OPINION:
What does it take to persevere in faith and family when the bottom drops out? That’s exactly the story that “Unsung Hero” tells. Director Guy Ritchie’s latest hyperviolent action comedy is loosely based on a true story, but one that’s received blockbuster treatment. The original was a mess. By comparison, ‘Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver’ is a pleasant surprise.
Subscribe to have The Washington Times’ Higher Ground delivered to your inbox every Sunday.
Read on to get Plugged In on what’s beyond the movie titles and trailers for faith-filled and family-first reviews from Focus on the Family’s Plugged In.
Unsung Hero – In Theaters
“Unsung Hero” tells a quietly remarkable story. Here’s what I mean.
In some ways, the saga of this Australian family’s sojourn in the United States, strangers in a strange land, is an archetypal Christian movie, with a pure Hollywood ending to boot: The underdogs win, persevering through a seemingly unending series of unfortunate, Job-like events that might’ve capsized the faith of other families. In the end, Rebecca St. James launches her triumphant career. Redemption, hope and beauty win the day, the lyrics of Rebecca’s oft-sung first song still echoing in our hearts as she steps onto the stage of the Creation ’93 music festival: “You make everything, everything, everything beautiful.”
SEE ALSO: Jim Daly reflects on new For King & Country movie ‘Unsung Hero’
And so He does.
But “Unsung Hero” is no airbrushed hagiography of the Smallbone family. Their path to beauty has been fraught with jagged, startling, even ugly brokenness. The story stares straight into the emotional abyss that David Smallbone plunges into when his best efforts implode cataclysmically. And it’s a black hole — one that anyone who has ever wrestled with depression or a sense of irredeemable failure will likely relate to.
“What kind of man am I?” David whispers in despair after many days — perhaps weeks — of depressive paralysis and inability even to get out of bed. “What kind of husband or father? Or son?” Eventually, like a kind of prodigal son, he’s prodded awake and comes to his senses.
Be sure to listen in to The Plugged In Show, a weekly podcast with lighthearted reviews for parents and conversations about entertainment, pop culture and technology:
The one holding the prod is, of course, his longsuffering wife, Helen.
“Our kids have come all this way,” she pleads. “They gave up everything, and they’re still happy. Because they believe in us. And they believe in you. They just believe. It’s time for you to believe, too. Please.”
But “Unsung Hero” poignantly depicts Helen’s own moments of despair, too. We see her scream in desperation into a pillow, where no one but God can hear. We see the stark terror on her face when she’s interrogated by a cruel U.S. customs officer who acts like a Cold War Russian lackey at an Iron Curtain checkpoint. Over and over and over again, she chooses hope and courage for the sake of her seven children, often when her well-meaning but despair-deflated husband simply cannot do so.
As the family hovers over the precipice of disaster yet again in one scene, Helen rounds up the children and drives to a park with a playground pirate ship. She leads the imaginary charge against the pretend — and yet, not so pretend — buccaneers the family metaphorically faces.
“Before we attack,” she says, “there’s one thing left to do.”
“What is it?” one of the children asks expectantly.
“We burn the ships — all of them.”
“Even ours?” a small voice says, perhaps intuiting that there’s something more than a playground game of imagination at stake. “How do we get back?”
“We don’t,” Helen replies bluntly. “It’s going to be dangerous. And scary. And it’s going to be hard. So hard that you want to go back. But if you know that you can go back, you will. And giving up, giving in, it’s not an option. We’ve got to fight our way forward! We have to win.”
And so, on the back of mom’s unrelenting courage in the face of so much peril, they do.
The unsung hero here is, of course, Helen Smallbone. The movie is a tribute to her faith and courage, the glue — the atomic connectivity — that binds the Smallbone family together. It’s no wonder that when Helen asks Rebecca what her dreams are, the teen replies, “My dream is to be like you. It always has been. You’re my hero, Mom.”
Helen’s heroism, in big ways and small, is evident throughout the story. David’s own heroism emerges late in the story, as his wife’s love and persistence snap him out of his toxic, self-focused stew of shame, anger, despair and self-pity. “I’ve acted like a fool,” he tells his family. “Can you forgive me?”
