Customer Reviews

Facing the Giants

5 star:		(572)
4 star:		(75)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

There are basically 10 reasons "Facing the Giants" is a movie that every family in America should watch together:

#1. This is a movie about overcoming great obstacles, something every family faces.

#2. This is a movie that does not rely on sex, violence, or profanity to carry a weak or boring plot.

#3. This is a movie that examines the relationships between family members, and offers sound Biblical advice on how to make those relationships more successful.

#4. This is a movie void of famous actors with large egos to build upon, which means cast was able to focus on the overall production and not worry about the performance of one actor or actress.

#5. This is a film that stirs all kinds of emotions and can definitely clean out clogged up tearducts.

#6. This is a movie with some great football action scenes that rival any larger, Hollywood, big-budget film.

#7. This is a movie written and produced by Christians dedicated to their work of reaching out to a lost world with the message of hope and love.

#8. This is a movie that celebrates the power of the human spirit to rise above what we think is possible.

#9. This is a movie that just seems to have the Lord's blessing on it throughout the post-production, production, and distribution.

#10. The DVD has many extras that give the viewers a taste of the amazing character and the pure hearts of the people who helped make this film a success!

I've just listed 10 very good reasons to purchase "Facing the Giants". It is not my goal to write a review of this movie that spoils the plot, declares one actor better than an other actor, or compares the storyline to another movie.

My review is to let anyone who reads it know that this is a movie worth owning and sitting down to view with the family.

See ya next review!

A football coach who is facing being fired and having trouble conceiving a child with his wife feels overwhelmed and turns to Christ to help him through the tough times in his life. The message of the movie is that while you can't control what happens in life, you must give it your all anyway. He decided that whether or not his team wins, whether or not he keeps his job, whether or not he can have children, he will do his best in every endeavor in his life and glorify God regardless of the outcomes.

His wife is played by a sweet and lovely actress who faces her own hardship as a woman who wants children and is having trouble conceiving. Many of the teammates have personal issues they must also overcome.

This is a great family film, very uplifting, and I'm glad I came across it.

Where can I begin? This movie is awesome. Christian or non-Christian, you can't helped but be moved by this movie. The plot, the characters, the message, everything is just great. God truly had a hand in this movie. I can't wait to get the DVD so that I can watch it over and over. My eight year old son sat and watched the movie as if he was glued to the screen. Get the movie. Watch it with your family. God will change your life. Check out Flywheel as well.

I just watched this movie and it brought tears to my eyes. The central theme of the movie is that with God, all things are possible. It tells the story of how a Christian school had a revival after someone had been praying for that revival for a long time, and the revival came through the school football team, and God took the team all the way to the state finals. It also tells the story of the coach and his wife's infertility and that with God, all things are possible!

It is reported that the cost of this movie is $100,000, and majority of the cast and crew were volunteers. It is also reported that it raked in $10,000,000 by 1 Jan 2007. This is truly the 100-fold increase!

Eventhough the production may not be as polished as Hollywood productions, but the values that it portrays are better than some G-rated movies and cartoons. This is a great family movie, a must watch for all Christians... truly... WITH GOD, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!

Some may say this story has been done before. There is a long history of "underdog finally triumphs" films that show how, through hard work and determination a team can work together to accomplish unsurmountable odds and come out on top. These are "feel-good" films that bolster our beliefs in the human spirit and the man-vs-man/man-vs-self struggle that is, we hope, a metaphor for our own lives. If this is the template, then on the surface, Facing the Giants falls into the mold, but that mold is quickly broken with the following lines:

Coach - "What's the purpose of this team?"

Player - "To win football games?"

Coach - "What happens next?"

Player - "We win a trophy?"

Coach - "Then what?"

Player - "People talk about us?"

Coach - "For a while, then what?"

Player - "I don't know, we go to college, then coach little league?"

The point is then driven home that football is too small of a thing to live for, which is most certainly true, but not in the minds of a teenager who perceives the future in seemingly infinite terms impacted dramatically by a winning football season. The victorious win is generally not too small of a thing for a moviegoer to experience at the end of a two-hour viewing, as evidenced by so many similar movies. The flaw in other kinds of "triumph over odds" movies is that, while they embolden the human spirit, it's a temporary victory. Also true is the fact that for every winning team, there is a losing team. While winning should be a goal, it should not be the be-all-end-all of goals. If this were the case, then what of the unmentioned losing teams whose hard work and determination are never mentioned? In order to receive the most impact out of our human endeavors, we should work for something much larger than ourselves, or our team.... something that transcends the mere outcome of a football game.

