Facing the Giants

2006

Drama / Fantasy / Sport

8
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 16% · 25 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 85% · 50K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.5/10 10 17980 18K

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Plot summary

A losing coach with an underdog football team faces their giants of fear and failure on and off the field to surprising results.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
April 26, 2021 at 01:50 PM

Director

Top cast

Alex Kendrick as Grant Taylor
Erin Bethea as Alicia Houston
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1021.06 MB
1280*694
English 2.0
PG
23.976 fps
1 hr 51 min
Seeds 19
2.05 GB
1920*1040
English 5.1
PG
23.976 fps
1 hr 51 min
Seeds 36

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by johnmichael-2 1 / 10

It has good intentions, but all it does is a lot of harm!

I watched this film in youth group, where my otherwise intuitive youth leader and his wife squeed over it. Then some adult couple at a church-related Christmas party misled themselves into giving a copy of this movie to every single family in attendance, and now my household is stuck with the film (though it thankfully still remains in its shrinkwrap). I cried bitter tears over these sad events, and here's why: First off: this film has good intentions, especially if you're a Christian like me. This movie is trying to show that you should put your faith in God and that it'll make your life better. Not so bad, right? Eh. It turns out a be a problem--a big one. This movie was made by a church, so of course every single issue has to be dealt with as tastefully for Christians as possible. It is all black-and-white, no gray areas. God's grace and will in this movie is a predictable thing, and it comes instantly to all those who do His bidding.

This is not the God I know. This is not the Christian life I am familiar with. The God I believe in is a powerful and trustworthy God, but He is not one that grants my every wish. I follow Him as best I can, though the going is often hard; yet the football team in this movie finds their humility and self-control a lot easier than anyone should EVER find it. I cannot relate to cardboard cutouts who flip from bad-side to good-side in the course of a few structured movie scenes. And when I DO follow His commandments as laid out in the Bible, I certainly don't find myself showered in blessing as these characters do. The largest of my immediate rewards is knowing that I have done the right thing; everything else comes with long, messy, arduous work.

But take the example this movie sets: Grant Taylor coaches the football team at Shiloh Christian school, which has had 6 losing seasons in a row. He may lose his job over it, and he and his wife are low on money as it is. They want a baby, but the doctor tells him he is sterile. Oh, and his car doesn't work. And the boys on his football team are disrespectful to their parents, whiny after their million losses, and bad at kicking field goals. This is sure one rundown community here.

But wait, Grant Taylor decides he's going to trust in God for everything! And he passes on his faith to his team. So far, so good. Not for long. As they begin to obey, blessing literally POUR in on them. Suddenly the students stop disrespecting their parents; the school has a big "revival"; the team starts winning EVERY game; they even win the grand championship against the hardest team in the league! Coach Taylor's job is reassured; the school gets him a shiny new truck as a present (which, by the way, is the epitome of shallow, fair-weather employers); he gets a raise; his wife (get this) even gets pregnant from his sterile sperm! And that skinny kid manages to kick his first darn field goal right when it really matters!! Wowzers, woot, yay, praise the Lord, etcetera, etcetera!!! ...

Yipe. Just YIPE. Nobody in my church has ever experienced Christ in a such a cut-and-dry manner. Yes, there have been miracles aplenty in my family, as well as gifts and creature comforts, and I attribute them to God's grace and lovingkindness. But God isn't some faucet tap that you turn on and off by being good or bad! He is by and large a mystery; His gifts come unexpectedly, often when you think you don't need them but you really do. It's a long, hard slog to the road of fulfillment, and things NEVER turn out the way you thought they would.

This movie has good intentions. But because of its supreme shallowness and total escapism, it tanks tremendously to a 1/10. The bad acting and sports movie clichés seem to be mere pimples next to the leprous falsehoods that this movie inadvertently pushes.

To all you future churches planning to make a movie: don't be afraid to show REAL life, even you have to add some inconvenient truths into the mix. However much the baser populace is wowed by this cotton candy treat, nobody has learned anything substantial from it. Give us the meat, the bones, the REAL stuff! True life applies to everyone, not just Christians, and that's one aspect "Facing the Giants" didn't manage to grasp.

Reviewed by MISSMOOHERSELF 7 / 10

Nothing's Impossible

There are enough things wrong with this movie that I should rate it a 2 but I love this movie so much I can overlook the flaws very easily. I've seen it so many times I've now lost count. First, what's wrong with this movie.

