Directed By Andrew Erwin and Brent Mccorkle

Starring – John Michael Finley, Milo Ventigmilia, Arielle Kebbel

The Plot – Bart Millard (Finley), lead singer of MercyMe, faces a personal crisis at the peak of his success. As his world unravels, he struggles with his beliefs and inner demons while seeking a path through adversity.

Rated PG for thematic material and some adult language.

I Can Only Imagine 2 | Official Trailer

POSITIVES

If the first movie serves as a faith-based autobiographical drama about finding redemption from familial conflict in religious offerings, then this supporting sequel’s script pertains to balancing grief and gratitude in the blessings of commercial success, with many of the same traits of Bart’s abusive upbringing as a child manifesting psychologically in the now strained relationship between him and his diabetic teenage son, Sam, offering a sweetly uplifting and insightful vantage perspective that makes Bart feel as close to his deceased father more now than ever before. This is realized obviously in the movie’s usage of flashback sequences that bring back Denis Quaid’s character after his untimely death in the first movie, but also in the first-hand experiences that confound Bart in facing the hard to swallow irony of walking a mile in his father’s shoes, where he’s not exactly physically abusive as his father was, but his lack of connection with his son evokes this unspoken distance between them that he can’t seem to shake, leading to them connecting on the tour and through the power of music, which uncovers some unforeseen hidden talent in Sam that sees him following a blazed path of his own from his father, crafting a unique brand of cross-generational repetition that shows we’re sometimes doomed to repeat the past, even when we’re not entirely aware of it. On top of this, the film is one that definitely has its heart in the right place, not only in healing many of its conflicts within the strength of community and the therapeutic alleviating of music as a source of release, but also in the ways it responsibly and logically utilizes its faith as a resilient source of motivation rather than a proverbial genie in a lamp, used to solve any problems that these characters face in their respective lives. While mudslinging has never been Erwin or Mccorkle’s intention with these duo of movies, instead preaching a message of togetherness and empathizing, it’s quite refreshing that they refuse to ever reach for the lowest of hanging fruit with alienating atheists or outlining miraculous instances to conjure a surreal resolution, instead putting the power directly in the hands of its ailing characters, which in Bart’s case offers first-hand knowledge of everything that he previously experienced, only this time from the opposite side of his initial grief, and while his character feels far from perfect, even with this advantageous insight, his will to persist in healing the devastation of years lost between them drives a lot of the movie’s emotionality, surmising a sweetly sincere center that is nourishing even when it isn’t always entertaining. Beyond the script and its thematic impulses, the film is elevated by a much stylishly sleek and big budgeted appeal, as a result of the original movie’s overwhelming success at the box office, and though this doesn’t exactly lead to strikingly challenging cinematography or unique editing practices that will be nominated for awards recognition, it alludes some unintentionally cheap and compromising visuals that have condemned other faith-based films of lesser quality, proving a sturdy financial backing for Lionsgate to elicit big screen appeal to films that aren’t typically preoccupied with them. The biggest example of this artistic increase definitely stems from the concert footage of Bart’s band, MercyMe, not only with its abundance of varying angles to cover the band’s impact from many levels within the various venues, but also the spectacle of its stage lighting luminating a superstar presentation that feels infectiously enamoring to the specificity of their shows, offering as close of a concert-like experience without actually being there. Lastly, many praises also go to the hearty humanity elicited from this authentic ensemble, particularly John Michael Finley, Trace Adkins, and new addition, Milo Ventigmilia, who each articulate such endearing screen presence to their respective turns, in ways that bring a genuine honesty to their dialogue. This is especially the case for Milo, who essentially serves as the unofficial voice of conscience for the duration of the engagement, bringing an unflinching conviction and earnestness to the role that really allows his scenes to standout among the decorated fray, in turn nearly allowing him the accessibility to steal the movie from Finley’s dominant protagonist.

NEGATIVES

While both of these movies are among the best of faith-based products that I’ve ever experienced, on their maturity alone, they still utilize the dialogue as a means of meandered preaching towards their interpreting audience, condemning the authenticity factor of so many of these vital interactions with manufactured lines that rarely come close towards conveying the humanity that draws from the movie’s aforementioned performances. Quite literally, everybody is plagued by these lines that feel purely designed to push a marketing trailer, however Sophie Skelton’s Shannon, who serves as Bart’s on-screen wife, is among the most obnoxious of offenders, where every time she pops into frame, she unloads a litany of profound thoughts to any internalized conflict that Bart faces, and while it’s admirable that the real-life Bart would want to allude to the ideal that wife knows best, it grows to make her feel like this anabolic android who quite literally has the answer to everything, a thought that would feel harmless enough if the movie took even five minutes of material to flesh out the advancements in her character, when in reality she was the second most important character of the first movie. Likewise, while this sequel is better made than it’s predecessor in nearly every productional category, it’s only half as entertaining in its creative journey, with so little adversarial stakes or compelling drama firmly established in order to attach and empathize with these characters. The biggest opportunity certainly stems from the frazzled dynamic of Bart and Sam’s withering relationship, with the latter’s health serving as the metaphorical void between them, but even then we’re given so very little time to experience their problems first-hand, it comes across as just another immature teenage isolation from the younger of the two, and considering it’s resolved with a series of sit-down talks between them that doesn’t unearth any groundbreaking revelation between the two, it makes the conflict feel so bare with any kind of even accidental tension or uncertainty, making this feel like the afterschool special of cinematic experiences in 2026. To be quite honest, the movie’s entire opening hour feels a bit aimless in its inability to remain faithfully alongside this established conflict or even any of the periodic plot threads that eventually come its way, instead feeling more like a puff piece for the MercyMe brand, rather than a stirring family drama, and though it eventually finds its proper footing for a far more stably focused and increasingly better paced second half, it did leave me hanging a bit longer than expected for an alluring angle into this band that I know very little about, making the script feel like a clunky abundance of scattered ideas without the proper synergy or committed time to bring them together gracefully. Finally, while technically far more proficient in wielding a big screen appeal than its predecessor, there are some C.G enacted special effects in artificial backdrops that stand out like a sore thumb on the integrity of the imagery, particularly one such sequence involving Bart and Sam looking up at the stars from roof of their tour bus. There must have been a limitation of stars in the sky that night of filming because the production instead opts for this radiant display of supercharged lighting that gives a necessary excuse to light up the faces of the characters with the power of Las Vegas for a scene that quite literally takes place in the middle of nowhere, and it unnecessarily inflates a budget for a scene that could easily take place anywhere, leading to one of a couple of noteworthy examples where the production indulged in frivolous artificial enhancements.

OVERALL
“I Can Only Imagine 2” might lack the fiery dramaticism of its faith-based predecessor, but it’s nevertheless a charmingly endearing story about the pratfalls of fame that condemn one relationship between a father and son to disconnected distancing, with only the lessons from faith to mend their conflict. Showcased by a multitude of naturally nourishing performances, as well as elevated production values reflective of an increased budget, this sentimentally stirring sequel strikes a note of redemptive grace within the complexities of parenthood, in turn piecing together enough charm and compassion to give fans of the band an insightfully vulnerable biopic that delivers on stage and screen.

My Grade: 6.1 or C