Courageous: Critic Reviews

Devolves into over-the-top drama and a suffocating heavy-handedness.

Overplotted and understructured, "Courageous" is a slog to get through at 130 minutes.

It takes a certain touch to pull it off, and here, the serviceable cast just doesn't have it in them.

Fails to answer the more pressing question of why religious sagas such as this treat subtlety as a sin.

Like a pastor so caught up in the moment that he can't see that the air conditioning has given out and the congregation wants to go home, the film travels far beyond its dramatic climax, aiming for an altar call finale.

The performances are effective all around with director Kendrick quite moving in the central role of Adam, the veteran officer, who suffers a horrific family tragedy that sets much of the film's plot in motion.

The many topics raised - gangs, drugs, immigration, absentee parents, poverty - are examined with didacticism and platitudes instead of by mining their inherent complexities.

A significant step backward for those movie making preachers at Sherwood...

Nicely produced, but the converted are more likely to be impressed than the skeptical.

Dares to preach its highly controversial message in order to inspire the faithful while risking the ire of critics and non-believers. Its message? Fathers, man up.

Despite violence, Christian fatherhood drama is uplifting.

A moving, modern parable not to be missed by anyone who's always wondering why they don't make wholesome movies with uplifting messages anymore.

Yeah, it's still a preach-to-the-choir movie, but this choir doesn't really see itself on the big screen very often, so don't begrudge them a film where the action hero cop stops and prays for guidance before big gun battle. It happens.

Sadly, this particular Gospel is not very good.

Courageous literally preaches to the converted, delivering ham-fisted messages of responsibility to the most receptive audience possible.

Profound without being preachy, "Courageous" never forgets to entertain

Praise be to Courageous for being upfront.

While the film's church-based roots and the tendency toward didactic, schematic storytelling are still in evidence, Courageous is [Sherwood's] most ambitious and watchable film to date.

A valiant effort, but Courageous is such a clumsy motion picture, incapable of delivering its critical messages without displaying some of the most cringe-inducing filmmaking of the year.

It has some occasional rough acting, is too episodic for its own good, and could have been trimmed by a good 30 minutes. Even so, it's the group's most accomplished offering to date and that's saying something. (Movie Review for Parents also available)

If you have a tendency to nod off during sermons, Courageous has a cure for that -- a noisy last act gun-battle with drug dealers that's primetime ready.

A moving, modern parable not to be missed by anyone who's always wondering why they don't make wholesome movies with uplifting messages anymore.