User reviews

The only bad thing i would say was yes this movie did throw a lot of religion at you but let me say that it didn't affect the movie at all and didn't make me get angry.

It's a christian film yes but to be fair the main character is a non believer i think it actually helps the movie and makes it target Christians and non Christians which i think is good.

It also doesn't dive deep into the beliefs it's just the basic beliefs that every person should know already about Christianity, god, Jesus which is also good because that's what makes it feel like it's not shoving it down viewers throats and you will be able to just enjoy the movie for what the movie is.

This movie has family, romance, sports, and drama. It's a good movie period and it shouldn't be passed on just because it's a christian film. It has good messages that every person should live by no matter what religion you believe in which in this movie is basically LOVE and FORGIVENESS.

Even in the throws of hard luck believing in something or someone can get you to where your suppose to be.

Sports movies, they have many presentations and styles that make them so darn popular, but it's often the ones that have the deep motivational themes and heart that really get the attention. We Are Marshall, Pride of the Yankees, and of course Remember the Titans are just some of the films in the hall of film fame that are "timeless" pieces. Yet, unsung heroes often wait on the bench, hoping to have their shot at shining amidst the stars. Tim Tebow's production is hoping to be one of those rookies to make a statement this weekend and this reviewer is ready to share his opinion. Happy Friday folks and welcome to another review, this time on:

Movie: Run The Race (2019)

Director: Chris Dowling Writers: Jake McEntire (screenplay), Jason Baumgardner (screenplay) Stars: Mykelti Williamson, Frances Fisher, Kristoffer Polaha

LIKES:

Well Acted Pretty Cast Sports Fueled Moments Inspirational Deep Decently Paced

SUMMARY:

Run the Race's likes center on some surprising balance in this fairly realistic portrayal of faith and football. The cast of pretty thespians and cute physiques will be eye candy as they bring some decent acting to the mix of the family facing interesting circumstances. Their journey finds ways to bring the sports montage into the mix, crafting the story around the sports without becoming too invested into the mix. It's inspirational, finding some sequences that utilize the movie tricks and crafted speeches to get people going into action in helping face their problems. The film goes deep into trying to teach the religious based life lessons it holds, and can really get some emotion going, as was seen in my audience and showing. And surprisingly, it's got some decent pacing to it as well, finding a means to keep all these elements juggling smoothly, in hopes of getting to the end zone or finish line depending on the sport you like. Nonetheless, the movie's a nice sized package of inspirational messages delivered by poster worthy stars.

DISLIKES:

Plot Inconsistency Sports Avenues Are Not Made Up Rushed solutions Unrealistic Manipulations Preachy Predictable

SUMMARY:

Despite the inspirational components to the movie there are some things that take it away from the majesty of the theater. For me, the plot inconsistency is sort of the start as the race is ran a little too fast for some fo the plot lines to keep up with. Some avenues keep the pace going well, but others like the romance arc, the tension with the dad, and even the rivalry of some of the characters are not quite as present as the main story line, leading to them hastily cleaned up by the end of the movie. In addition, the sports montages are very simplistic, keeping the realistic component with them, but lacking those epic moments that make you want to scream out in delight. Again, while I appreciate the down to Earth approach, this film really could have used some magic to help pep up the exciting sports it bombarded us with, even resorting to unrealistic manipulations of the system that were eye rolling. Instead, the religious aspect is where this film leads, using very preachy dialogue that while strong, motivational, and certainly a spiritual component sets up much of the movie's "surprises". The predictable finish took away much of the emotion component for me and left me a little bored as I waited for the ending. Still, the avenue of preaching the good word is something to be forewarned, and if you don't want a case of faith, then you need to maybe hold off on this one.

The VERDICT:

Overall, Run The Race is actually a decent movie when it comes to religion influenced sports movies. A pretty cast will take on the task of instilling good messages that are deep and inspirational, while trying to develop the characters in the 105 minute run time. Yet, the movie still runs into trouble when it comes to the memorable sports intense films. It lacks the movie magic for one thing, and the preachiness may not be for everyone, especially if case of faith is not your cup of tea. As predictable as it was though, this Friday Night Lights themed movie could have been better with a little more balance in terms of handling the other story themes and may injecting some movie magic as well. Worth a trip to theater? I believe this one is best served for streaming to be honest, but that's just my opinion.

