. "Facing The Giants" was very amateurish and nearly unwatchable. "Fireproof" was a marked improvement but still heavy handed in its preachiness. I understand and appreciate the intent (bringing the Christian message to the secular masses) of a sort of Tyler Perry style home grown film production thingy but it also missed the boat to a large degree.
"Courageous" continues with this idea and it gets closer yet to fulfilling that vision. The acting is better, The writing is better. Everything else is better. I was able to watch it without cringing. Better yet, when I finished watching it I thought that I might even be able to recommend it to others. And I guess that I am sort of doing that now.
It starts with an action scene that looks pretty good. A guy is filling his pickup at the gas station, turns his back for a few seconds to fetch a window squeegee, and a thug hops in and proceeds to drive away. The guy runs after him and clings to the side of the truck, trying to stop the thief by hitting him and maybe pull the keys out of the ignition. The truck ends up getting smacked into a tree or something and the bad guy gets away. When someone asks him why he was so crazy about trying to stop the carjacking the dazed guy stumbles up to the rear door of the truck and reveals that his toddler son is inside in a carseat. So far, so good.
Then they sort of ruin the credibility of that scene by revealing that the guy is a law enforcement officer. Personally, I find it hard to believe that any experienced cop is going to allow his pickup to get carjacked right under his nose. Cops usually have pretty good situational awareness and can see trouble approaching long before it shows up. So he should have noticed the very obvious gang banger checking out his truck from just a few yards away.
The movie is centered around the lives of five men and how they deal with the difficulty of family life and the occasional tragedy and moral dilemmas that lie therein. There is more action (which is mostly realistic and believable) in the middle and end of the film. There are some obvious plot turns and some not so obvious plot turns. I found myself interested in the characters and caring about how things were going to turn out.
It gets very preachy at the end with a big finale speech on stage in a medium sized church that probably could have been edited out...it would not have hurt the overall message had it not been there. It's sort of an alter call to Christian manhood and responsibility for family leadership. Which was, of course, the message of the entire film. So the ending kind of beats you over the head with the message as if to say, "Just in case you weren't paying attention we are going to sum this up for you." Again, could have been left out and I think the movie would not have suffered for it.
So...for a Christian themed and produced movie this was way better than average. I wasn't bored, looking at my watch, wishing I was somewhere else and wondering when it was going to end. I was entertained. Not entertained like a traditional big budget movie will generally entertain me but more like entertained the way that an above average television production might entertain me. If that makes sense. Yes, I would recommend it to a conservative. I'd recommend it to a lib if I thought for a second that their pride wouldn't force them to get up and walk out on it.
So that's it. Take it (and my review) for what it's worth.