Faith of Our Fathers (2015) Reviews

• Like a church play put on by people who didn't show up for rehearsal.

  The_Film_Cricket2015-06-24

  I have no objection to the output of PureFlix Entertainment. Christian movie goers should have their films on the big screen just as much as fans of horror or comedy or action pictures. The writers and directors of the films put out by PureFlix have set out on a mission, to give a forgotten audience a voice on the big screen. Fine, but for Heaven's sake, PLEASE send these people to film school! Over the last two years I've sat through movie after movie from PureFlix and they all seem to have the same problem: they are dry, limp, dumbbell T.V. movie-style productions featuring bad actors reciting bad dialogue – like a church play put on by people who didn't show up for rehearsal. This should not be construed as a knee-jerk reaction to Christian films. I support Christian films, but a bad movie is a bad movie no matter what it's about. I'm looking squarely at The Book of Esther (2013), Gods Not Dead (2014), Do Your Believe? (2015) and PureFlix's latest head-scratcher Faith of Our Fathers. I actually saw this movie at a special screening back in January when it was called To the Wall. Why the title was changed I don't know. To the Wall isn't any better, but its much easier to remember. Faith of Our Fathers too closely resembles Flags of Our Fathers, the Clint Eastwood movie that you should watch instead. Both movies are ostensibly about soldiers who fought and died in American conflicts. Eastwood's film was about the soldiers at Iwo Jima. The PureFlix film is sort-of about soldiers in Vietnam, but spends an exhaustive amount of time as a goofball road comedy. The story of Faith of our Fathers/To the Wall is, at its heart, about reconnection. It begins with a good-hearted guy named John Paul George (Kevin Downes) – that's actually what people call him – whose father was a soldier in Vietnam who never made it home. What he left for his son was a pack of letters that John Paul George has held onto for all these years. Spurred by a desire to find out what happened to him, John Paul George heads east to get information from a veteran who served with his dad during the war Now, here's what you should know about John Paul George – he's a doofus. I'm not being mean, he walks through this movie with the same expression my dog gives me when I hide the tennis ball behind my back. He does things that no sane human being would do on a road trip, like letting a pair of strangers borrow the car when they ask for help. He trusts quite a few people in this movie that he really shouldn't. I understand the need for a trusting nature but it wouldn't have been out of character for John Paul George to enter this film falling off a turnip truck. John Paul George's plans hit a snag when he meets the son of the man his dad served with. He is Wayne (David A.R. White) a strange individual who seemed to have mimicked his personality on a bad Nick Nolte impression. I'm not kidding, White affects a gravelly voice and a haircut that might be at home on an bad SNL sketch. It's a bad performance – really bad. Naturally, the two don't trust each other. John Paul George is the good-hearted dope, and Wayne is the cynic who lives in a trailer and seems to live for the singular purpose of being mad at the world. Reluctantly, they decide to help each other. They decided to take a road trip to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. Can two walking clichés share a road trip without driving each other crazy? What do you think? The present-day scenes with Wayne and John Paul George are inter-cut with scenes of Wayne's dad in Vietnam back in 1969 – which look like they were filmed in someone's back yard (I swear the platoon passes the same tree four times!). John Paul George's father is named Steven (Sean McGowan) and writes letters back home to his infant son. His platoon is led by Sergeant Mansfield (Stephen Baldwin) who – not to give too much away – provides the film's most baffling development. He becomes a human connection between John Paul George and his father that I'm pretty sure involved a time machine. No matter who made Faith of Our Fathers/To the Wall and for what purpose, this is a bad movie – really bad, laughably bad. The production values seem borrowed "The Beverly Hillbillies" up to, and including, the moving back projection during the driving scenes. The screenplay is all over the place. Every development is painfully convenient and the story moves back and forth between pathos and slapstick comedy almost at random, dealing with two characters that are so badly written and acted that they seem like Looney Tunes characters. I realize that I could be accused of beating up a film that is not my taste. On the contrary, I've liked religious themed movies in the past. But I like films that are well made and that have a point of view. I also realize that my taste in religious films leans more toward films that challenge me, like The Rapture, The Passion of the Christ, The Last Temptation of Christ and even parts of Heaven is for Real. Even Oh God! had a nice message. But Faith of Our Fathers/To the Wall is an aggravating mess. It wants to be a screwball comedy and a heart-rending message about fathers and sons. Pick one guys, you can't have both.

