Directed By Alex Kendrick

Starring – Aspen Kennedy, Cameron Arnett, Karen Abercrombie

The Plot – Tells the story of Isaiah Wright (Kennedy), a 19 year old who lives for basketball and video games. A year out of high school, he still has no job, no plans, and no idea how to be a man. At odds with his single mom, Cynthia (Priscilla C. Shirer), Isaiah is given an ultimatum; to step up or move out. Feeling the pull from his friends and the push from his mom, Isaiah is hired by Moore Fitness, but has no idea how the owner will personally impact his life. With the prayers of his mother and unexpected guidance from his new mentor, Isaiah is forced to deal with his past, sacrifice his selfishness and discover how God might have a greater purpose for his life.

Rated PG for thematic elements

The Forge – Official Trailer | In Theaters Beginning August 23 (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

What little I can remember about ‘War Room’ doesn’t summon much positivity to the reflection, however the creators of ‘The Forge’ clearly used the nearly ten years since to exercise some restraint in the offensive nature of its material, cementing an engagement that is at least approachable, even if not entirely compelling. This proves the movie’s heart to be in the right place, staying away from persecution complex’s and volatile vocabulary for the atheists in the audience, which movies like these typically exercise with humiliation, disease, or even death, and instead focusing the ample amount of life lessons that it utilizes towards its adoring audience. The film is definitely preachy and pandering, but I can at least respect when it’s a film that vividly practices what it preaches, allowing the intention of the occasion to take shape without any of the unnecessary excess, to which this film already has plenty of. In addition to its honorable intentions, the production values of Sony Pictures and particularly Kendrick Brothers Productions have clearly taken some of the money made from their first campaign to use towards this one, and as a result we production values that don’t stand out for the distracting reasons. In particular, the cinematography featuring gorgeous establishing shots of Charlotte, North Carolina, the editing, and the color grading to interior sequences are dramatically improved, emitting a cinematic appeal to their quality that looks good on the big screen, all the while further bridging the gap with films outside of the religious enveloping that it’s starting to catch on with. Lastly, the characters are a legitimate joy to experience and grow with, especially Arnett’s Joshua Moore, with no shortage of charisma or charming radiance to his personality that lights up any room he walks into, all without unnecessary comedic levity. Kennedy also shows off an emotional range that intensifies these conflicts with ample amount of humanity, and though he typically serves as the audience’s ears for the lessons that Arnett constantly unloads at his footsteps, Kennedy captures both sides, immaturity and maturity, that make up the air of his three-act transformation, even if his character is nineteen-going-on-thirty (The actor is 29 years old in real life).

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately, many of the same problems still persist in ‘The Forge’ that existed with ‘War Room’, most importantly an overstuffed script that inflates around 40 minutes of material to the two hour mark that becomes taxing quickly. Considering most of the conflict initially pertains to Isaiah growing up and taking responsibility for himself, it’s solved at around the film’s midway point, so in deviation it takes ample time during the film’s second hour to not only obviously preach directly towards the audience watching from beyond, but also carry four or five additional subplots that could and should’ve been trimmed to keep this an airtight 90 minute engagement, all the while saving the pacing from evading the arduous stand-still that halts its momentum quite early in the story. Even Isaiah’s conflict is a bit laughable, as he’s a kid with an addiction to video games, and the film treats this like he might as well be practicing with weapons of mass destruction, especially in the balance of swelling scores and abrasive performances from supporting characters, which constantly elicited unintentional laughter to my interpretation. The film’s idea of stakes and dramatic tension is adding an extra exclamation point to the way its ensemble approaches the material, and while the script tries overtly to hard and unnaturally to earn the same kind of personal conflict for its characters that the first movie did, the film is essentially a part-after school special, part employee orientation video hybrid, especially with the film stopping frequently throughout the engagement and the progression of the narrative to focus on the latter, and I’m not kidding. In fact, the whole film feels like a last-second rewrite of a previous film that they decided to add a couple of characters to from ‘War Room’, in order to conjure an audience with fond memories of that previous film. The desperation spills out in the way they use these familiar faces, serving as nothing more than periodic cameos to the engagement, which entirely feel like they were filmed in one or two days of production, so as not to inconvenience them in their returns. Then there’s the arcs that quite literally go nowhere, like one involving Isaiah’s estranged father, who pops back into frame unceremoniously one day, and then is never seen again. This is even stranger when you consider that during Isaiah’s emotional growth, he writes him a letter as an olive branch of peace, but nothing ever comes from it, so I guess the actor wanted to be a part of this movie about as much as I did. This transitions wonderfully to the movie’s comedy, which is awkwardly manufactured and ineffective, with the best kinds of PG material that will be used as a gut-buster for the break room, next week at Best Buy. At no point anywhere throughout the film was the intentional comedic material effective in garnering even a pity laugh out of me, as it’s the most obvious and desperate kind of sitcom humor that you’ve constantly experienced, and though it’s such a small part of the film’s tonal consistency, it still irked me each time I had to hear the audience force a laugh out of themselves for punchlines that honestly aren’t even that funny, if you think about them for more than two seconds. Finally, and most unappealing in its comparison to the original film, is this shameful depiction of black characters and how they speak, written by a duo of white writers who inevitably had to write lines like “Girl please” or constant “Mmmm hmmm’s” to the majority of their dialogue. I’m not saying that white writers shouldn’t be allowed to write for black characters, it’s just that when they call upon the hits of what every white person would say while doing an impression of a black person, it doesn’t make it any easier to see these people as living, breathing entities, especially when their personalities are cranked up so heavily during scenes that don’t call for it, all in ways to point out the vibrancy and abrasiveness in their personalities. It’s obviously not that way for every character, and primarily for throwaway extras who are purely there to provide supporting vocals to the messages of every diatribe, but even still I can’t escape this slimy feeling that brings back the worst kind of memories from ‘Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas’, albeit without a ten minute dance-off that concluded that particularly film.

OVERALL
‘The Forge’ certainly is an improvement in a lot of ways from its poorly made and manipulative predecessor, but still one ailing from storytelling issues that make two hours feel like a lifetime, between abandoned arcs and excessive fluff that continuously pads it out. While its heart is honorably in the right place, without persecution complex’s or mean-spirited attacks towards non-believers, its lack of dramatic stakes amid unearned, overblown intensity grounds its mission to uninspiring territory, with little appeal or accessibility for anyone uncommitted to its cause.

My Grade: 4/10 or D-