The performances are effective all around with director Kendrick quite moving in the central role of Adam, the veteran officer, who suffers a horrific family tragedy that sets much of the film’s plot in motion. A key story element - involving the male characters pledging to sign a “resolution” affirming their fatherly duties and their faith in God - seems both artificial and a cribbing from the “Love Dare” featured so prominently in Fireproof.
But the episodic and frequently melodramatic storyline contains enough incidents and subplots to fill an entire television season. The characters are complex and well-drawn, struggling with various personal issues that test their faith and character in believable ways. The theme - hammered home repeatedly - is fatherhood, and the responsibilities that come with it.Ĭourageousreveals the duo’s growing expertise as filmmakers with its skillful blending of moving drama, subtle comedy and several impressive action sequences, including a well-staged foot chase and a harrowing shootout between the cops and bad guys. Like their previous independent hits, Facing the Giants and Fireproof, Courageous seems well poised to tap into a theatrical market starved for such fare, with even greater potential for DVD sales.Īnother collaboration between brothers Alex (director, co-writer, actor) and Stephen Kendrick (producer, co-writer), the film is set in the small town of Albany and concerns the interactions among four sheriff’s deputies and a Hispanic immigrant desperate for work. NEW YORK - This faith-based drama is the latest and most ambitious effort from Sherwood Pictures, the filmmaking offshoot of Albany, Georgia’s Sherwood Church.