Plot Summary
After Dave Corwin’s wife died, he was confused and lost in life. He did not know where to turn as he tried to hold his job together while not neglecting his son. But his son’s newfound faith intrigues him, even though Dave does not understand why a loving God would take his wife away. In the end, Dave’s journey to faith will be tested by life’s circumstances. Which path will he ultimately choose?
Production Quality (1.5 points)
For a freshman production, Standing Firm is decent. Most of its aspects are professional, including video quality, camera work, and audio quality. Yet the soundtrack is a bit stock at times and sets and locations are somewhat limited. Also, the editing is somewhat passive as it seems like a majority of the recorded content was included at face value. Overall, on the whole, this is a very generic and base production, which is good for a new production company to start out with. With a limited budget and resources, this is likely the best Praise Pictures could have done with what they had.
Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)
Unfortunately, the plot of Standing Firm is very underwhelming and low-key. Its theme is slow and melancholy, thus causing the story to be slow to develop. Dialogue is quite pedestrian as the same conversations tend to repeat and rehash over and over again. Thus, the character development is null—this creates one-dimensional characters where this character-driven plot should have complex ones. Unfortunately, this story is a fairly limited idea that needs more complexity than it has. Though it is simple, it does have a meaningful message; however, it doesn’t hold the attention very well, so the message is not conveyed well. But in the end, this is still a beginner’s plot, and the good thing is Praise Pictures improved later.
Acting Quality (1.5 points)
Though this is a slightly ‘rookie’ cast, they post at least average performances. They are not terribly dynamic in what they do, but they are not highly negative either. There is definitely some room for improvement, especially in emotional delivery, but this is a good start that is nothing to be ashamed of.
Conclusion
Overall, though this is a modest beginning for Praise Pictures, it is definitely something to build off of. There is a lot of potential here, especially since production and casting are off on the right start early on. The plot does suffer for creativity, but this is something that can be easily fixed down the road. In the end, it seems like the Praise Pictures team really does mean well, which means they will be able to go far in the future. It will be interesting to see what they have planned next.
Final Rating: 3 out of 10 points
Box Office Revolution 