Movie Review: The Forge

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B-

A well-made but familiar faith-based film. 

 This movie about a young adult, learning to grow up and take responsibility as finding faith in God, offers nothing that anyone watching has never seen before, but it does its job well. The main thing that this film gets right is the main character. He is very likable and easy for anyone watching to relate to. Since this film is about him growing up, he changes a lot over the course of the story. However, this change seems to happen naturally and is completely believable. Also, no matter how much he has changed he still feels like the same character. The main character's relationships with his mom and his boss feel very well realized and this makes both him and those characters feel more real to us. Because of this even though the movie hits many familiar beats, some of the emotional scenes truly do pack a punch.   

As you must expect from a movie like this it does have a very prominent Christian message. It has a lot to say and says it well. This is done and a way that feels accessible to non-Christians, while still having something to say to Christians. However oftentimes it feels like the whole story stops so a character can give a sermon. These are very well written sermons, but they can also mess with the film's pacing and can take you out of the movie. 

This film also has problems with some awkwardly written dialogue, some bland side characters (some of whom aren't well acted) and weak humor. The familiarity of the story also makes it hard for this to stand out among many similar movies.  

This may not be a classic, but it does its job quite well.