“Unsung Hero” isn’t gritty in the sense that its content pushes the boundaries. It doesn’t. But it is gritty in the unvarnished way it depicts a proud-but-broken man’s failure and his struggle to emerge with his faith and relationships intact on the other side. David’s not particularly likeable for much of this film, but as a sometimes-struggling dad myself, I found that warts-and-all characterization remarkably refreshing.
“Unsung Hero” ultimately reminds us of a foundational spiritual principle that’s so easy to lose track of: We need each other to walk with and trust God. We can’t go it alone — even if we’re tempted by good intentions and stubborn personality to try. And nowhere is that truth more important or evident than in our families.
To hear more about the story behind this movie, be sure to check out Adam Holz’s interviews with Rebecca St. James as well as Joel and Luke Smallbone on The Plugged In Show podcast.
Read the rest of the review here. Watch the trailer here.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare – In Theaters
Early on in “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” Henry Cavill’s character, Gus March-Phillips, encourages his small band of seasoned battlers as they prepare to carve their way through a German camp filled with soldiers. “Remember gentlemen,” he grins, “try to have fun!”
And that’s precisely what director Guy Ritchie does with this war film as a whole. Yes, there’s actual history in the mix: a true story of secret WWII espionage, heroes and gritty bravery. But it’s cocooned in a thick, bubble-wrap layer of breezy action and winking, Hollywood-style bravado.
That’s not to say that this pic isn’t fun. It’s buoyed by likeable characters and a sardonic script. However, there’s the warfare part of the title to be aware of, too.
“Ungentlemanly Warfare’s” visceral stabbing, riddling, slashing, exploding and chop-‘em-with-an-axe bloodletting will undoubtedly leave some quailing. And there are a couple of coarse language bombs dropped along the way as well.
In closing, let’s just say I certainly wouldn’t recommend that youthful family members use this film as background research for a school history paper.
Read the rest of the review here. Watch the trailer here.
Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver – Streaming on Netflix
I wasn’t thrilled with the original “Rebel Moon.” I called it a derivative “self-serious slog.” Visually, it was pretty cool. But the weaknesses in the story and its problematic content made it a disappointing watch.
In comparison, “Rebel Moon—Part Two: The Scargiver” is a pleasant surprise.
To be sure, the film still feels very derivative. It especially takes its cues from Akira’ Kurosawa’s classic 1954 film “Seven Samurai,” wherein the film’s titular warriors band together to save a tiny village from the predations of some local bandits. That theme’s been recycled plenty of times, from “The Magnificent Seven” to “The Three Amigos,” and as such “The Scargiver” doesn’t feel all that original.
But there’s a reason why “Seven Samurai” has been the subject of so many copycats: The core story is a pretty good one. When you bring together a host of unlikely warriors who, you’d think, would have better things to do, put them in the service of a defenseless community and pit them against an evil, overwhelming enemy? Yeah, I’ll sit and watch that.
The story here feels stronger and less scattered than the table-setting first film. And because we see the redemptive arcs take root in our band of heroes, the moral and inspirational themes are stronger, too. And—to my memory, at least—the content issues, while significant, have been reined in a bit, too. We don’t see quite as many ruthless and messy executions.
None of that makes “Rebel Moon—Part Two: The Scargiver” a classic film in its own right. But it is an improvement. And for many families, this chapter feels more navigable.
Zack Snyder has said that he plans to make anywhere from four to six films in the “Rebel Moon” saga. So we know we’ve not seen the last of Veldt’s surviving defenders. But while there’s no way to say where the overall story will go from here, its trajectory, at least, is positive.
Read the rest of the review here. Watch the trailer here.
–
Plugged In is a Focus on the Family publication designed to shine a light on the world of popular entertainment while giving families the essential tools they need to understand, navigate, and impact the culture in which they live. Through our reviews, articles and discussions, we hope to spark intellectual thought, spiritual growth and a desire to follow the command of Colossians 2:8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
Reviews written by Paul Asay, Adam R. Holz and Bob Hoose.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.