The Second Chance (2006, PG-13). I am usually not a fan of Christian "celebrities" taking their name to a different area and expecting their "celebrity status" to bring fans, and I have also been critical of Christian movie-makers grabbing for any "celebrity" they can cast, seemingly regardless of acting ability. So you can imagine my groan when I saw that Michael W. Smith was the lead of a big-screen Christian production.
But two factors tempered my dread: One, the fact that a number of musicians had made the transfer to the big screen (from Dwight Yoakam to DMX and Ice-T); and Two, the presence of Steve Taylor. With only one little career hiccup -- involvement in my least favorite worship song of all time -- Taylor has been on the cutting edge of the Christian arts world for nearly twenty years. His music and video work has consistently been top-notch.
Which brings me back to The Second Chance. The movie revolves around the relationship of a mega-church and its inner-city outreach, which was the original home of the church before it went to the suburbs. Class, race, church responsibility, it's all addressed.
I have to say that it was quite good. Taylor's script was crisp, there were no "cringe moments" and the parts that were supposed to be funny actually were -- this doesn't always happen in Evnagelical cinema, and I credit this to Taylor's presence. The acting -- even Smith's -- was above average.
I'll probably watch this again, and will certainly pay attention to whatever Taylor gets involved in next.
3 comments:
I'll recommend this to my nineteen-year-old son. He's more eclectic than I am, and he watched the Left Behind series and found it interesting.
This is a much smaller film, no explosions, no end-of-the-world, no plagues, no anti-Christ . . . just an interesting story well told.
Well, then...maybe I'll break down and watch it, too, if we can find it. : )
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