My scores are:

Drama/Sport: 7.0 Movie Overall: 6.0

It starts off predictably, with expected sporting injury hindering career, but the story was surprisingly original with some turns I didn't expect. There lead didn't seem to have the emotional responses to his life where expected ie when he has an injury he's not sad, but then later he gets overwhelmed for no apparent reason. However, on the whole the acting is nice, and though clearly a Christian film, it's not too heavy and not really cheesy at all. I guess it's painting a bigger picture and not milking emotions in the way some Christian films do. I recommend it.

Went into it thinking it was a football movie. But nope. Just another movie that doesn't mention anything about religion in the description, nut it is basically an hour and a half of people telling you how god would be better for your life.

I wouldn't have minded but there was no mention of this before hand and I felt like i was manipulated in a similar fashion to those who try to push religion on others. Shame

2.3

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I played football through high school and into college. Finding a good movie about football is difficult. Many are way to corny. This movie set well with me. It was well acted and it had a really welcomed theme. Though many might sway away from a movie with a religious theme- this is much different. Each actor and actress excelled in their roles. Kelsey Reinhardt player her role perfectly. I am a big fan of Tim Tebow and the message he sends and the role model he is. It's really worth watching in these times where We all need Faith and hope.

Really Liked it. Good movie.. Not the kind of movie i would like to re watch.. However i did enjoy it.

This movie is about real life, hardships, heartaches, love, trust, faith and forgiveness.

6/10 - an entertaining family/sports drama that did feel a little preachy at times

PROS

+ Quote of the movie: "I'm not saying his behavior is excusable, but it is forgivable. You'd be surprised how things can start to change when you forgive someone."

+ Great testimony of forgiveness.

+ The movie is much quieter and decent than most other films on sports.

CONS

• Unnecessary display of violence. The son (Zach) is threatening to use his baseball bat against his father.

• The movie contains a record of lies never seen to such a degree in a Christian movie.

1 Zach lies to his brother regarding the bat, saying that it was for coyotes. His brother Dave, who is a believer, did not rebuke him for this obvious lie.

2 Dave lies to Louise, saying that Zach is icing his leg (while he is out with friends). While a lie of Zach can be displayed in order to display his sinful past, a lie of a believer is a serious transgression.

3 Zach lies before his first date, saying that the coffee there is really good, only to be exposed that he was never there. The first monologue during the date, when answering Ginger's question, is an endless rambling of lies. She obviously understands that every phrase is intentionally lied, but takes it cool instead of correcting him in a gentle and biblical way in her function as a believer.

4 Zach even lies when he is caught by his brother while praying.

5 The biggest lie comes just days after his 'salvation'. He signs into a race pretending to be his brother and even the coach admits that he might get fired for this. While continuing his fraud and in the exact moment he is running the race, his brother died in the hospital.

What is the moral of the story? You should not lie, if not your brother will die? We don't know, but the end of the movie is totally senseless, especially given the fact that Zach specifically prayed for his brother's health, and the expectation is high after he was disappointed over and over in his life.

This movie rather feels like a deconstruction of Christianity, displaying a totally unjust THEOS who does not even hear Zach after his 'salvation'. Its message reads between the lines as encouraging, but spread over the movie, from beginning to end, is a degradation of THEOS. Not even Dave gives us hope, being battled by epileptic fits, while the only ray of light comes from Louise.

• The music is below grade.

Some lyrics: "Biz busy on the boards, came from nothin' I remember spendin' summers on the corner, me and BJ in that cutlass CD playin', missin' buttons, up at lincoln high in dallas with that Jesus music pumpin"

• The most serious transgression occurs when Zach has his first 'parents-in-law-date':

"I don't understand why Peter was crucified upside down."

While the other objections make sense coming from an unbeliever, it is heretical and outmost problematic to include in a Christian movie such a blatant lie which comes straight from the apocryphal 'Acts of Peter'. This 'objection' left me speechless, as it does so much damage to CHRIST's Church to promote such a lie.

• Zach's salvation is extremely thin (no repentance, no baptism): "Listen man (to his brother). You know how you asked me to pray for you. I did it." Dave: "That's awesome." Zach: "And as I was praying for you, I started praying for me. I walked into that house not believing, and I walked out ..." This is the full display of his salvation, which is ridiculous.