It is this realization that life is bigger than us that packs such a powerful punch in "Facing the Giants" and is, perhaps, the reason why so many people are divided over its effectiveness. The human-centered philosophy of some critics are diametrically at odds with the idea that a team whose individuals worship God and place his glory above their own will see this movie as a "goody-goody" example of Christian propaganda which seemingly states that we will win if we trust in God.

The victory in life, however (which is so poignantly demonstrated in Facing the Giants), is that when we stop living for ourselves and instead live our lives for something larger than ourselves, a sport, or even a team -- when we embrace the reality of a God that loves us and do everything we would normally do for His glory and not for our own, then we experience a win far greater than temporary fame... we experience and have the honor of participating in the eternal glory of God Almighty.

Facing the Giants was not favored by the press at large, whose business it is to either lavish praise or denigrate the work of the individuals that craft films: giving full responsibility to its effectiveness to the vision of the producers, the ideas of the script writer, the interpretation of the director, and the portrayal of the actors. The idea that a theatrical film could be created by amateurs for the glory of something other than themselves is completely foreign to their careers nitpicking the technical nature of films. How else can you explain the contrasting panning by critics and praise by moviegoers?

Make no mistake, "Facing the Giants" is not perfect, but it is an excellent moviegoing experience -- obviously crafted by men of God... the God who delights in the applause of the film's many audiences. Its message transcends an uplifting afternoon and fully achieves its desired effect: to profoundly impact lives.

I was really amazed at this movie. I couldn't pull myself away once it started. If you want something wholesome for you children to watch, then this is it. It shows the power of prayer, believing in the Lord, but also what it is to be a team, and be the best you can.

The coach is great and has a lot to contend with, and you see what he has to accept in his life.

Buy it, you won't regret it. Unless of course you would rather the kids hear the profanity of todays movies, and the filth that they show, and think that this movie is "corny."

To be honest, when I hear, "it's a Christian movie," I wince. To me that usually means trite, unsubtle, with the supposed message (not the one that's really conveyed) bludgeoning people over the head, while the acting stinks up the screen and the cleanness of everything gets on my nerves. This isn't that movie.

I kept waiting for the story, or the action, or the actors to stumble (make that fumble). And they didn't. At times, it's evident that some of the actors are saying lines, but that was never very distracting and I've seen a LOT worse performances, by well-known Hollywood celebrities. A of couple times during the scenes of football games, it was evident that there had been only one camera filming. But I don't know that I would've noticed that so much, if I hadn't heard about it beforehand. The blurred parts only made me look away for a moment, and then I was right back into what was happening.

This movie explodes all stereotypes about southerners being ignorant, slow-talkin', thick-skinned, unfeeling, two-dimensional types or worse. Which is how they are portrayed in small parts in many, many films.

I knew it was possible for someone to be shown reading the Bible in some kind of visual media, and it just meant someone reading the Bible -- looking for wisdom, listening for guidance, being encouraged. Just a character, at that point in his (her) life. Not an extremist of some sort.

I cried several times, laughed hard several times and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Which is what I go to the movies for.

I laughed. I cried. I was genuinely moved to get my life closer to God. It is an awesome movie with an awesome message. Anyone who claims to be a Bible-believer or a Christian must see it. It was a totally clean movie - something sorely lacking among today's movies (no foul language, no fornication, no alcohol, no drugs, and no criminal violence). It just goes to show that you don't need big name actors or a huge budget to make a great movie. If a small church in south Georgia can pull this off, then hopefully it will inspire other non-Hollywood, family friendly entities to do the same. Don't let the PG rating fool you - just some secular progressive liberals upset about "too much God" in their opinion. Anything that puts Biblical Christianity in a positive light will be offensive to them.

Oh wow. I knew there had to be something special about this movie when my sister, who always knows just what to get someone, sent a FOOTBALL movie to our Mom for Mother's Day. I put off watching it for a couple weeks. I don't care for football, but I've heard great reviews. OH WOW. I don't cry over many things, but I don't even remember how many times this movie made me just want to pause and bawl my eyes out. I am facing giants in my own life, as everyone does at times. You need to watch this and see what a little hope will do. Just when the thoughts of giving up or suicide hit, that's the time things will start to look up if you only give the Lord the chance He's waiting on.

I am 40 yrs old and I have never been moved by a movie like I was by Facing The Giants.I first viewed this movie with other 11&12 all-star football coaches and players.The movie impacted me so,I asked my wife to join me in watching the movie again just two days later.I found the second viewing more comfortable because of the fact of not having to continually block my wet face from 24 all-star football players.