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.

neppie The tagline of this film should be "Believe in Jesus, and God will bless you with a new truck, disqualify the opposing team and make you pregnant". It is unforgiving Christian propaganda that will no doubt be reassuring to the blissfully faithful. For a more inspirational, better made and less preachy film, I'd recommend "Hoosiers", which this movie clearly borrows (steals?) from, only twisting the plot for its own agenda. Director Alex Kendrick has made Albany, GA, USA a Christian film empire of the world, and I least applaud him for that, because the area can benefit from any economic opportunities.

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.

kaleyseaber It is absolutely heart wrenching and baffling to discover that so many Christian viewers walked away from the film, Facing the Giants, with pessimism and resentment. Looking deeper behind the scenes, Facing the Giants isn't just another inspiring sports story that reveals the athletic achievements of an overwhelming amount of blood, sweat and tears. In fact, this indie picture stretches its $10,000 budget far beyond the million dollar sports blockbusters such as Bend it Like Beckham, Hoosiers, and Remember the Titans, in terms of everlasting impression. The inspiration for this enriching Christian film was developed by two brothers, Stephen and Alex Kendrick, who both work as pastors at their church in Albany, Georgia. Hoping to spread the message of Christ's prevailing grace to both Christians and nonbelievers, members of the Sherwood Baptist Church provided hundreds of volunteers to help in the creation of this movie. Although Facing the Giants isn't a production with big-time actors (or even authentic actors for that matter), the underlying allegorical messages and the unapologetic representation of a real life testimony of God's grace and mercy bring a modern day twist on the historic grandiose of the Christian faith.Facing the Giants shadows the intimate struggles of a man named Grant Taylor who has been the high school football coach of the Shiloh Eagles for six years and has never led his team to a victorious season. Further along in the movie, Taylor simultaneously learns that a group of disgruntled parents is covertly scheming to have him sacked as the head coach and that he and his wife, Brooke, are physical unable to have children of their own. Under these shattering conditions, Grant cannot find anywhere to turn and he cries out to God in hopelessness. After receiving an uplifting and unexpected message, he seeks to discover and implement a deeper devotion for his high school team. Taylor challenges his competitors to believe in the impossible feats God on and off the field. When faced with unbelievable odds, the Eagles must step up to their greatest test of strength and courage. What transpires is a dynamic story of the fight between faith and fear.It is apparent that some Christian critics were hoping for an entirely different movie – one where faith engulfs suffering, even in moments when God makes decisions we may not agree with; which is undeniably an important value in the Christian faith, but this movie wasn't about that. I agree that throughout biblical history, many believers have suffered. God does occasionally use our distress to bring himself glory, but other times He creates unimaginable victories for His followers: the story of David defeating Goliath, a colossal human being, is one that creates the idea that God has the power to do marvelous and unbelievable things, especially for those people who have faith in Him. This is the principle that outlines what this movie truly stands for. The most widely recognized and influential scene throughout the entire movie is one that occurs on the football field after a long practice. One of the main characters, Brock, who struggles with adversity throughout the plot is blindfold by his coach and told to crawl as far as he can with one of his teammates on his back. In what seems to be an unfeasible task, Coach Taylor repeatedly encourages his captain until Brock unmasks himself in the back of the end zone. Although my narrating doesn't do justice to the passion of the event, this almost impossible accomplishment marks the turning point in which faith begins to lead the Shiloh Eagles in a positive direction.However, (contrary to popular belief) this film additionally does make a strong argument for the idea that God doesn't always provide comfort to those who plead to Him. The contrasts of both angles are true throughout the film: sometimes God creates tremendous victories, and other times Gods people have to endure a great amount of suffering. The most important thing to pull from both of these perspectives is that both are intentional means to reveal God's plan for the world. After I walked away from watching this movie I was reminded that God should never be underestimated, because He can do such wonderfully outstanding things through fragile and imperfect people: which if you truly are a Christian, you have come to terms that we can only be made perfect in the light of the Lord.