A Courageous Venture...

Yes, again, lack of posting. Thought I'd do this one, though.

Tonight (at my insistence) me, my sister, and Mum + Dad watched Courageous together, which I'd bought for Dad's 50th recently. I mentioned in a previous post that I thought it was pretty darn good, and thought this would be a good spot to expound upon that.

Watching it a second time didn't diminish it at all for me, which was really good. In fact, it actually made me appreciate it more in some respects; both my Mum and my sister were reacting to some aspects of it a lot (it has a family losing their young daughter in it, so yeah, can be a tear-jerker at points), so it really gave me more of an appreciation of the impact of some sections. I mean, they'd impacted me, for sure, but I'm not much of a crier. Not so much by choice; I can be ridiculously sad, and dry as a bone. I try and force tears out, I get a drop or two if I'm lucky. Which actually isn't something I'm too fond of. But anyway, moving on.

The basic story of Courageous follows an American police unit of four men, as well as another man who comes in to their lives. Specifically, it focusses on each of them and their roles as fathers and husbands, and the trials and difficulties that they go through. Some rise to the occasion, sometimes with consequences that are difficult; others fail to meet the standard, and fall. Each are men of God, seeking to do his will for their families.

This film, being a Christian film, evidently seeks to promote a specific message; and it doesn't do so in a light matter. As I mentioned, the daughter of one of the characters dies. (Spoiler alert, sorry guys.) But they handle this plot element really well, particularly by placing humour at crucial points following these darker points - not too close as to seem insensitive, but close enough so that people are not in tears for the rest of the movie. (And they're pretty darn good comic bits, too. If you're interested, look up "courageous snake king" on Youtube. Gold! XD) As well as this, since it follows a police unit, there are elements of action very much present; and so there are a variety of different elements that are together here, weaved in such a way as to form a beautiful whole.

Courageous is a fantastic, great movie. Pure and simple. Probably one of the best movies I've ever seen, if you're talking about ones that are actually meaningful (and not just a good story, though they're great too). Definitely a 10/10 from me, and I don't do many of those.

Watch it. Just do. You won't regret it.