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• A mix of terribly contrived comedy and mercifully obvious moralizing

  StevePulaski2015-07-03

  Last year's Fourth of July weekend saw Dinesh D'Souza's "America" gracing American cinemas with its presence, telling us American shame was a byproduct of a false idea of history and questioning where the world would be had American never come into existence. To keep with the tradition of a country that loves making films that simultaneously stroke the nation's ego as well as adhering to the importance of "traditional values," Fourth of July 2015 brings us "Faith of Our Fathers," another link in the chain of abysmal, independent Christian cinema. What makes "Faith of Our Fathers" bad isn't its flag-waving pride for America as a plea for sentimentality (it doesn't use that device as much as you'd like to believe) but it's commitment to painting the most uneven picture with caricatures for characters and circumstances so incredulous they border the line of science-fiction. We are immediately introduced to John Paul George (yes, that's the name of the character we must take seriously, played by Kevin Downes, who looks like Matt Damon's clone) and his fiancée Cynthia ("Full House"'s Candace Cameron Bure). Any time these two characters are on screen together make for a cringe-worthy bout of joking or fighting, but I digress. John Paul is digging through boxes of his late mother's old things and finds pictures and a flag from his late father's tour of duty in Vietnam. He finds the name "Eddie Adams" in the box of things and decides to look him up in hopes he has information about his father, for he knows depressingly little. After several dead-end phone calls, he stumbles upon the right man, who lives in the in the backwoods of Mississippi, and makes the effortless flight out to the land to hopefully meet the man who can tell him what happened to his father and how he died. Upon arriving, John Paul meets Wayne Adams (David A.R. White), Eddie's son, a wily, unpredictable loudmouth who allows John Paul to sleep over. John Paul is awoken in the middle of the night by the sound of Wayne chainsawing the roof off of his beloved 1965 Ford Thunderbird, with Wayne stating he'll give John Paul his own father's letters, which reveal things about his father Stephen, if he (a) pays $500 per letter and (b) takes a trip to The Vietnam Wall with him. What ensues is a terribly contrived, uninteresting bout of roadtrip clichés with shots of John Paul and Wayne's fathers fighting in combat in a group led by Sergeant Mansfield (Stephen Baldwin) interjecting this bumpy ride. The only thing worse than a roadtrip film full of clichés and narrative shortcomings is a roadtrip film that includes both and features two insufferable characters. John Paul's tired old moral soul character is about as empty as it can be and Wayne is a cloying brute who's obnoxiously fake accent and stubborn tendencies make for another character who is immediately unlikable. As with any contemporary Christian film, the elements of God and Jesus need be mentioned in nearly every scene to some degree but none can be proposed in passing or the subject of a simple, heart-to-heart conversation. "Faith of Our Fathers" has to masquerade in its religious beliefs, etching the names of God and Jesus in dreary monologues that continue to affirm the importance of these figures in a way that makes the speaking character condescend to those who do not believe in such a being. This is the fundamental flaw with most contemporary Christian films - their inability to accept that people can indeed be good and moral without the presence of a supreme being. Despite four heads (Downes, White, director Carey Scott, and Harold Uhl) working to pen the screenplay, "Faith of Our Fathers" is still burdened by bogus emotional mawkishness, the kind where somber orchestration cues you in on when to shed tears. It gets even more flashy when Si Robertson of TV's "Duck Dynasty" has to show up as the eclectic manager of a gas station, who peddles beef jerky to all of his customers. This is now the second Christian film to use the "Duck Dynasty" cast as cameos (the first being "God's Not Dead") and each time it has resulted in nothing more than sale and obvious pandering that the audiences for these films still has ostensibly not realized because they keep eating it up whenever such cameos occur. Finally, there's the film's latter act, which is so entirely unbelievable and contrived that it makes some science-fiction films seem probable. It's the kind of "unexpected" reversal that would work really well if it were even a hair realistic or believable, but by then, the film's directors and writers rely on their audience to be baited hook, line, and sinker by the emotional elements that the concluding sequences will simply seem like divine fortune that was meant to be all along. It's a cheap ploy that only worsens an already lackluster film, as we must listen to a sermon about God, his mysterious ways, and how the boys' fathers lived a life that served God and their country, set to uplifting choral music that makes for nothing but overwrought storytelling. "Faith of Our Fathers" will most likely be prodded by critics but loved by its audience (choir), who will presumably call the film's detractors uptight secularists that can't appreciate a good, moral film. If my opinion on "Faith of Our Fathers" makes me that, then I'd rather be that than someone who buys into the trite on display with this film.

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• "Faith of Our Fathers" should be evaluated like any other film, regardless of its message.

