Facing the Giants is an inspirational sports film that was made on a $100,000 budget by a Baptist church in Albany, Georgia. One of the preachers at the church, Alex Kendrick, wrote, directed, and is the headlining star. The rest of the cast was made up of volunteers from Albany and the surrounding areas. So the fact that Facing the Giants made 1.3 million in its opening weekend at the box office in 2006, and ended up making 10 million total, was certainly a shock. But it is truly one of the greats when discussing inspirational sports films?
Facing the Giants is all about the Shiloh Eagles, a high-school football team that’s gone six years without a winning season. The team’s coach, Grant Taylor (Alex Kendrick), is struggling with crises on the field and off. Job insecurity only increases the financial pressures on Grant and his wife, Brooke (Shannen Fields), who barely manage to sustain a lifestyle best described as middle-class poverty. Then, the doctor tells Grant that in all likelihood, he’ll never be able to father children. After some words of wisdom from an old wise man wandering the halls of Shiloh Academy, Grant finds comfort and inspiration in his Bible. Renewed and revitalized, Grant announces he’s rededicating himself to Christ and redirecting his players to honor God by playing better.
Facing the Giants is a typical inspirational film involving sports. Like Remember the Titans or Gridiron Gang, or Invincible, or any other film like these, it is filled with cliches. It has the underdog team facing the bigger, tougher, and better team. However, the corner man of the underdogs is God: the answer to everything. And therein lies the problem. The overall message to take hold of is that if you believe in yourself, anything is possible. However, if you believe in God then is nothing is impossible. That certainly may be true, but in this film, God makes everything better immediately. We know in the real world, that is not always the case.
That’s a shame too, since Facing the Giants has realistic dialogue and true-to-life situations. But the secondary problem is the inexperience of the cast of volunteers. The amateur actors try their hardest, but you have to wonder how good this film could have been with a more seasoned cast.
Alex Kendrick burns the candle at both ends as writer, director and actor, to the point where he’s bitten off more than he can chew.
Facing the Giants is an inspirational film, but not in the way Alex Kendrick and everyone else involved in the film would hope. How this independent film, made up of mostly unpaid volunteers, became a cult hit should be an inspiration for filmmakers everywhere. As far as the content goes, it’s too bad that Alex Kendrick pushed his inspirational message a little harder than he should have. The best underdog stories involving sports films are the ones that simply allow the inspiration to flow naturally. Facing the Giants just preaches too loudly.
The video is presented in 1080p/AVC at the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen color ratio, which is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. This transfer is good, but not great. TThere are various moments where the film doesn’t look as sharp, but due to the limited budget for the film, you can’t expect it to look any better than this.
The audio is available in either English Dolby 5.1 TrueHD Surround sound, French Dolby Digital 5.1 TrueHD Surround sound, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 TrueHD Surround sound, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. There are subtitles available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French as well. The music doesn’t overpower the dialogue allowing us to hear everything distinctly. Still, like the video quality, the audio isn’t the greatest.
Audio Commentary –
There is a full-length audio commentary with Writer/Producer Stephen Kendrick and his brother, Writer/Producer/Director/Actor Alex Kendrick. They give a lot of insight into making this film, but it’s not as entertaining as you would have liked. Still, some good background information on the production.
“Behind the Scenes of Facing the Giants” Featurette –
This runs 7 minutes and it looks at the themes of the film through cast and crew interview clips, behind the scenes footage, and shots from the film. It also examines the film’s purpose, the church’s role in production, and the volunteer work of the cast and crew. Just another run-of-the-mill fluff piece.
“Fumbles, Funnies, and Other Fun Stuff” Outtakes and Bloopers –
This is a blooper reel that totals 11 minutes. Again, not really funny, but fans of the film will probably enjoy it nonetheless.
Deleted Scenes –
There are 13 scenes that didn’t make the final cut of the film, and they total 14 minutes. Optional commentary from Kendrick is available, so you can understand why tese scenes were cut from the film.
Interview with Mark Richt –
This is a 4 minute interview with the head coach of the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team, Mark Richt. He had a large cameo role in the film and he talks all about that with Alex Kendrick.
A Musical Tribute to the Volunteers –
This is a 6 minute music video of the making of the film. It’s set to the song “With You”.
Facing the Giants is an average inspirational sports film. But it’s made with a target audience in mind. The Blu-ray release doesn’t have any exclusive features, and the audio and video is only a slight improvement over the DVD release. So if you already have that release, chances are good that you don’t need to upgrade to Blu-ray.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents Facing the Giants. Directed by Alex Kendrick. Starring Alex Kendrick, Shannen Fields, Steve Williams, Bailey Cave, Jason McLeod, Tracy Goode, Chris Willis, and Mark Richt. Written by Alex and Stephen Kendrick. Running time: 111 minutes. Rated PG. Released on DVD: September 29, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
