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Facing the Giants is a classic high-school sports movie in which the main characters are small town underdogs, similar to "Hoosiers", but more like "Remember the Titans," because it is all about a football team.

This movie just isn't on the level of those two- you won't find anyone like a Gene Hackman or Denzel Washington in "Facing the Giants." This is a comparatively low-budget movie done almost completely by a single church in Georgia and with mostly volunteer workers and non-professional actors. But it is darn good!!

In the genre of Christian films, this movie rocks! It's a far better movie than other Christian movies I've seen. If you're a Christian, you will love this movie. If you're not, you may love it anyway.

I think it very accurately depicts Evangelical/Protestant Christianity as commonly experienced in the United States, though the producers of the movie very wisely avoided making it "churchy." There isn't a church scene in the entire movie!

In this movie, people live their faith by reading the Bible on their own, praying alone in the woods, or faithfully interceding for revival in the school building.

Keep the Kleenex box handy for this one, you're going to need it!

This movie is apparently intended for a young, evangelical Christian audience as a teaching tool. For that I give it a 7 out of 10 point vote. It's a decent movie to show a youth group, but I don't think it will be very well received beyond that. For any other audience, I'd rate it lots lower.

The reviewers that saw "It's a Wonderful Life" in this were right on, though I didn't think of that until they mentioned it. I was more reminded of a "Chick Tract", those little 3" by 5" gospel comic books. If Jack Chick ever made a movie out of one of his tracts, it would probably look a lot like "Second Glance." It has a strong Christian message about the power of prayer and the influence each of us has on earth, but it is somewhat hampered by Christian stereotypes. The Christians are all very nice, somewhat passive, and squeaky clean, while all of the non-Christians seem to be bad people.

Muriel the angel plays a major part, and he is the corniest, cheesiest character in the film. He is the most unlikeable angel I have ever seen in any movie, and the biggest negative. I don't know if the directors intended for his personality to come off so badly, or if he just struck me that way. (I admit that he reminded me of someone I know.) Dan's love for a very worldly girl who is not at all his type drives the plot in this movie. Why he ever fell for her in the first place is the one question that I wish had been answered.

But the movie does display positive Christian values, and your youth group will be entertained as they view something wholesome with a good lesson.

Well, it does display good Christian values, and strict ones by today's standards. It's very reminiscent of "Leave it to Beaver", only on a Christian scale. Believers from Independent Fundamentalist Baptist churches and those of like faith and practice will *love* this movie for the message that it delivers, even if the acting and storyline aren't very well done.

On the other hand, I think most people will think it is extremely corny, especially the more "church hardened" youth. (But frankly I was surprised at the relatively positive response given by the youth of a camp for kids that I viewed it with this weekend. These were unchurched kids, many of whom live in tough situations and with tough backgrounds, so maybe *I* am the more hardened one!) One value that was central to the film was the idea that one doesn't kiss until the pastor says, "You may now kiss your bride." To me, most people will find that idealistic at best and Pharisaic extra-Biblicalism at worst.

The bottom line: It's a somewhat cheesy movie with legalistic leanings. But some folks will love that!