1.) With the exception of the main character, there are very few women in the picture. Grant Taylor has a wife, there is a teacher and there also is a clinic featuring 2 women but other than that, none of the boys seem to have a mother. Matt has a father as does David but neither boy has a "mom," although David's father does wear a wedding ring. A small point but a mighty one.

2.) The African-American coach is one step above "Steppin Fetchit" or "Amos & Andy." He talks in a rather lazy fashion and seems a little bit slow although he isn't. When he gives David a "unique" way of remembering how to get the ball in between the goal posts or when he keeps up with Larry, his coaching partner, in a game of one-upsmanship of famous names, you see how intelligent he is but for much of the movie, he seems to be a bit of a doofus. In this day and age of political correctness, it's NOT a good idea to portray an African-American character as slow or dim-witted.

3.) Coach Taylor's hair. C'mon, guys, you could have done better with the front of his hair than what we see. It makes the coach look stupid, dorky - kind of like a Jim Carrey character.

Now, what's Right about this movie:

1.) God. There is lots of "God Talk" in this movie and I don't mind. This is a fundamentalist Christian view of God and may seem somewhat simplistic but it works, at least in this movie. Too bad real life isn't that easy (trust God and you'll get what you want). I'm Roman Catholic but I found the "God parts" very inspirational, although somewhat hokey at times. 2.) The acting. While it's not Laurence Olivier in "Hamlet," you really believe Alex Kendrick as Coach Taylor and Shannen Field as Brooke. Some scenes are heartbreaking and others are very funny. But all in all, it's a delightful pairing of 2 obvious believers. 3.) Let's face it, some of those young football players are CUTE, especially David and Zach. Clean-cut, with short hair and decent clothes (David even wears a tie to the final game!) without looking like nerds or geeks. That's refreshing.

All in all, I love this movie. Ii'm not a football fanatic and so I fast-forward some of those scenes. Other readers have pointed out football mistakes; I wouldn't know and I really don't care. To me, this movie isn't so much about football as it is about faith. It would be far worse if the mistakes were in faith instead of football. When I find myself feeling down and this movie is on, I watch it and I'm immediately uplifted. There aren't too many movies that can say that. And I doubt this movie will ever air on network television --- too much religion - GOD FORBID. That's a shame, though, because it's an uplifting, inspiring movie and many young people would benefit from watching it.

Reviewed by ccthemovieman-1 9 / 10

A Sunday Sermon Comes To Life On the Gridiron

Well, this movie was a shock to see and to hear. Among the thousands of mainline films I have watched over many years, this is the first I've seen with a modern-day story that was unapologetically Christian. It actually used Jesus and God's name as you would hear in a sermon in church. Of course, the fact that "Hollywood" didn't make this film is understandable; it was produced, directed, written, etc., by a Baptist church in Georgia.

But - surprise - it's available in good quantities at the video stores and actually has the production values of a big-budget Hollywood film. In other words, this looks nice and, for the most part, is adequately acted even though amateurs do the acting. The only one I thought sounded wooden, unfortunately, was Alex Kendrick playing the main character: coach Grant Taylor, the Shiloh Christian High School football coach. Kendrik directed and wrote this film, so kudos to him for all that wonderful work....but an actor, he ain't. Real-life University of Georgia football coach Mark Richt makes a guest appearance and he sounded very relaxed and convincing, as a professional actor would sound. They should have given Richt the main role!

Yes, the story is hokey, especially at the end at the last football game, but what Hollywood movie isn't? It's just a little far-fetched to anyone who knows football. At any rate, the action scenes were well-done and very realistic looking.

To see a movie with this many inspirational and profound Biblical statements was a "revelation" and really nice to see (hear). Hokey or not, there are several moments in this film that should drive most viewers to tears. If not, check your pulse.

The main message of the movie: "All things are possible with God," is a good one and one everyone, including Christians, need to be reminded of periodically. Secular people who don't want to hear anything positive about God or the Bible, or who are just plain biased against Christians, will hate this film and wouldn't last 30 minutes watching it. I have a very good friend who is in that category and I couldn't recommend the film to him, because he'd be in the bathroom puking his guts out after a half hour. However, if you are more tolerant, or are a follower Of Jesus Christ, then you will find this film inspiring and emotional and worth your time.

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