  CleveMan662015-07-12

  Christian movies sometimes get a bad rap. Now, I'm not talking about their theology. I'm talking about their quality, which has generally significantly improved in recent years. Many critics are quick to denigrate a faith-based film because of its overtly religious message, but they forget that every movie has a point of view. I believe that movies should be judged on their overall quality, not on how the person writing about the movie feels about that film's particular perspective. If a film is written, directed, acted, shot and edited well and, most importantly, if the finished product as a whole is entertaining, then that movie deserves a good review. Of course, I also believe the opposite. So, regardless of whether I personally agree or disagree with the film's message, I'm ready to practice what I preach in reviewing "Faith of Our Fathers" (PG-13, 1:45). This film tells two parallel stories that unfold 28 years apart. In Vietnam, in 1969, a squad of U.S. soldiers, including Bible-toting Christian Stephen George (Sean McGowan) and skeptic Eddie Adams (Scott Whyte), are led by battle-hardened Sergeant Mansfield (Stephen Baldwin) on a mission behind enemy lines to recover the crew of a downed aircraft. In the U.S., in 1997, Stephen's and Eddie's sons, John Paul (Kevin Downes, also the movie's co-writer), who lives in California, and Wayne (David A.R. White, another co-writer), who lives in Mississippi, meet and go in search of answers about their fathers, both of whom died in the war. (By the way, that's not a spoiler. It's the premise of the movie.) John Paul (not named after either of the two popes who used that name, but after three of the Beatles, since his last name is George) is to be married in three weeks, but his fiancée (Candace Cameron Bure) encourages him to pursue the questions raised by the discovery of his father's Vietnam War memorabilia. Starting with just a name mentioned in one of his father's letters, John Paul finds Wayne, the son of the man mentioned in the letter and travels to Mississippi to meet and talk with him. John Paul, like his father, is a clean-cut, strong Christian man. Wayne is a reclusive country boy who is more likely to shoot at an unwelcomed visitor than invite him in. The one thing both men have in common is a desire for answers about their fathers. Wayne coerces John Paul (who, naturally, he calls "Ringo") into joining him on a road trip to find their fathers' names on the Vietnam War Memorial ("The Wall") in Washington D.C. Along the way, Wayne allows John Paul (for a fee) to read Wayne's fathers' letters to see what he can learn about his own father. The personalities of the two men clash, but we witness their shared history draw them closer together, as we also see flashbacks of their fathers bond on the battlefield. "Faith of Our Fathers" is a well-named film with a well-constructed story. The movie appropriately honors the sacrifices of those who have served our nation in combat, while another prominent theme is the love of fathers for their children. The two main plots each unfold logically and the editing of the film tells the story well. Unfortunately, my praise for this film ends there. Some of the decisions the characters make and some of the things that happen to them either don't make sense or feel contrived. The acting in the scenes on the road trip is unconvincing and dialog that is meant to be funny is just silly. The acting and the dialog are both a little better in the Vietnam scenes, but the scenery in those segments is decidedly low rent. There is a decent twist late in the movie that connects the two story lines, but even that plot point feels like it's only there to serve the film's not-too-subtle purpose. The Bible verses, talk of salvation and sinners prayer make it obvious that this movie was made mainly to convince casual Christians and non-believers to become born-again Christians. But regardless of whether you're up for a conversion message or not, "Faith of Our Fathers" features an engaging story, albeit one with significant deficiencies. "B-"

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• A film safe for the whole family...

  erodriguez33722015-08-06

  "Faith of our Fathers" is the latest film from Pure Flix (the studio behind "God's Not Dead" and "Do You Believe?) with a message. The story starts off with John Paul George (Kevin Downes) wanting to know more about his father, who died in Vietnam. He finds some letters in the garage about a man named Eddie Adams. He eventually comes face-to-face with Eddie's son, Wayne (David A.R. White). What follows is a road trip where the two men eventually bond and become brothers. Amidst the men's trip, the film also flashes back to the two men's fathers in Vietnam. There's a little violence during the war-time scenes, but nothing too graphic. There's also no language and no sensual scenes. With this in mind, it's a perfect film to watch with your family. Highly recommended. 10/10

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• SAFE Movie for My Young Children Or Youths to See Alone

  California_Girl_20582015-08-04

  This CLEAN (no sex and no nudity) movie is about a couple of guys whose fathers served in the war and now, after years passed, an adult son (John) wants to know more about his father. Consequently, he (Kevin Downes) goes to see Wayne (David A.R. White) to find out whatever he can about his dad. Wayne and John end up going on a road trip together in search of answers. There are scenes where the film goes back to their fathers in the war (NO bloody gore). Stephan Baldwin plays a man called Mansfield and I think Mansfield is their fathers' Sgt, in the war. I can see where the writers were going in this sensitive, moving, and in my opinion SAFE for the whole family. I am a true believer in Christ Jesus, so I am not going to be critical about this movie, like many hardening- hearts that gave this movie a low rating. I am a big supporter of movies written by my brothers in Christ. Note that my 23-year old son used to work at a movie theater and there are lots of children that go to the movies alone (being dropped off by their parents) so in my opinion, this movie is safe for those kids.

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