Love what Tim Tebow did at UF but he clearly took no classes in film when in Gainesville because this was outrageous scenario after another. I suppose you'll love it if you're a gullible sap in the Bible Belt

For Zach Truett the life is quite hard, he and his brother lost her mother and their father is drinking too much.Zach is an American football player who hopes to go out of this small town of Alabama getting a scholarship for the university of Florida.One night in a meeting of young people there is a fight and his knee ligament gets injured.He has now more reasons to be bitter .His brother Dave is more quiet, he tries to maintain a relationship with his father who abandoned them and to go forward.Then comes the encounter of Zach and Ginger in the hospital: she is nurse trainee, Zach tries to court her,but she is a very serious woman.Little by little their relationship will grow with ups and downs.Zach and his brother will have the support of their godmother. Of course "Run the race" is Christian film, but a film in which people like Zach who lost his mother, who sees broken his hope to play for a good team have doubts, have many and strong doubts.Little by little Zach will find the intern peace and the strength to go forward. The performances of Tanner Stine (Zach), Evan Hofer (Dave ) and Kelsey Reinhardt (Ginger) are good.

I don't want say anything bad about Christians (actually I do, they just steal 1,5 hour of my life), but really if you want film about faith just make film about faith. Stop mislead everyone with your fake themed movies about football or car racing or firefighters or christian Zorro - name it! There is LITERALLY no any football here, c'mon! Have some respect to others! Like you don't believe, but there are many people here that want to see real sport drama, not another christian fake. Does the Bible don't say anything about lies? Like its bad or something?

Faith based movie that leaves you thinking. The movie shows two brothers who seem to be on a different path but reality shows you they are just at a different pace. The movie reminds you Jesus is with you not only in the good times but is also there for us during the bad.

Watched this right after I woke up without even brushing my teeth or anything, and now my face is wet from crying

I'm a 30 yr old Christian woman who was raised in church, lived a fairly normal human existence and then got truly saved at the age of 15. "Got saved" for me = God became more real in my life than anything else and I fell in love with Jesus in a very real, undeniable way. OK, why am I saying all this? I do not think that this movie is helpful for people who don't know God or (dont) have 100% undeniable faith. It seems like that is the key underlining thing they are trying to get at, but it falls flat. Very flat. I did not expect it to end the way it did and it was sad and disappointing. To be clear- it wasn't the acting or even the scenery/cinematography that was a disappointment. It was the plot, the story itself. It seems like it was sloppily put together. Like it was not given enough time. These days there seems to be "Christian Movie" writers who just want to hurry up and throw something together to make money, Not to actually make an impactful film! That is very sad to me, and while it was not the worst movie I've seen, it definitely fell short of what I would deem a good movie or something I would recommend to anyone I know, sadly :(

First of all, I have no idea who is giving this film 1-star reviews. I assume it's being done by people who either don't like Tim Tebow or by people who can't stand Christian culture, because there is absolutely no way that any fair critic would give this movie anything close to a 1-star review.

That said, this is one of the better Christian films that I've seen. Several Christian films I've seen are what I tend to call "too cheesy" or the ending was "too happy". (I'm not a fan of everything always working out in the end -- I don't think that's realistic).

Anyway, my standards for Christian films tend to be pretty low, but at least this one had a somewhat realistic ending and I didn't find myself rolling my eyeballs during scenes, which I sometimes do.

As a male, I could relate to the emotions of two of the film's more disgruntled characters, which I appreciated. As a sports-themed film with several male characters, I thought this film would be more appealing to men -- but so far, females have rated it higher on IMDB than males have... so what do I know?

If I were a secular person watching this film, I might rate it a six or a seven out of ten. As a Christian, I'd probably give it an eight or a nine. (I gave it a nine because the 1-star reviews are obviously bogus and need to be compensated for).

For what it's worth, I thought Passion of the Christ was the best Christian film I've seen. (It didn't have much of a plot, but it was well done). The second best I've seen is "What If..." with Kevin Sorbo... and Run the Race probably takes the #3 spot. Not perfect, but pretty well done -- especially for a Christian film. Enjoy.