PiraBit
if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Melanie Bouvet
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
Lidia Draper
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
leandroavelar
"Facing Giants" is a movie dedicated to a specific audience. An appropriate audience would be Christians or doubting Christians. It would be more suitable for those doubting Christians because a recurring theme that can be seen in the movie is to not lose faith in God no matter what. The main themes observed in the film would be: faith in God, benevolence, patience, and dedication. The story begins introducing Shiloh Christian school. Then, football Coach Grant Taylor (Alex Kendrick) is introduced along with his colleagues. Coach Grant is stressed because his best player left the school, his team is not the best, and the season is about to begin. After Grant's wife is introduced (interpreted by Shannen Fields), both of them are sad because she cannot get pregnant. Up to this point it seems that everything is going terribly wrong for Grant Taylor. Next, the season begins, and it is chaotic. The Shiloh Eagles lost their first three games. Some parents gather together with one of Grant's colleague Brady Owens (Tracy Goode) to talk about his failure and possible dismission. Later on, Coach Taylor learns he is the reason why his wife cannot get pregnant. This is the point in the story when he feels the worst. The school principal talks to him because he can see he is going through a tough situation. After this point, he begins to pray a lot and things begin to change. First, they start winning. Second, students in the school begin confessing and taking faith more seriously. Third, he is given a new truck (because his was not working anymore). Last but not least, his wife learns she is pregnant. However, the Shiloh Eagles lost. Coach Taylor thought everything was coming down after all of his faith and dedication. Then, a miracle happened. The team that had beaten them had gotten disqualified and the Shiloh Eagles moved on to the next round to face the unbeaten Bears. The game was tight, the Eagles needed a miracle to happen. It indeed happened (spoiler alert avoided). At the end of the movie all of the themes could be observed.The actors who interpreted the main characters did an awesome job at it. Next you will find their acting descriptions:
Grant Taylor (Alex Kendrick): Alex Kendrick did an amazing job interpreting Coach Taylor. He expressed the correct emotions in every situation his character went through. He correctly expressed sadness and stress when he realized the best player of the school left or when he was told that he could not have a baby.
Brooke Taylor (Shannen Fields): Her acting, once again was pleasant. There was not a mistake seen in the film when it came to it. She is a very talented actress.
Brady Owens (Tracy Goode): Even though Tracy did not really appear much in the film he sure did a good interpretation of his character. Once again his emotions were suitable for the situations. His acting seemed to fit with the situation.The quality of the images and the film itself was organized, comprehensive, and unique. The flashbacks clearly made the story a lot more interesting and you didn't get lost in the plot. When it came to film the football games it was once again very good. The shots provided clearly showed what was going on. There were very iconic shots as well. For example, when the final winning kick was made. These details show that the movie was directed properly.
The music on the background was proper for each of the situations the characters went through. The music was also good because it suited the events that were taking place. For example, the music during the games was dynamic and very exciting. When the characters were facing a difficult situation the music was sad and depressing. However, when the characters became elated the music became very positive and "inspiring". To conclude, I can totally relate to the movie and many people will do to. When I am under extreme pressure and feel that things are not going as I wished they would I begin blaming God for that. Then he helps me, just like he did the many people in the movie. The message, acting, photography, soundtrack and direction were very good. I would not change a thing in the film.
bkoganbing
In Facing The Giants no one can remember the last time the Shiloh Christian Academy football team had a winning season. Certainly not in the six year tenure of coach Alex Kendrick. In fact life has been discouraging in general for Kendrick, he and his wife Shannen Fields have been trying for a baby for years and that's going nowhere. This is the south where they take their football seriously even at a Christian high school. Some of the parents, male parents that is are even conspiring to get him dumped and they have in mind one of his assistant coaches for the top job.As this is a Christian film certain parameters must be observed and what happens is that Kendrick gets his faith renewed and that inspires what was a sad sack team to go on and face the perennial state champions, a team called the Giants.Seeing a number of these films I wonder how God deals with it when two teams have their roster similarly saved. I've got trouble believing that the Creator of infinite time and space and matter in this universe worries about an athletic contest on one small dust speck in the place called planet earth.Still I will say that for its kind it's not a bad piece of entertainment. Of course you will not know any of the cast members unless you are on the Christian film circuit for some of them. I did think that the performance of Bailey Cave who is a soccer player and tries out for football as a place kicker was very touching, especially in relationship to his crippled dad.
Spazimoto
A friend of ours gave us this movie to watch. I wasn't sure what I was in for, but decided to give it a whirl.PROS: -This movie has a nice, positive message about maintaining one's faith during times of trouble.-The action and football sequences were performed decently.-The Black assistant coach was a pretty decent actor.-A great movie to show to other church-goers (Thus my summary title).CONS:-The acting is very amateur, and rather painful to watch at times. -The Christian utopia at a public high school is a nice sentiment, and maybe allowed/encouraged in Georgia, but is unrealistic in many other places outside of the bible belt.-The cameo of Coach Mark Richt from University of Georgia is kind of an awkward scene. Unless you're from GA or follow college football, you will never really learn who he is.-The plot is fairly predictable.-The first 5 minutes of the movie consists of 1,505,768 opening logos for production & distribution companies who worked on this piece. If you understand that this movie was made by and starred volunteers, and not professionals, you may enjoy it. It's a great film to show other believers, because of its feel-good message.To everyone else, this movie is rather corny, and makes an After-school special look like an Oscar-winning film.If you want to show non-believers Christ-centered media, I'd steer clear of this selection. Steve Taylor's, "The Second Chance" may be a better avenue to reach those without Jesus in their lives.
Darian A. Caplinger
When I first heard of this movie and read reviews about how it was overly preachy, I decided to pass on it. Then I saw a brief clip from it, which contained one of the most powerful scenes I've ever seen... ever. It was because of that scene I decided to give the film a shot. I'm so thankful I did. When I first started hearing about the level of proselytizing in the film, I thought it was a joke. Watching the movie, it actually feels right... after all, it is a Christian school.The acting is actually decent. The writing is good. The storyline isn't original, but it's still believable. I connected with the characters, and found myself emotional in all the right spots. It's a film which proves you don't need foul language, sex, nudity or graphic violence in order to create an awesome movie (Hollywood should be paying attention!). I don't know what the film's budget was, but it didn't feel like a low budget flick. The film has a good soundtrack, positive humor, and a great message.If you are an atheist, you probably won't like this film. For anyone else, try to remember this is a Christian based film, produced by a Christian based group, with a heavily biblical message. It's a good film, I recommend giving it a shot.
