The Ravine

.... in the end I didn't. A load of pretentious garbage and a waste of an hour and a half of my precious time on earth. I'm sure those who watch film as some kind of intellectual exercise might appreciate it but I watch films to be entertained, and this did not do that. Sat waiting for the big reveal, but there wasn't one.

... boy, are you in for a treat! The story is told in a series of stilted, unnatural monologues. It plays more like one of those made-for-TV, crime reenactment shows.

If you like learning midway in that you've rented a faith-based movie ... you'll be as happy as a born-again Christian at a church-basement potluck.

Added bonus: stock-music soundtrack that doesn't quite match the various years the story references. Really groovy.

I paid seven dollars to rent this movie based solely on the IMBD reviews. My guess is the reviews were generated at the church basement potluck right after the coffee cake was served.

I think this is where I'm supposed to forgive everyone involved in this pretentious, badly acted and annoyingly pontifical movie.

I do not forgive. I mean ... seven dollars is seven dollars.

What a huge disappointment this movie was.

First off, there's no indication in the categorization that it is a CHRISTIAN movie. I had to stop and back out to re-read the description and make sure. It says Mystery, Thriller. But this is definitely a faith-based movie along the lines of God is Dead. I don't appreciate being tricked into watching by dangling the mystery/thriller carrot. If I had paid for this, I'd be asking for a refund.

It teases that there is a mystery to be solved which is a complete lie. There is no mystery, we know immediately who did what because they spend the entire movie hand wringing over how to forgive this evil person who doesn't deserve any sort of grace. But the over-arching message is that if you want to have peace within yourself, you have to forgive them no matter what despicable act they committed.

And I know there's not a lot of great work in H'wood for mature black actresses, but I was even sadder to see the great Leslie Uggams being used in this fashion. Stalking around whispering magical affirmations to the kind non-black folk in town.

This had the makings of a really good thriller but someone came along and layered it with mounds and mounds of christianity and ruined it. I would give it zero stars if I could.

A family is left devastated when a shocking crime leaves them all wondering what and why, as the family come together, they hear of a shocking past, which may just hold the answer to recent events.

Based on a true story, The Ravine is an interesting enough movie, one that is for the most part, worth your time.

At times it becomes a little confusing, it doesn't particularly flow well, the flashbacks don't always seem to make sense, I did have to rewind back once or twice to just try and put the pieces together.

It just goes to show, someone may present as being sane, sorted and living the perfect, wholesome life, it's not always the case.

Acting was decent, Peter Facinelli was rather good, he's maturing well.

6/10.

This movie was a little hard to follow. The flashbacks are too sporadic and abrupt. Joanna is reminiscent of Mother Abigail from The Stand but seems more like a Saturday Night Live spoof character than an homage. The cast are all good actors with established careers but I feel the script and direction failed them. The story is an important one to tell but the execution missed the mark for me. I watched the entirety of the film to see it through but it was a bit of a struggle to do so. It had the potential to be a blockbuster but left me with more of a dark, Hallmark movie vibe. Being that this was based on a true story, I would love to see it retold in a more cohesive manner. The styling and cinematography were well done. I will give it that. I do think it's still worth a watch because it touches on mental health struggles and understanding grief which are two topics that everyone needs to talk about more often to help with the stigmas attached to both.