Peace River

This is such a good movie I have seen it twice. I invited friends and they too have high ratings.

Well worth your time and your money.

Most of what has been playing is disgusting.

These cowboy filmmakers milked every cow to the last drop in terms of resources. The film felt more like a true story than fiction which truly proves the importance of the universal human conditions portrayed in the film. With a great script, acting, and true to life locations, the story really resonates. About 2/3rds of the way through I literally said out loud "I can't wait to watch this again!" The cinematography was impressive, fans of Terrance Mallick (Tree Of Life, A Hidden Life, Thin Red Line) will appreciate the camerawork throughout the film that conveys the true beauty of life throughout the film. An instant classic for the audience it finds. Watched the night of its premiere on Pure Flix.

Loved the army scenes, the ranch the horses and brotherhood of the soldiers. The story of the grandfather and grandson was awesome. Faith and God and Family was perfect. The acting with the young female lead was awful and stiff, as well as a thankfully rare shots of her roommate. Their lines and delivery were so bad. Getting past that that , this movie was loved by all at my house. Were surprised that it got low reviews, almost seems like sabotage. The scenes about Afghanistan and 9-11 were all done respectively as well as issues with suicide, all done well. Loved the way it was all wrapped up.

A boy on a big ranch in the Southwest is guided by his wise grandfather (Benjamin M. Jones). As a young man (Chase Garland), he makes a foolish mistake and, later, suffers tragedy in the Service. Can he put the pieces back together? Jessica Nunez-Wood is on hand as the woman he loves.

"Peace River" (2022) is a sentimental and reverent drama that's all-American with rodeo action and military-based aspects. The main characters are believers and so there's a little spirituality of that nature. As noted in my title blurb, the acting in the first half is relatively deadpan, but serviceable enough to roll with, keeping in mind that this is a modest-budget production and not a blockbuster with actors who are paid millions.

Despite some second-rate performances, the first half features nice cinematography in the big sky country of northern New Mexico, not to mention quite a bit of horse-related activities. Even better, there are quality bits of wisdom here or there. It's the latter portion where the movie really shines, though, as it doesn't fail to honestly address the intrinsic problems of life in a fudged-up world, yet doesn't leave you empty and hopeless.

Life's most important things are stressed: Friendship with God, family, friends, meaningful work and the loyalty of your animal, whether a horse or otherwise. Everything leads to a potent sequence that conveys simple truths that are essential to all-around health. See Psalm 55:22 and 1 Peter 5:7 to get my drift.

One time I was venting to the Creator and it got pretty primal with spit flying and tears flowing. My cat wasn't afraid, but rather came close to comfort me in a scary time of desperation.

It runs 2 hours, 15 minutes, and was shot in northeast New Mexico in the Cimarron area at the Philmont Scout Ranches, etc.

GRADE: B+/A-

Overall, I really liked this movie. I loved the plot, I loved the character development and I loved the settings. The horses and land are just beautiful. The story line broaches some heavy topics like infidelity, death, PTSD, violence in a very real but delicate way. I love the faith aspects and loved seeing a romance without any of the vulgar or inappropriate aspects of mainstream TV. One star less than perfect because it is a little lower production quality than mainstream TV level production, for example the rodeo scenes you can tell there weren't enough extras to fill the arena so the shots are a little odd, also some of the props seemed out of place. It seems about on par with a lot of Christian movies in that way. If you can get past that it really is a beautiful story of ranching, faith, family and love.